LadyGang - LG Quickie: How to be Rich with Vivian Tu, Part 1

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

Money talks, and this week on LadyGang, it’s LOUD. 💸🔥 We’re joined by financial icon Vivian Tu for a two-part episode celebrating her new book, Well Endowed, and she is not here to sugarcoat your finances. Vivian breaks down the stuff no one actually explains, life insurance (what you need, what’s a scam), how to set your kids up for real financial success (yes, including how to maximize the tax write-offs 👀), and her very honest, very spicy thoughts on prenups!LadyGang is sponsored by Progressive! Need car insurance? Head to Progressive.com to see how much you can save!Get 20% off EVERYTHING at the LadyGang shop using code SUBSTACKSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's time for a quickie podcast one presents the lady gang the hollywood girl posse with lady gang quickie here's kelty knight becca tobin and jack vanek let's make this quick hello hello hello welcome to lady and quickie i'm becca here with jackie kelty and we have a special treat for you today none of us know anything about anything and we have somebody here that knows a lot about a lot of things. So Kelty, who do we got? Listen, the new year came and the lady gang was like, we love it when just you three bitches talk. But like, can you help us with our lives like you used to? Because we're falling apart. And we said, yes, we can. We are joined by the woman who makes money feel hot, powerful and actually understandable, aka your

rich BFF. She's a Wall Street, a former Wall Street trader turned financial icon, New York Times bestselling author, CEO, podcast host, and chief of financial empowerment for SoFi, because obviously one job was not enough. She's built a community with over 10 million people, landed on the Time 100 creators list, was a Forbes under 40. I mean, sorry, a 30 under 30. Wow. And took home the digital influencer of the year for making money, education, less terrifying and way more empowering. And now she is back with a brand new book, well endowed. And she also has her chart topping podcast, Net Worth and Chill, and casually became a millionaire at age 27. If you've ever been confused by money, intimidated by money, or

you're avoiding your bank account, this lady is for you. Please welcome back to the Lady Gang, our good friend Vivian Tu. Welcome. Hi, guys. I've missed you. We've missed you. Help us. We We forgot everything since you've been here and I am definitely broker than I've ever been. So please. Yeah, we're screwed. The last time you were here, you were like strip. I remember you being like your strip thing. And now you're back. And I listen, why a second book? Like what what did we miss the first time? And what what is different about this one? Because I know a lot of the lady gang picked up your last book. Yes. So Well Endowed comes out February 3rd. And we're so cute, by the way. I feel like I have to explain this title so people understand

what's actually in this book. When you hear the term well-endowed, it's most often a hee-hee, ha-ha joke. And you're like, oh, this is kind of crass. It's a big dick energy. Exactly. But if you actually think about the phrase well-endowed, it's describing something. It's describing an endowment. And you've heard this phrase before. It's like Harvard's endowment or your favorite charity has an endowment. And what an endowment actually is, is a large pile of money and resources that can be invested, grow for the future, so that any organization's mission can be pushed on into perpetuity and serve everybody. So basically, how do you make things keep going good for the rest of the future? Great. That is exactly what I want for every single person reading this

book. My first book gave you the financial basics of budgeting, saving, investing, but Well Endowed teaches you all about like how to actually use that money to get you the life that you want so so many of us end up making money spending it and looking back and just being like how did I amass so much shit in my closet and I'm still not happy I don't have the life that I want this book is going to teach you how to make big purchases like a home a car insurance even in this economy how to manage money with a partner family how to set your kids up for financial success whether they are human or fluffy how to get the retirement you deserve while still having a fun today without you know jeopardizing tomorrow and then at the end I wrap it all up through one of the most well-kept

rich people secrets is state planning how to set up a will trust power of attorney health care directives so that you get to have the entire life that you want. And when you are leaving this mortal earth, you still have a legacy to leave behind to the people you love the most. Oh, my God. Amen. See, we need to tell me how to do it. I know. Well, I was going to say it's so that it's so intimidating, right? Especially for somebody that like hasn't even really taken any of those steps. It's like, where the hell do you even start like how do you approach this in a way that's like not gonna make you spiral and have a

