TikToker turns to 'cash stuffing' and other financial tips for young people

CHICAGO (CBS) -- An old school way of budgeting is apparently a hot new thing for young adults.

Your grandmother might remember stashing money under the mattress.

Morning Insider Lauren Victory examines the re-surfaced financial trend dubbed "cash stuffing."

She's made it her brand and her business but before "Baddies and Budgets," Jasmine Taylor was broke. The 31-year-old was laid off from a medical job just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I was just really stressed and depressed, you know? So, I was told myself 'This is my last year feeling this way,'" said Taylor who lives in Texas.

She knew she needed a financial education but didn't know where to start. She searched the Internet and found something called "Cash Stuffing."

"Especially when you are low-income, poverty, people of color. We are taught to survive. You're raised on survival. You're not taught to thrive and build wealth," said Taylor who is now the one giving advice on her TikTok and YouTube channels. 

"When I want a new phone, I save here until I can afford it," she says in one video, watched by half a million people. 

The footage shows her cash stuffing - counting out a paycheck bill by bill then literally stuffing the cash into labeled envelopes.

"How much of my check should I be saving? What does that look like?" said Taylor, giving examples of questions she answers while filming herself adding up expenses with old school tools: a pen, paper and calculator.

Her number one tip to start: Identity areas where you overspend by pulling your last two months bank statements. Grab some highlighters and highlight in categories your spending.  

Certified Financial Planner Phillip Shaw from Goldstone Financial Group has mixed feelings about the budgeting trend.

"I think cash stuffing is a great thing for people who really need a budgeting process," he said. "It's not a great way to save or plan for retirement or plan for the long term. You really need to be putting into other vehicles. You need to putting into your company's 401k if you have one."

Taylor touches on investing and retirement in her videos.

She also consistently reviews things she's learned along the way like saving for bills, one month ahead.

"You can literally watch my journey on YouTube from no money to where I am now," Taylor told CBS 2. 

Once broke, she's now booming. She rakes in thousands of dollars a month thanks to sales of her glitzy budgeting binders and envelopes.

Another cash stuffing concern: keeping all that money around could be a security risk.

Financial planner Shaw suggested storing most cash in the bank.

CBS2's Jamaica Ponder has put together a series of short videos to help young people manage their money.

Go to YouTube and search "Cash Clues" to find them.