Keke Palmer: Living below my means is 'incredibly important' to me—'if I have $1 million in my pocket, my rent is going to be $1,500'
But the 31-year-old spends her money prudently due to her humble upbringing, she says: Living below her means is her top financial habit for having a secure lifestyle.
"I live under my means. I think it's incredibly important," says Palmer. "If I have $1 million in my pocket, my rent is going to be $1,500 — that's how underneath my means I'm talking. My car note is going to be $340. I don't need a [Bentley] Bentayga, I'll ride in a Lexus."
As a child, Palmer realized that she earned more than her parents. She got her first acting job at age 9 in Ice Cube's 2004 film, "Barbershop 2: Back in Business." By age 13, she had her own credit card and was the star of Nickelodeon's "True Jackson, VP," she says.
"My parents, at their best, made $40,000 a year," Palmer told the "Club Shay Shay" podcast in a November episode. "I was making that a show."
Palmer now tries to follow their example, she says.
"I learned from my parents very early on because they knew their limitations with money and finances," says Palmer. "I believe in saving and frugality ... I don't play around with that."She also shares her wealth with her parents, she noted during her "Club Shay Shay" appearance.
"My dad gave up his pension for me to have an opportunity for my dreams. My mom gave up everything so she could travel with me," Palmer said. "What's mine is theirs and what's theirs is mine ... I would sacrifice 20 more years of my life working in this industry so that I can provide and we can have the business we have today."
Living below your means looks different for everyone. For example, the classic 50-30-20 budgeting rule — 50% of your taxable income for living expenses, 20% for savings and 30% for everything else — is increasingly out of reach for many Americans, CNBC Make It reported in May 2023.
If you can't afford to save 20% of your earnings, start by finding a way to boost your income and minimize your large, fixed expenses, certified financial planner Rachel Camp recommended. That could look like picking up a side hustle, taking on roommates or even rethinking whether you need a car in the city you live in.
Palmer has an additional word of advice for young people, especially young women: "learn up" on economics.
That might mean reading personal finance books, taking a course at a local community college, talking to your money-savvy friend or even using ChatGPT to help you create a monthly budget plan.
"Be curious about that kind of stuff, because you don't want to do things based off of survival," says Palmer. "You want to do them out of choice. That's something that my mom and my dad taught me very early on."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
What kids don't want you to know about Gen Alpha culture
This story originally appeared in , Vox's newsletter about kids, for everyone. . As long as youth culture has existed, adults have been mystified, perplexed, and even threatened by it. At least once a week I think about the scene in A Hard Day's Night, a film released in 1964, in which the Beatles are being interviewed by clueless older journalists. ('What would you call that hairstyle you're wearing?' 'Arthur.') But even seen against the long history of grown-ups not getting it, the culture of Gen Alpha — kids born between about 2010 and 2024 — feels especially hard to pin down. It is famously fragmentary — the monoculture is dead, and if adults aren't all watching the same shows anymore, a lot of kids aren't even watching shows. They're watching short-form video on their phones, sources of entertainment (or personality erosion) so limitless that every kid in the world could, in theory, be consuming a different piece of content right now. Given all this, every time I hear a claim like 'Gen Alpha doesn't laugh at farts,' I'm tempted to ask whether Gen Alpha collectively laughs at — or cries over, or has any sort of aesthetic experience with — anything. Is there a mass culture for kids and teens today? And if so, where does it come from, and what does it look like? When I posed these questions to people who study kids and culture, the answer I got was that while young people probably aren't watching the same things, a lot of them are craving similar experiences from the culture they consume, whether it's movies, YouTube, or, increasingly, video games. They want to feel safe, they want a sense of community, and they really, really want adults to leave them alone. Kids 'are still participating in culture,' said BJ Colangelo, a media theorist and analyst who has spoken about Gen Alpha trends. 'They just are making their own, and they're choosing not to share it with the rest of us.' Kids don't need mass media anymore Young people have never enjoyed being told what to like, and there's always been something organic and chaotic about their engagement with pop culture. At the same time, previous generations did have cultural arbiters and gatekeepers who controlled, to some degree, what they could access. For millennials and Gen Xers, 'magazines, MTV, and the radio were major outlets that were promoting and selling us what 'cool' is,' Colangelo told me. Young people could accept or reject what they were offered, 'but even with that choice, it was still being curated by editors, producers, DJs.' That was also true of culture aimed at younger kids, whose options were circumscribed by conglomerates like Nickelodeon and Disney. Parents also