panic attack exactly I mean this book is written exactly like that there is a checklist at the end of each chapter so I don't even want people just to read this you got to do stuff and I give you the exact one two three four you have to go here click this button do this thing call this person to make it all happen because I do understand that it feels incredibly overwhelming it felt incredibly overwhelming for me. Listen, I'm at that age now and we are, all of us on this, like are the sandwich generation. We are at the age where people are having kids and they're taking care of their own families, but their parents are also starting to get older and you've got to be like, so like mom's like not a hundred percent going to be able to walk up and down those

stairs. Like how are we going to take care of her? How are we going to make sure that I can take care of the generation above me and below me? Oh, by the way, everything is so expensive now. Like how do we do that and so I felt that stress I had friends whose parents passed away I had friends who were having babies and you know it was it was literally weddings and funerals weddings and funerals and I think that made me realize it was time to set up my own estate plan and after I did mine I actually called my parents and I was like you guys have one right they did not no my parents are in their late 60s early 70s they did not have one and so I then had to go and be the adult, be the parent, and help my parents set one up for them. And I

realized so many people are not taking full advantage of these tools that could make their life while living and when they pass so much easier. I think it's a really important message and why I think your books and your podcast is, you know, I think that we, because we are women and we are taught to like not ask for more and not talk about money, because money, I hate to say it, But money is still a thing that like the guys figure out, which is like so messed up. We are all like, you know, listen, not all of us, but many of us are like mini Dorites on The Housewife where like this season of Beverly Hills, like Amanda, I need your take on this, but Amanda Francis is literally like, well, what do you have?

And like, do you have a retirement? And she was like, I don't know, like, you know, PK did it all. Like, I have no idea. And it is like, I mean, it was so shocking to watch this woman that can dress and head to toe Louis Vuitton, not know if she's a retirement account. But like, I do think there are a lot of people out there that were like, okay, my job on this planet is to make money and afford a life and like get a house, get a car, whatever. Sure. But like, then switching the mode to making that money work for me while I'm on this planet and like make money while I'm sleeping and where that money should go. and then how to take that money for Becca who has a four-year-old like how do I put that money away and save on taxes and save for him for the future like it's all next level shit and but it's really

scary sorry I'm just saying like this is very relatable can I tell you something that I get all the time in my dms people think like I talk about like every single woman needs to know what is coming in what is going out and people are like oh well like my husband's not going to leave me I'm not even talking about the worst case scenario of your husband leaves you for a hot young thing 10 years into your marriage. What I'm talking about is the DM that I commonly get, which is, hey Vivian, my husband of 45 years just passed away. We had a really wonderful loving relationship, but now that he's gone, I don't even know the password to my bank account. That is horrifying to me. You are in an incredibly financially vulnerable position.

you are in a great position to get taken advantage of because you do not know what you have. And frankly, it's a four square of things that I need everybody listening to know, okay? It's what you make, what you have, what you owe, and what you spend. So what you make, that's very simple. It is what is your income every single year? What you have is what is your assets? What are your assets? So like, do you own things like a home, stock portfolios? Do you have bank accounts that you need to know about what you owe. These are debts, things like mortgages, car loans, credit card debt. And then what you spend is what are your monthly expenses and what bank account does it come out of? Because what happens when somebody passes and then the bank account gets shut down

and everything gets transferred through probate court. And then all of a sudden you realize like your light bill is not being paid. You're going to sit in the dark for three days. I don't want that to happen to anybody. I feel like every single person should know this in every single relationship, but in particular women, because 99% of domestic violence cases also include financial abuse. And I am so sorry to say this happens to women more often than it happens to men. So we need to make sure all of the girlies know exactly what's up with their money. It's crazy. I've seen a couple different TikTokers, like women on TikTok, that are going through this exact process and they're kind of posting about it in real time. And it is like

this scariest position for somebody to be in where it's just like you you have nothing I mean this one woman her husband didn't die but he just was like I'm getting a divorce you're getting out of my house but he supported her completely and she had no she wasn't making money on her own and it's just like that's really it's such a hard place to be put in and you never think it's going to happen to you until it does and that's why she should have gotten a prenup I feel like I am like the old man yelling off the side of the mountain when it comes to prenups, but I'm like begging everyone to get one. Because even if you don't go to an attorney and draft one with your significant other and their attorney, you get one, but your state government gets to write it. And left,

