Tiffany Aliche, better known as the Budgetnista, is said to be “America’s favorite financial educator.” Aliche was raised in a household that talked about money as commonly as talking about grades or chores. She didn’t realize it wasn’t normal until she went to college. After word spread Aliche gave advice to her roommate who was being hounded by debt collectors, students started coming to her for advice.
The Budgetnista had to learn from her own mistakes as well. She was a victim of a credit card scam that left her $35,000 in debt. She went on to get her master’s in education, adding another $50,000; and she bought a condo at 25, which added $220,000. After the recession hit and she lost her job, Aliche realized she had to come up with a plan to knock out her debt saying, “if you can save a dollar, Tiffany, one day, you can save 10. And then when I was able to save 10, I said, if you can save 10, one day, you can save 50. And then I was able to save 50, you could save 50, one day, you can save 200.”
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Aliche turned her knowledge into a business, developing a curriculum and courses. Her book “Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole” lists the important steps to reaching financial wholeness: budgeting, savings, debt, credit, learning to earn, investing for both wealth and retirement, net worth, having a financial team, estate planning, and insurance. Aliche says “my hope for our people is that we have access to the tools and resources we need to live a life on our own terms.”
Watch the full interview with Tiffany Aliche, the Budgetnista, above.
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