had a lot of involvement in — and veto power over — what kids watched. Your whole family could see what you watched on the TV in the living room, and parents could ban, or at least sneer with disapproval at, shows they found unwholesome. (I can't be the only millennial who looked forward to sleepovers as a time to watch R-rated movies after the grown-ups went to bed.) Today, media companies still try to manufacture hits, and sometimes they succeed. But kids no longer need to go through those companies to get their entertainment. And while parents can set screen time limits and put controls on children's phones or iPads, kids are notoriously great at getting around them. The result is a cultural landscape dominated by social media, one in which nearly half of younger kids' viewing time takes place on YouTube, TikTok, or other social platforms. You could certainly think of social media trends as shared cultural experiences within that landscape — indeed, many of the touchstones of youth culture that have received mainstream media coverage in recent years have been trends that managed to spill over into offline life, like the phenomenon of young people wearing suits to the film Minions: The Rise of Gru (incidentally, this trend appears to have been promoted by Universal Pictures, the studio that distributed Minions). Trends can be shared cultural experiences like the popular shows or movies of previous generations. The difference is that there are so many of them, and they pop up and flame out so quickly, said Jenna Jacobson, an associate professor of retailing at Toronto Metropolitan University who studies social media. 'Young people are experiencing a series of these micro mass events, which could be a sound or a meme, or a particular brand.' At the same time, 'social media allows many micro-communities to exist, which means that not everybody is seeing the same thing at the same time' — until something becomes big enough that it permeates everyone's feed, Jacobson said. Some of those big trends come from movies like Minions or Barbie, but a lot of them come from video games. It's no accident that A Minecraft Movie, one of the most popular films with Gen Alpha to date, is based on a massively popular game. In a survey of 10- to 24-year-olds last year by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA, only 12 percent reported not playing games. 'More than a lot of things, it is a unifying culture,' Yalda T. Uhls, founder and CEO of the center, told me. 'When my kid, at 21, was hanging out with a 6-year-old, they were playing Minecraft together.' What kids want from media now Young people today crave a sense of connection, Uhls said: 'In a world where kids are not allowed to run outside, there aren't as many spaces for them, or they're overscheduled, gaming is a place they can gather.' It's no surprise that a generation of kids who spent formative years in lockdowns and remote school would feel starved for community. To me, another desire was more striking: The top goal for Gen Alpha and Gen Z, according to research by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers, is to feel safe. But if part of what kids want is to be safe from us, maybe we need to pay attention to that. This took me aback a little because a lot of what I think of as archetypal Gen Alpha content — Skibidi toilet, for example — can feel jarring, choppy, and a little scary. But Uhls points out that young people in 2025 are facing down climate disaster, rampant inequality, and active shooter drills at their schools. For them, gaming, and media in general, can be a source of comfort. And kids don't just want to be safe from the very real threats to their lives and livelihoods, Colangelo told me. They also want to be safe from the constant evaluation and judgment of adults. Gen Alpha 'has come of age in the social media surveillance state that we are all suffering under,' Colangelo said. 'So many of them already have a digital footprint that they never consented to because their parents posted them online when they were babies.' They're drawn especially to sandbox games and open-world games like Roblox and Minecraft because those games allow them to 'make their own realities and mini games and communities away from the watchful eye of Big Brother,' Colangelo said. 'It allows them to have something that they are in complete control over.' A Minecraft Movie was such a success not just because it was based on a game, but because it was truly for kids, not for their parents. 'So much of the mainstream culture right now is based on nostalgia,' Colangelo said. 'It's stuff their parents, their siblings, or even their grandparents like. Minecraft is very much their thing.' Adults often deride young people today for craving safe spaces, being afraid of anything new, different, or difficult. But if part of what kids want is to be safe from us, maybe we need to pay attention to that. I don't want to be too much of a Pollyanna — kids, like adults, are certainly capable of wasting time watching AI slop or its equivalent (don't ask me about the video my kid loves in which a toddler is inexplicably stung by a caterpillar). It's also the case that if kids are spending all their time within their microcommunities or on their highly-curated feeds, they're less likely to discover new artists or ideas, Colangelo pointed out. At the same time, a lot of kids' media habits can be understood as bids for autonomy, Colangelo said. They're really 'against things that are being force fed to them.' That's