right, or center, I don't give a shit. Like you cannot possibly trust the government more than you trust yourself in knowing your relationship. That is crazy behavior. A prenup is not so that one person leaves the relationship a robber baron and the other person leaves destitute. It's actually a protection. You sit down with a significant other on a sunny day. That's the point. You do it before you hate each other, before someone's cheated, before it's 10 years of resentment of not doing the dishes. You sit down on a day where you both have nothing but love for each other and you decide what is fair. And that can look like so many different things. And that's why I actually encourage, especially women who make less or are planning to take a step back

from their career to become heads of household like if you are planning to take time off from work you need to get a prenup and your prenup needs to say oh i will be given this amount of money so that i have my own money every single month because you are giving up money not being in the workplace so that your whole family can save on child care you have to make up for that decade lost if you get divorced and you need to re-enter the workforce you need to account for the fact that not only are you losing the money that you're not making, it's that compounding of money that could have been invested during that time. So it is so important. Everybody listening, get a prenup. If you don't have a prenup, you're already married. Get a postnup.

You can do it after the fact, but you need to know exactly what's going to happen on your worst day and on your best day. I have a question for you. I love this advice. I think it's super important. And I think people have it twisted that they think if you don't have oodles and oodles of money that you don't really need a prenup. But what would you say, you know, if you can't afford to go to an attorney and you are going to meet together on a sunny day where you're madly in love, how do you figure out what is fair? So are there ways to know like, Hey, I'm leaving my career and not making an income and I'm sacrificing for our family. Like how much of that income from him are you asking for? Is there some sort of like, is there some sort of like, um, what's it

called. I have no words, but you know, a worksheet. Yeah, like a formula, a formula. So basically, what I would say is in terms of like, if you don't have a lot of money, you don't want to spend a ton of money on lawyers, what you can actually do is perhaps go to a service like a hello prenup, that'll get you like, pretty much 99% of the way there. And then if you even just need the peace of mind, you can have a lawyer check, just to make sure everything looks right after it's already done through the software service. I promise you, your relationship is not that much more unique than a dozen gazillion other relationships that have already gone through this process. You're not the richest or the poorest person who's ever done this. You're probably somewhere

in the middle. So feel comfort in that. In terms of deciding what is actually fair, this is a very much up to you conversation. However, something that I like to consider is think of the salary you're giving up and what you would need to feel comfortable if you were to part, essentially. Like what would help you live a happy life? What would you need? And that's not necessarily to say

that like every dollar that you're giving up in the workplace needs to be compensated for. That is a choice that you're making as a family. But I do think that there should be money being deposited for you if your partner's working into a spousal retirement account, a spousal IRA, into an investment account that is just yours, into a bank account

that's money that you get to enjoy because you are doing the labor of a chauffeur, a chef, a housekeeper, a tutor. You're doing all of these things and it's only unpaid because more often than not, the person who stays home is a woman. And this actually changed my brain chemistry. Somebody said this to me the other day.

they were like, well, it's only unpaid and like lame when a woman does it. So like when a woman is at home and cooks, it's unpaid labor and it's free. But when some guy with an arm sleeve tattoo is making roast pork belly and getting a Michelin star, he's a celebrity chef and it's a very highly paid position. And so I think we need to really reconsider like what is the value of that uncompensated labor and how much it actually helps our every day-to-day life mornings without coffee road trips without snacks movies without popcorn without our favorite foods we'd miss out on all our favorite moments learn more at canada'sfoodsystem.ca

the lady gang um we have so many moms in the uh you know in the lady gang and you know jack is family planning at the moment like i said becca has her her son um i know there's all this stuff in the book about planning and funds you should be putting money into when your baby's and like how you can hire your child as an employee and get tax write-offs. Like, I want to jump into that. Becca, I'm going to let you lead because you actually have a child, but I'm very interested in this. And I think a lot of the lady gang will be, you know, dying to know this information. Yeah. I mean, I think that's how you stated it, Kelty. Like, how do you set your kid up so that, well, obviously Zach and I have done a pretty good job of what happens to us if we die. So that's

