Taylor is the founder of TAP Intuit as well as a content creator. She recognized a pain point in financial education as students are taught to manage corporate finances but not their own personal finances. She seeks to fill this space by offering knowledge about money management and business practices on a variety of platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok.
Q: What is your current position/role and when did you first develop an interest in finance?
A: I am currently the founder of a FinTech startup called TAP Intuit, we help people connect with each other based on their financial goals. On the side, I am a content creator— @pricelesstay.
Finance wasn’t my first choice to major in, I was pre-med. However, I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be able to pursue that career path because I have medical conditions, such as lupus and scoliosis, and after 8 to 12 years of schooling I wasn’t sure what the condition of my personal health would be. So I dropped out and rejoined the next semester in the field of finance— as a result of me just asking, “Hey mom, what should I do?” and she said, “finance.” But I realized that I was learning about how to manage corporate financials rather than my own personal finances.
Only 6 out of 50 states in the United States require a personal finance course.
I grew up in Upstate New York and New York is not one of those states. I felt at an extreme disadvantage going to school, learning about corporate finances, but having no idea about my own financial situation, or how I was going to plan for retirement, or what credit or debit even means. That is how I got into the field.
Q: What challenges have you faced with personal finance?
A: There is too much information.
The problem that I have faced in the past and even still to this day: there are so many answers to many different questions, and some of them may be the same question but have a variety of different answers. So, this leaves many, many people— sometimes even including myself—not being able to take action or make a proper, sound financial decision because there’s just too much to choose from. So that leaves me at, “well what should I do?”
Accurate or ideal information is found traditionally in books that you can buy physically and pick up, a tangible book. They are something that many people underutilize. Books have presented some of the highest benefits that I could have ever received.
So, definitely use social media as your financial awareness, igniting that question, curiosity inside of you of how you can bring your financial knowledge to the next level, and take that offline with traditional books.
The next is the barrier to entry. Especially being a female in finance— believe it or not to this day, especially on social media, it’s still hard. I get comments like, “you should be back in the kitchen,” “finance is for men, it’s not for females.” So those are the two things I struggle with.
Q: If you could give advice to your 18 year old self about managing your money, what would you tell yourself and why?
A: When I was 18 I was already reading about credit. I literally sacrificed my social life in order to learn these kinds of things. I was a college student, I was working full-time, I had a second job as a bartender, I ran my own photo booth company— I was doing quite a lot of things… and I was also learning about this financial literacy path as well as documenting what I was learning on social media.
So, what I would have to say is that time is not against you, it’s only for you. You don’t have to sacrifice your whole life in order to make it or “be successful.”
You should enjoy the time that you have and if you’re 18, you can still have fun and do this.
Q: What is your top tip for budgeting?
A: Create 3 different pillars for yourself.
The first is needs, the second is wants, and the third you can almost break it up into two pillars: saving and investing.
This allows you to cover your most needed expenses like rent, or insurance, or even medical bills, while allowing you to focus on your financial future and plan for retirement so you’re not having to become financially stressed. Also, it ensures that you live your life, with your wants – if you want the Starbucks drink, go ahead and drink the Starbucks drink, just make sure that you’re budgeting for it.
Q: What do you think is the most critical step to ensuring financial independence?
A: The most critical step for ensuring financial independence is having a solid budget.
I have a concept called the money tree. You start off with your seed of budgeting. First, you build a strong foundation and put your roots in the ground by making sure you’re habitually budgeting over time. For a lot of people, it’s budgeting and really thinking about what you’re spending, but as time goes on, you’re building those roots deep into the ground and you don’t have to think about budgeting as much. Next, you continue to grow your tree by developing a good emergency fund (at least $1,000). Then, you grow your tree by watering it, meaning establishing a good credit score and starting your Roth IRA account. Now you finally have a tree that’s producing leaves, but it’s not the leaves that we really want to have. So, you have the option to build out your branches. You have to think that branches aren’t as strong as the trunk, so anything can come by and strike down a branch. For example, investing could be one, but investing is not guaranteed so it’s something that’s a little bit more insecure than something like an emergency fund (which would be at the trunk). It could also be turning your side hustle into a business or investing in real estate. So, anything that’s kind of not guaranteed, that is a little bit higher risk goes at the top of the money tree. The branches could be something that has higher returns because typically when you have higher risk you have higher reward. So, mastering this money tree concept is going to help you become financially independent.
Visit Taylor’s Instagram, website, or TikTok to learn more tips and tricks about managing your money.
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