scary for adults who, sometimes understandably, want some say over what kids see and hear and play. But it's also a message about what we've taken away from a generation of kids, and what we might need to give back. What I'm reading The Department of Health and Human Services has said that its upcoming second MAHA report will include solutions for improving kids' health. But a draft report obtained by the New York Times does not include restrictions on pesticides, which experts say are necessary to reverse the increase in children's chronic disease. Oklahoma will require teachers from California and New York (and only those two states) to take a certification test showing they know 'the biological differences between females and males,' among other topics, before they can teach in Oklahoma. (The state's superintendent of schools previously announced that all teachers would need to incorporate the Bible into curricula.) Wired asked a group of kids what they think of AI. My favorite is Leo Schodorf, who tries to be polite to ChatGPT because, 'if they take over the world, and they're destroying everyone, then maybe they'll be like, this guy says please and thank you.'My little kid has been enjoying Zog, about a dragon who becomes an ambulance, kind of. Also, journalist Alyssa Rosenberg has started a new Substack all about children's books, and you can check it out here. Solve the daily Crossword
USA Today
11 hours ago
- USA Today
Jon Jones fires back at Daniel Cormier for not including him in MMA Mount Rushmore
Former UFC rivals Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier likely never will stop bickering at each other. Cormier was asked to give his MMA Mount Rushmore, where he included Demetrious Johnson, Georges St-Pierre, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and mentioned either Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture as a potential fourth. He noticeably left out Anderson Silva and arch rival Jon Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) because of their past history with testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. "I don't believe that he (Jones) should be considered the greatest of all time," Cormier said on "Club Shay Shay." "Steroids in fighting is much different than anything else in the world." Jones defeated Cormier twice during his UFC light heavyweight title reign – with their rematch overturned to a no contest after Jones tested positive for a turinabol metabolite. Jones also tested positive for estrogen blockers clomiphene and letrozole in 2016 after he defeated Ovince Saint Preux. In both instances, an independent arbitrator determined that Jones did not knowingly cheat. "You just can't have that tied to your name, especially in fighting, and people call you the greatest of all time," Cormier said. "He's the greatest talent the sport has ever seen. In terms of his length, his skills, his mind, he's the most talented guy we've ever had." Jones was not going to allow Cormier to question his greatness. "When DC tells his story, somehow I'm always the co-star. Thanks @ShannonSharpe84for the invite, even if I was only there in spirit. #Airbnb." "High school state champ, JUCO national champ, youngest UFC champion, greatest in MMA history. A lifetime of loss, victories and sacrifice and this guy wants to write it all off as steroids. Honestly, it's insulting. But I can't help but laugh, knowing it was God given abilities that made him feel so inferior."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Gen Alpha Is Ditching Kids' TV for Twitch and YouTube—Should Parents Be Worried?
Ahead, learn more about Gen Alpha's media habits and how to create healthy boundaries around screen time and 'unfiltered' viewing. Fact checked by Sarah Scott Key Points Kids today watch more YouTube and Twitch than traditional TV, giving them control over what they see and when they see it. Live streams and other unfiltered media can expose kids to risky or inappropriate content, so adult guidance is key. Talking openly and watching with your child helps build trust and teaches safe digital habits. In past generations, kids turned on the TV to watch PBS, Saturday morning cartoons, the Disney Channel, or Nickelodeon. Today, most of what kids watch isn't a scripted sitcom, preschool learning program, or goofy cartoon—it's user-generated content on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Generation Alpha, or children born between 2010 and 2024, is a digital-first generation. They've never lived in a world without the internet, social media, YouTube, or the iPhone—and this is clearly reflected in their viewing preferences. Instead of tuning into a tween-centric TV show on Nickelodeon, they're watching someone play a video game on Twitch or watching their peers open packages (also known as an 'unboxing') on YouTube. Media habits have always evolved across generations, but algorithm-driven feeds and live streaming present a whole new set of challenges and questions for parents, including limited parental controls, unpredictable content quality, and potential behavioral impacts. 'Traditional television was scheduled, passive, and standardized. It couldn't compete with the on-demand, personalized, and interactive nature of platforms like YouTube and later TikTok and Twitch,' says clinical psychologist Michael Wetter, PsyD, ABPP, FAACP. 