CSE Welcomes The Budgetnista to Campus

Tiffany Aliche, known as The Budgetnista, travels the world educating people about personal finances and how to be successful with money management. On March 11, the College of Saint Elizabeth's Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) and the Office of Student Engagement welcomed The Budgetnista to campus. She spent several hours speaking to students about properly handling their finances, managing student loans, and understanding credit.

"I learned a lot about how to start saving now for my future self," explains Shania Griffin, '19. "For instance, just because I have the money to afford something, doesn't mean that I should be purchasing it."

In addition to sharing professional tips about growing and maintaining wealth, The Budgetnista also offered an insight into her personal experiences with money management. Born to immigrant parents who moved to the U.S. with next to nothing, Aliche began critically analyzing the value of money when she was just a child.

Confronted with the option of purchasing either a purple princess bike or an unsightly, but functional, blue bike, the 11-year-old Budgetnista made her first financial investment: she chose the practical one. Now, nearly 28 years later, that clunky blue bike is still in use.

"Everyone has their own personal blue bike. Every single choice you make now will follow you for the rest of your life," explains Aliche. "Money can improve your life or it can destroy it. You get to decide, you are in charge."

While the Budgetnista's presentation focused on the functionality of money, she was careful to caution students about chasing wealth. She challenged them to consider how they want to live instead of what profession they wanted to enter.

"I've been thinking a lot about my future lately and her speech was motivational to me," says Zyaire Thompson. "It came at a perfect time and now I'm thinking about how I can better design my life to achieve my goals."

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