Former Agana Heights resident and digital content creator Natalie Garces.
Natalie Garces received a master’s degree in business analytics through a one-year accelerated program in the University of Washington Tacoma in 2019.
Natalie Garces discusses the topic of “recession” on TikTok.
Natalie Garces educates young folks on how to manage their money on TikTok.
Natalie Garces and her family.
Natalie Garces graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business with a major in marketing and finance in 2018 at the University of Washington Tacoma.
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With 49,700 followers on TikTok, former Agana Heights resident and digital content creator Natalie Garces posts videos on the platform to educate young netizens about personal finances.
“I create personal finance content because school never taught us how to manage our finances, how to invest and save, make money beyond a job, how to pay taxes, deal with student loans and all sorts of debt, the importance of a good credit score for home ownership and how to spend wisely,” said the 24-year old said who is a financial analyst for Puget Sound Energy for three years in the Seattle office where she analyzes and visualizes data so the business can make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Natalie Garces educates young folks on how to manage their money on TikTok.
“After graduating, most of us are faced with this cold reality that so much of adulthood requires needing to manage money but none of us are taught how to,” said Garces who attended Agana Heights Elementary School, Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School, Academy of Our Lady of Guam and Guam High School when she was growing up on Guam. “I firmly believe everyone should have a basic understanding of finance, so that’s why I continue to create content to help the next generation understand money and improve their personal finance journey.”
Growing up, Garces was never the smartest at school, but she lived an unconventional life. On the weekends, her siblings and her would help their parents with construction work, putting together furniture and painting houses.
“I didn’t understand at the time what they were doing or why,” said the daughter of Nympha and Noel Garces. “Later I would come to understand that they were investing in land, building houses and renting these properties as an additional source of income.
Natalie Garces received a master’s degree in business analytics through a one-year accelerated program in the University of Washington Tacoma in 2019.
“My mom also liked to take us to the flea market to sell items from the Philippines,” she added. “In the end, my upbringing and experiences influenced my passion for finance and business.”
Natalie Garces and her family.
Natalie Garces graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business with a major in marketing and finance in 2018 at the University of Washington Tacoma.
During Garces’ undergrad days at the University of Washington Tacoma, she was at a crossroads in deciding her business degree; it was between finance and marketing.
“On one hand, I loved learning how to make and grow money, but on the other I loved the creative side of marketing,” said Garces, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business with a major in marketing and finance in 2018. She went on to get a master’s degree in business analytics through a one-year accelerated program at the University of Washington Tacoma in 2019.
Former Agana Heights resident and digital content creator Natalie Garces.
“My passion for both finance and social media marketing is what ultimately led to me becoming a finance creator,” Garces said, who was known as the finance-savvy friend in her friend group.
So many of her friends, coworkers and family would ask her the same questions of how to invest, what is the S&P 500, what is a stock split, how to save for retirement, news on stocks, what is compound interest and what are ways to earn additional income.
Natalie Garces discusses the topic of “recession” on TikTok.
One problem she was having was the amount of time she spent answering the same questions across different people.
“One night, I was talking to one of my best friends Naga Palepu, and he gave me the brilliant idea of being able to answer all these questions by creating short-form content on TikTok,” said Garces.
She wrote down all the frequently answered questions about finance, made a TikTok account and started posting. She only started creating content two years ago, so she hasn’t been able to make content in Guam.
“My end goal is to be able to have the financial freedom to travel back around the world and back to Guam and be able to create content,” Garces said. “As a digital finance creator, my mission is to create short, digestible videos aimed at helping everyday people get financially literate by providing tips, breaking down simple concepts and providing updates on relevant business news.”
One of the biggest struggles that Garces faced shortly after becoming a content creator was cyberbullying and trolls.
“I have faced ageism as an Asian woman — trolls have said I don’t look old enough to walk to school let alone be talking about money,” Garces said. “I’m still learning how to handle the hate when I do receive it, but the way I view it now is for the thousands of people I help, there will always be a handful that are negative.
“Perspective has allowed me to overcome this challenge — I watched a video from Gary Vee explaining how the trolls behind the screen must be so miserable that they take pleasure in tearing other people down,” she added. “I used to respond to comments to fight back, but now I don’t feed the trolls; instead, I ignore them or will simply take them out of my life by blocking them.”
Garces’ advice for people watching her content is that being good with money has little to do with the knowledge one has and that it has a lot to do with how one behaves.
“In order to achieve financial freedom, you need to be saving and investing a relatively high portion of each paycheck, spending wisely on the things that you need and matter to you most (groceries, experiences, charitable giving, etc.) and making more income through a side hustle or real estate investment (diversify your income, no job is safe in this economy),” Garces said.
In the next five years, her ultimate goal is to become a full time creator and potentially a financial coach.
“I would love to positively impact over 100,000 people on TikTok and grow a YouTube channel where I can collaborate with other finance creators and entrepreneurs in sharing more finance, savings and investing tips,” Garces said.
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I’m impressed. The BEST Class I had in College was Personal Finance. Too bad American youth are financially illiterate. I can just imagine “Here 19 year old kid, sign this Student Loan Document & all of your dreams can come true….”
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