nice. He won't have to be fighting with, you know, future siblings potentially on like, you know, what is happening. But what happens, you know, my parents, they do put money into the college or education, the 501, the 529, 529 every year for my kids birthday and holidays and all that stuff. So that is actually like going and by the time he graduates high school, I do think his college will be paid for and my parents will have a really nice tax write off each year by putting money into that account. But are there other things that I could be doing that I could be asking my parents to help with? Like, what's that look like? Well, listen, I don't think that anybody living under your roof should be living there for free. I think it's time to get baby a fun

little side hustle. And listen, this could be child modeling. This could be maybe doing some marketing for Lady Gang, even just having him in the promotional materials for an episode about kids, something like that. Basically what I'm trying to get at is I want your son to have earned income. This gets a little bit easier as they get older, right? Like when they're tutoring or mowing lawns or shoveling snow or doing something that's like child task. But if you keep an accurate ledger, the reason why they need to have earned income is that then they can contribute that money into a custodial Roth IRA. And this is so powerful because you can start it as early as they start making money. And you put, it works exactly similar to how a Roth IRA would

work for one of you guys. You can contribute up to the maximum, the maximum being right now, $7,000 per year. And that money is, it goes in post-tax, oftentimes at the child's lower tax rate. And then they can actually have that money invested and grow tax-free. And then when they want to take money out for retirement, it's tax-free. And the best part is you can actually take the contributions out at any point tax-free, not the growth, but the contributions. So say they need like an emergency bridge loan at age 18 to just finish the last semester of college. They can get the money that way. There is a, you know, hey, I just need something to help finish the down payment for this home. They can get the money that way. I would say keep it in there for

as long as possible so that they're actually able to use it for retirement. But if you start early enough, if you contribute the maximum every single year, your kid will retire a millionaire. Holy shit. That's great. So like if Becca was doing, say she's doing like Instagram, like she's doing Instagram ads and she's doing a blog post on Lady Gang that's like, here's the 10 things that saved me with a four-year-old. And it's like toys, if we keep track of that and she like how like can you just go into the weeds a tiny bit yeah lady gang as an entity i'm assuming it's like lady gang llc lady gang inc would pay baby yeah and there would have to be like a ledger kept tax documentation kept about this payment in

the same way that like when you pay an editor at the end of you know at right before tax season And, like, you have to make sure you have their W-9, you issue them a 1099, things like that. Once that is kept on record, that is then considered income for baby. Baby can then actually claim that as income, and then that money can be utilized for those accounts. So people that don't have a lady gang. Yeah. I mean, I have an S-corp just as myself. And I think a lot of like really,

I think there's a lot of people out there that are kind of starting to do that as well. I could obviously pay him out of my own S-corp for jobs he does for me. But like what is, say like a real estate agent, if she has a kid and she wants to kind of take advantage of this, does it need to be when they're a little bit older

and they're being paid by people to babysit or paid by people to mow lawns? Like it has to be some outside source? It doesn't necessarily need to be an outside source. The payment just has to be fair market value. So like you can't be like, ah, I'm paying my kid for one photo of them and it's $7,000, right? Like that's not reasonable. But a couple hundred dollars for a license of a photo is pretty standard. So you have marketing materials, baby's face is on it. You have to pay for that license. Wow. It's crazy. So smart. Okay. I want to get into, is there anything else moms should think about, like, of setting up?

Like, we talked about the 5. Can you talk quickly about the 529 and what that is if people don't have it? Yeah. A 529 is just a tax-advantaged account that helps you invest for educational costs. So you can do one in every single state and over 30 states actually have state tax benefits, some sort of credit or some sort of deduction that you can potentially take.

