Vivian Tu spent her first years out of college on a trading desk. While working at JP Morgan, she noticed something about the wealthy people she worked around: they didn’t dress like it.
“Nobody really had that fancy of stuff,” Tu, who got our attention as our “Rich BFF” thanks to her sound money advice, told Business Insider. “Once you kind of have the one watch, the guys wore the same watch every single day.”
“It is kind of counterintuitive to what you see online,” she said, “where like, you always need to be photographed in a new outfit, or you always need to have a new accessory.”
Tu’s clearest example goes way back, before she became a two-time New York Times bestseller or host of the “Networth and Chill” podcast, to her first year as a sales and trading analyst. Then, a dress code required nylons under her skirt. She couldn’t justify $60 on a good pair, so she bought $6 pantyhose from the drugstore. They fell apart within a few hours of wear, Tu recalled.
Within a few months, she had amassed a dresser full of unwearable tights because she kept buying the cheap pairs over and over.
“I had actually spent more money over that course of time than had I actually just bought the nice thing,” Tu, who’s also SoFi’s chief of financial empowerment, said.
Buy it nice, or buy it twice. That’s the logic Tu applies to almost every purchase now, and it’s how she landed on a strategy for buying items that are genuinely worth the money.
Tu ensures her hands have a touch of luxury with this splurge.
The content creator loves luxury soap and lists out Aesop, Loewe, and Le Labo as her personal favorites, but really, any fancy hand soap will do. Tu believes it’s one of the more affordable ways to make a home feel considered, and it’s the kind of detail guests actually notice.
Tu loves buying this particular fabric in every form.
Whether it’s sheets, pajamas, or clothing, Tu thinks silk is worth the price.
She and her husband bought a set of silk sheets on Amazon after getting tired of sleep brands popping up in her social media feeds.
“I wake up, and I’m more ready to tackle the day,” she said of her investment. “I make smarter decisions because I get better sleep.”
It also helps since Tu has eczema and many fabrics irritate her skin.
Tu is a big believer in going to experts to learn certain skills.
Makeup lessons, French classes, or learning how to cook are other investments that Tu feels were well worth the investment.
Having the time and money to learn something new for no reason other than wanting to is, in Tu’s view, a real marker of financial comfort.
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