Jasmine Taylor, the founder and CEO of Baddies & Budgets, is quickly becoming a leading voice in the personal finance space. She resonates with younger audiences. She’s a strong champion for a budgeting practice known as zero-based budgeting. This strategy is all about assigning each dollar that comes into your checking account a job. This new approach has been popularized on social media, launching Taylor to viral stardom on the platform TikTok.
Taylor’s story starts from a pretty difficult starting point. Fast forward to 2021, and she found herself drowning from nearly $60,000 in student debt. In addition, she had over $9,000 in medical and credit card debt. Against the backdrop of runaway inflation, Valeria felt overwhelmed by her financial situation and wanted to give cash stuffing a shot. This approach includes literally setting aside money to cover her monthly costs. This smart strategy didn’t just help her get back above water, but set her up for the success of her blossoming company.
In 2023, Baddies & Budgets brought in a staggering $850,000 in revenue – all while improving our community. Most thrillingly, 2024 projections already have the organization on track to fly high at $2.2 million! This extraordinary growth is a testament to Taylor’s commitment to Building Brighter Futures® through Financial Literacy. She provides tools and resources on her website to teach people how to budget digitally. This gives them the agency to make decisions and regain control of their finances.
Taylor’s central theme is a throughline that bridges all of ABT’s work — the need to plan. Without a long-term financial blueprint, she says, people can’t get a clear picture of how inflation will affect their bottom line. “One of the biggest mistakes I see people make, especially when prices rise, is just trying to wing it,” she explains. Her counsel dispels the myths that trap people in poverty and urges all to take proactive, responsible steps to secure their financial future.
To make up for escalating costs, Taylor advises being willing to ask where money can be cut. She advocates people to shop around for critical services like insurance and cell phone plans. “A lot of people don’t understand that you should be calling into insurance companies and trying to get a better quote and move around more often,” she asserts. She emphasizes that loyalty to insurance companies can be detrimental, stating, “You shouldn’t have a ton of loyalty to insurance companies.”
In her workshops, Taylor hopes to change the overall narrative around budgeting. Most people think of it as a term that’s interchangeable with poverty, but she argues against this belief. “People hear budget and they think that it means that you have to say no to everything, but we teach the opposite,” she says. With her wise counsel, she inspires people to strike a solid balance between smart spending and living well.
Taylor further underscores the need to make value-based spending priorities first and foremost. “It’s about giving yourself permission to spend on what matters and ditching what doesn’t,” she advises. This approach is remarkably effective in inspiring her audience to identify and prioritize their spending intentions.
The story of Taylor’s business through the years is a testament to her resourcefulness, flexibility and unwavering dedication to her mission. Taylor’s debt troubles in the early go were considerable. Today, she has changed her own life and became a world-renowned financial wizard, inspiring millions in process. Her story is an encouragement to other people still working to overcome the same financial barriers.
As Taylor continues to share her insights on social media platforms, her message remains clear: financial literacy is achievable for everyone willing to put in the effort. “If you don’t tell your money where to go, it will find someplace to be,” she warns, reinforcing the necessity of intentional budgeting.