Frankie Hoy goes viral online as he tests how far $100 goes in New York City
If you’re in NYC it isn’t hard to spend $100 in a heartbeat—a nice meal, or a haircut. Maybe a couple of shirts? While it’s easy to spend it fast, making it last is a different story, and comedian Frankie Hoy wanted to find out.
Hoy is 27 and living in his van in NYC. He’s recently exploded on TikTok, gaining over 100,000 followers since he’s begun his $100 experiment.
In his November 4 video, he bought a coffee ($4.34) and a gallon of water ($3.36). Since then, thousands of people have started following him as he lives his life, recording his daily expenses, such as a cheap but tasty slice of New York pizza, and his savings, like making homemade coffee instead of buying another four-dollar cup. He also saves money by taking advantage of free meals he gets through his job in catering.
His goal is to be transparent about his spending and how he’s able to save money in various ways. Every video in the series ends with him sharing the remaining total from that original $100, and he’s had a few days where he managed to not spend any money at all.
Hoy has said “When I was getting 50,000 [views] I got anxious. I was like: ‘Oh, my God. I don’t know any of these people.’ And then it became hundreds of thousands, and I got anxious again.”
Anxiety not withstanding, he says that overall he’s gotten a mostly positive response to his financial experiment. Before starting this series, he posted stand-up comedy and sketches. He was actually at an open mic when his videos started taking off: “I got all these comments like ‘I’m invested.’ And I was like, ‘In what?’ And then I opened it, and I was like: ‘Oh, thank God. It’s my video.’”
Hoy moved to New York from Perris, California, a year ago. His experiment has not only hugely grown his audience, with some of his videos surpassing one million views, but has also helped him improve his financial savviness, learning to make smarter decisions.
Instead of ordering a whole pizza, he’ll just get a slice, or order from Too Good To Go, an app where restaurants discount and sell their unsold food instead of throwing it out. He’s also stopped drinking alcohol, which is another good money-saver.
Along with the financial lessons, he’s excited by the response people have been having to his experiment, and he’s enjoyed the experience. “I’m really happy I got people interested in following and people to see my stand-up, but I really enjoyed the vlogging part of it,” said Hoy.
His unique style has helped propel his popularity. As a stand-up comedian, he has the skill of making the mundane entertaining, and he brings that to his vlogs, with his specific way of exaggerating the way he says “New York City” or “delicious.” Other creators have taken up the challenge of making $100 last as long as possible, and he’s often tagged in these videos.
As the month wore on, his $100 dollars was whittled down, and on Day 26 he was down to $6.96. But he’s saving some money from his catering job, and he’s also launched merch. With the four shirts he’s already sold, at $18 each, he’s well on the way to another $100.