'Children now grow up in an environment where they don't wait for a show to air—they expect content to be instantly available, tailored to their interests, and socially integrated. They don't just watch content—they remix it, comment on it, and share it with peers. It's not just entertainment; it's how they express identity, participate in culture, and feel seen." Generation Alpha's Media Habits, Explained Millennial and Gen Z kids grew up spoiled by great TV programming, including quality learning-focused shows like Nick Jr.'s Dora the Explorer and Disney Channel's fun, relatable tween sitcoms like Hannah Montana and That's So Raven. While shows like these still exist (Dora even got a modern reboot) Gen Alpha has shifted their viewing habits almost entirely online. Popular shows like CoComelon, Blippi, and Ms. Rachel got their start on YouTube, and need we remind you of the massive success of Pinkfong's 'Baby Shark' song? Creators like twins Vlad and Niki became popular on the platform with their user-generated preschool show, which has since become available on streaming services like Prime Video. According to Precise TV, 87% of kids ages 2-5 prefer to watch YouTube over other services. Common Sense Media also reports that children are watching fewer traditional TV shows but gaming more, with 40% of 2-year-olds already owning a tablet. "Unlike traditional TV, digital platforms let them choose the content, interact with it, and even become creators themselves. That level of control and customization is something cable could never compete with." Titania Jordan The appeal is clear: most kids watch YouTube on a phone or tablet, which parents often hand over to keep them occupied in restaurants, in waiting rooms, or during car rides. (That's where the term 'iPad kid' comes from.) 'YouTube and other phone-based apps are available anywhere,' says Devorah Heitner, PhD, author of the book Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World. 'It's to the appeal for busy, on-the-go families.' And Gen Alpha can watch whatever they want, whenever they want it, which anyone who waited by the TV hoping to catch a specific episode of their favorite show back in the '80s or '90s can tell you is a luxury. 'Unlike traditional TV, digital platforms let them choose the content, interact with it, and even become creators themselves,' adds Titania Jordan, chief parenting officer of Bark Technologies, a company that helps keep kids safer online. 'That level of control and customization is something cable could never compete with.' What to Know About Twitch While younger kids gravitate toward YouTube, older kids are more likely to be on Twitch. The streaming platform has long been popular with teenagers—more than 40% of its users are between the ages of 16 and 24, the majority of them male. Twitch began as an online gaming platform, but has since grown to include more first-person 'day in the life' content. Popular streamers like Kai Cenat and Clix have attracted tons of new viewers to the platform, and Twitch has become a modern way for teens to create community and find new friends. Scott H. Kollins, PhD, clinical psychologist and chief medical officer of Aura, points out that streaming isn't just a way for kids to share their hobbies. 'For some, it's about chasing a bigger dream. Streaming is now seen as a real career path,' he shares. 'Just like some kids dream of being pro athletes, others hope to become big-time streamers or esports stars. Even if only a few make it that far, the idea that it's possible is really exciting.' But because Twitch streams are live and not edited or censored like traditional TV programming, there are more risks involved regarding what young viewers may see onscreen. 'Children can be exposed to sudden shifts in tone or content that range from mildly inappropriate to deeply disturbing—often without warning,' explains Dr. Wetter. 'A streamer might begin with lighthearted gaming and suddenly veer into profanity, personal rants, or emotionally volatile behavior.' Dr. Wetter also flags Twitch's chat feature, which can expose children to 'toxic interactions, harassment, even grooming behavior.' Twitch has also come under fire for being an easy place for predators to interact with young users; in 2023, Bloomberg News analyzed over 1,000 Twitch Clips—or short, snackable videos similar to YouTube Shorts and TikTok—to find that 'at least 83 of the short videos contain sexualized content involving children.' And because kids often share details casually, they may accidentally reveal where they live or go to school without realizing the safety implications. Twitch doesn't allow children under 13 to create an account on the platform, but kids determined to get online can find workarounds. Even older tweens and teens can separate authenticity and performance, says Dr. Wetter. Children are always watching people around them and modeling their behavior as such, and they may be taking cues from streamers without recognizing that much of what they're watching is performance. 'Because livestream platforms prioritize engagement, streamers may act out in exaggerated, often reckless ways to hold attention or elicit donations,' says Dr. Wetter. What to Know About YouTube YouTube, built on an algorithm designed to show viewers more content they may enjoy and thus keep them on the platform longer, has long been criticized for exposing kids to questionable content, ads, and clickbait. In 2015, the platform launched YouTube Kids as a safer, more curated option, though its safety parameters haven't always been the most foolproof. Some creators have even used popular kids' characters like Elsa or Spider-Man to slip through the platform with inappropriate content, also known as 'Elsagate.' While YouTube Kids can feel like a safer choice, experts suggest still paying attention to what your kid is watching. 