A 20-year-old TikToker earning $33,000 a month explains how she got her start as a money influencer (2024)

• Taylor Price thought she was going to be a neurosurgeon until a health condition changed that.
• She instead learned about personal finance and then began implementing it and teaching it to Gen Z.
• Now, she generates about $33,000 a month at age 20.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Before Taylor Price began ninth grade, she underwent major spinal fusion surgery. The surgery led to further medical complications. Her ability to live the life of a normal high schooler changed in a few months, she told Insider.

"That summer, I had to relearn to walk. My first day at high school, my brother had to carry my bag for me. I had to ask people to carry my books for me. I had a special desk that I was sitting in. I wasn't allowed to attend PE," Price said.

At a young age, she realized that life was extremely valuable and decided that whatever goals she had, she would put forth her fullest efforts to achieve them. Her own medical challenges made her want to become a neurosurgeon, but in a college biology class she realized her health condition would hinder her. Standing for hours on end and bending over to examine specimens was causing her back pain.

"I dropped out. I said, 'Hey mom, I have no idea what to do.' I had tunnel vision to become a neurosurgeon," Price said. "And she told me, 'Hey, you know, things change, but you can go into finance.' I said, why not? I basically have nothing to do at this point; everything that I thought I was going to do vanished in a day pretty much."

She followed her mother's advice and pursued a bachelor's degree with a focus on finance and management at the University at Albany. She began learning everything about a company's finances but still knew nothing about her own. That's when she embarked on a journey to learn about personal finance.

In 2019, she founded, TAP Intuit, a website focused on financial literacy for Gen Z. Now, at the age of 20, Price generates about $33,000 a month, according to the last three months of financial documents viewed by Insider.

Below, she shares how she went from a lost college student to a multi-six-figure personal finance influencer.

She started a blog about personal finance

In 2018, Price started writing a blog on all the things she was learning about personal finance from books, blogs, and YouTube videos.

"There's a lot of financial jargon that young people are not interested in or just can't understand," Price said. She approaches her articles and videos with the intent to explain financial concepts simply, using memes, and Gen Z slang.

Her side hustle eventually evolved into her current company, Tap Intuit, a financial literacy business that teaches Gen Z how to manage their money through the website and an app that provides workshops, community chats, daily lessons, and market insights. She spent as little as possible to get started, bootstrapping her way up to a fully functioning website. When she needed help, she got a virtual assistant. For freelance writers, she used Fiverr, a website that allowed her to hire freelance writers on demand. Her website now brings in about $19,000 a month, according to financial records for the first quarter of 2021.

She uses her social media accounts to share her knowledge

Price uses her social media platforms to share explainer videos that talk about financial concepts and even entertaining topics, like good summer side hustles and weirdest celebrity purchases. She now has 1 million followers on her TikTok account.

As her follower base grew, she was able to leverage sponsorships and partnerships with other companies. She also consults for brands on values that are important to Gen Z. She does all of this through her personal brand, Taylor Price LLC, whichnow generates about $13,000 a month, according to financial documents from the first quarter of 2021, with another $200,000 in contracts secured for the remainder of the year, according to records viewed by Insider.

She makes extra cash doing side jobs on Fiverr

Even though Price already generates a healthy amount of income, she still chooses to take on extra jobs. The very same platform she uses to hire some of her freelancers is the platform others use to hire her. Price generates about $1,000 a month writing content, blogs, and sales copy.

The catch is that she doesn't actually spend that money. Instead, she keeps it as credit in her account to hire other contractors who have skills she doesn't, such as app developers and digital designers. This helps keep her operating costs very low.

She implements everything she learns in her own investment strategy

Price chose to move back in with her mom so that she could keep her expenses minimal. This allows her to allocate a majority of her income to her investment accounts.

She also invests in index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Her top ETFs are from ARK Investment Management, lead by one of her idols, Cathie Wood. Wood has been a point of inspiration for Price because she's a successful woman in a field that is still predominantly male.

One of the investing platforms Prices likes to use is Public because it's a social brokerage account that allows her to share her portfolio. The platform lets users see some of what their peers are invested in, follow other investors, and share insights with people from different professional backgrounds. It's like investing but with a social media element.

"The way in which I found where I am today is one day I went to Barnes and Noble and I spent a lot of time in the self-help and healing section," Price told Insider. From a book called "Ikigai," she learned about four pillars of a fulfilling life: Do what you're actually good at;do what you can get paid for;do what the community actually needs today; and dowhat you actually love.

"I have implemented this into my own life and I have never been as happy and more fulfilled in life. I am able to help people in their financial well-being and I am able to get compensated for what I love."