And then essentially what you do is you open the account. You can actually do this before a kid is even born. You just open the account and list yourself as the beneficiary. And then you can start contributing money, getting those state tax bennies. And as the money goes in, you are able to then start investing it

it grows, and it can be withdrawn and utilized for educational costs tax-free. The standard used to be $10,000 every single year for private K-12. That number is actually increasing. However, it is unlimited for higher education. So things like college, trade school, culinary school, beauty school. So it's not just the classic four-year university. This can help you do anything. And these days, regardless of what you want to do, unless you become like some YouTuber, like you need higher education if you want a trade job if you want to become you know a member of a beauty agency whatever you want to do more with your life than host the lady and podcast you guys have to go to college true um but it can be utilized for these higher educational costs

and the best part is you can actually roll up to 35 000 of that account into a roth ira for them say your kid ends up being some sort of track star gets a scholarship doesn't need the money so it doesn't have to go to waste if they don't need the money for education. And then if you have another kid, you can actually roll the account over to them to change the beneficiary. So it doesn't necessarily have to just be for one kid. It can be for all of your kids. I feel like this is really, I've told friends of mine what my parents set up and for my sister and I, and I have friends who have gone and they've set it up and they've asked friends and family instead of the shitty Toys R Us you know classic toys if you could just put start

you know investing in this account put $50 each year or whatever it is it really does grow I mean my sister's son is now 14 and like his college is going to be paid for by that account yeah I think also as like a non-childbearing um auntie this is the best thing to do for your friends and family like from my point of view like my niece and nephew have this setup and like at Christmas us all go and get go to Hot Topic. They're tweens right now. So they're obsessed with Hot Topic, which is wild, Jack. I'm like, Oh my god, I'm like, is it 2016? But like I go and I get them the buttons and the books that they asked for in a t shirt. And it's cute. And there's something to open for the holidays or their birthdays. But then I'm like sliding a birthday card to mom and

dad that has a check. And like, it's so much better. And like knowing that we're taking care of them that is like what people want to do and I know you don't want the junk parents and I just like but if it feels weird to just give a check to be like I want to pay for soccer like I I just put like the kids education fund Christmas yeah there it is you know and it feels really it's also a nice gift for the parents you know I'd rather instead of getting a candle for Christmas I'd rather get 50 bucks to put into my kids account absolutely not only are these contributions not annoying and they don't make sounds, but can you imagine the day that kid graduates from college and they get to start life at zero? That is a gift. Most people start deep in the hole

because of student loans. Starting at zero is a gift and they are going to be so grateful that they don't have that payment riding on their back for the next 30 plus years. They'll be more appreciative of that than having all of those little annoying toys that like piss mom and dad off. So true. So true. All right. Vivian's coming back next week because there's a part two of this episode. But right now, if you are inspired and I know you are, head on over. Viv, where do you want people to buy the book? Is it on your site? Is it on Bookshop? Like, I know it's very important. As you know, we've been through this before, Lady Gang. Get it on Amazon. But where else? If you go to richbffbook.com, there are a bunch of purchase links. And the best part is if you

pre-order, um, from any of these purchase areas, just buy the book. And then you go back to the website, rich BFF book.com and you submit your receipt. You get a bunch of freebies, including an outline of my trust and will. So you know exactly what I'm doing. I'll give you a rent versus buy calculator to determine whether or not you should rent or buy your home. It's actually one that my husband built. I can't even take credit for building it. My husband built this for us. And I made them fix it up for everybody else to use. And you get a relationship equity calculator. So like, if you're trying to figure out who should pay what on rent, this will help you. There's a list of interesting things that you can test out with your kids to help them make

them more financially savvy. There's a wedding planning checklist. There's everything like you get so many, so many. So get a copy rich BFF book.com. I love it. And then go in, put your receipt in and then you get basically get inside Vivian's brain for free. This is the best. What's your book? Twenty five bucks. This is the best twenty five bucks that you've ever spent in your life. It's priceless. And tune in next week because we're coming back. I want to talk about more stuff. But thank you for being here. Vivian is the bomb. And the book is well endowed. Go preorder right now. And we will. We weren't here for a long time. No, we were here for a rich time. A rich time.

Lady Gang is hosted and produced by Kelty Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jack Vanek, with social media support from Kali Carrera, audio and video editing from Jared Monaco, and additional support from Steve Delameter and Podcast One. Hey, Ontario. Come on down to BetMGM Casino and see what our newest exclusive, the Price is Right Fortune Pick, has to offer. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show only at BetMGM.

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