'YouTube Kids offers a more curated environment, but it's far from foolproof,' says Jordan. 'Content can still slip through, and recommendation algorithms often favor engagement over appropriateness.' When it comes to YouTube and YouTube Kids, 'nothing replaces active supervision and conversation,' she says. Parents should be actively involved in what their kids are clicking on and consuming; for every one Ms. Rachel, there are 10 videos that could be filled with inappropriate content for young viewers. 'Filters can help, but YouTube is the wild west in terms of content,' says Heitner. 'Kids can stumble on very harmful violent, sexual, and hateful content.' In recent years, there has also been a noted increase in AI content targeted at children. The Impact of Unfiltered Viewing Children's physical and emotional safety may be at risk, but their development can also be impacted by constant streaming. 'The real issue is not whether children are watching something 'safe' in the legal or moral sense—it's whether what they're consuming is shaping their expectations, their self-image, and their ability to tolerate the real world,' says Dr. Wetter. 'When children have unfiltered, unrestricted access to this type of content, they begin to rely on it not just for entertainment, but for emotional regulation.' This could show up as tantrums or conflicts around screen time, trouble focusing in school, or the inability to speak person-to-person without devices, he says. Because devices are always within reach, kids' screen time habits are affecting their sleep and mood, which may impact their schoolwork and day-to-day behavior. 'Children are losing the ability to self-regulate emotionally without external stimulation. They're staying up late watching autoplay videos, checking notifications the moment they wake up, and struggling to manage the sensory overload that comes from hours of screen exposure,' says Dr. Wetter. He also notes that kids today don't experience boredom like prior generations. 'Their ability to experience boredom—which is actually an important developmental skill—diminishes,' he says. 'In real-time, clinicians, educators, and parents are witnessing the downstream effects of what we might call poor digital hygiene.' A recent study from the Journal of the American Heart Association even found that kids and teens who spend more time on screens may be at higher risk for heart issues in the future. How to Keep Viewing Safe It's difficult to go cold turkey and prohibit your kids from these channels and platforms entirely. Dr. Wetter recommends setting clear, consistent, and age-appropriate boundaries around screen time. 'Instead of reacting with punishments or lectures when screen time becomes an issue, parents can establish daily tech-free zones, like mealtimes or the hour before bed, and create screen schedules that balance passive consumption with active play, school, and sleep,' he shares. Offer alternatives to YouTube and Twitch, like sports, music, art, playtime, or family time. Dr. Kollins suggests 'creating structure' around screen time, including time limits, privacy tools, regular check-ins, or making a family media agreement where parents and kids align on rules and expectations around screen time. For older kids, Jordan says to start the conversation with 'curiosity, not judgement.' She recommends asking your children what they're watching and why they like it. 'Consider watching together when you can. This helps you learn what your child likes and what the content presents to them,' she explains. 'The most powerful tool is still an ongoing, open conversation.' In fact, being actively interested and involved in what your kids are watching, no matter their age, is one of the most important things parents can do to keep their kids safe online. 'As parents, one of the best things we can do is help guide that exploration rather than shut it down,' says Dr. Kollins. 'Allowing kids to engage with digital content while they're still at home gives us a chance to support them when things get confusing, complicated, or overwhelming.' Screen Time Limits Matter for Parents, Too Parents should also practice what they preach when it comes to screens, phones, and tablets. 'Modeling healthy digital behavior—like putting phones away during conversations, prioritizing face-to-face connection, and valuing rest—also teaches children how to develop a healthier relationship with their devices,' says Dr. Wetter. Teach kids media literacy skills and tools to help them navigate what's OK to watch and what they should stay away from, as well as how to separate what's real and what is entertainment. 'Explain that influencers are often being paid to promote products, that videos are edited to seem more exciting than they really are, or that many online personas are exaggerated for effect can help children separate entertainment from reality,' says Dr. Wetter. 'Think of it like scaffolding. It's there to prop them up and for safety, but as time goes on and they can stand on their own, it can slowly come away,' Dr. Kollins explains. 'The goal isn't to control every moment; it's to create balance. That way, they get to build the digital skills and resilience they'll need while still knowing we're here to help when they need us.' Read the original article on Parents Solve the daily Crossword
