Nerdwallet Feature: 7 Asian and Pacific Islander Financial Professionals to Follow

I was featured in this Nerdwallet article. Check out the full article here.

This article was published on Nerdwallet.com on May 5, 2022.

By Meghan Coyle, Rosalie Murphy and Benjamin Din 

Asian and Pacific Islander financial influencers share tips for dealing with inflation, rising gas prices and entrepreneurship.

Phuong Luong

In addition to rising inflation, average U.S. gas prices have risen to $4.12, according to AAA; that’s up more than $1 from a year ago. To save money, you could move closer to work, request to work from home, switch jobs or take public transit, said certified financial planner Phuong Luong. But not all of these options are available or realistic for everyone, she said.

“Inflation does not impact everyone in the same ways. Budgeting tips work for people who are in a position to cut spending or increase income — the problem is that many Americans are not.

"In reality, millions of Americans have been impacted by rising costs in food, housing, transportation, and health care, and decades of wage stagnation, long before the pandemic and recent mainstream media focus on inflation. You can't budget your way out of not being able to afford basic necessities, and more individuals and families are experiencing this as costs continue to grow and impact those who previously had more slack in their household budgets.

"The Living Wage Calculator team at MIT found that the minimum living wage in the United States is $16.54 per hour for a family of four with two working adults. The $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage provides less than half that amount, and Brookings found that almost half of U.S. workers earn a median hourly wage of $10.22. How do you cut a budget that’s already at its limit? This question can’t be answered with personal financial advice alone. Food assistance and monetary aid in your area can be found on databases like FindHelp and Mutual Aid Hub — but these are short-term, hyperlocal resources that are often overstretched.

"Mainstream financial advice perpetuates the idea that individuals should solely be responsible for their financial security.

"There are bigger structural factors here that require public policy solutions, such as removing barriers to affordable housing, jobs that pay living wages, and health care for everyone. What this current national focus on inflation should make clear is that the actions we need are collective ones.”