Yup, you read that right, there are people taking financial advice from TikTok. When I first read this headline Why Young People Trust TikTok for Financial Advice, my initial reaction is are you kidding me? People are taking financial advice from TikTok creators? Then I read the article and went down a bit of a research rabbit hole. Known as #FinTok, there are users and influencers sending out financial and investment advice. I have yet to watch the videos, I don’t need the nightmares, and I don’t want to mess up my FYP page, but I can only imagine some of the cringe worthy advice that is out there. According to this article, one third of American under sixty-five have from some form of social media. Which brings me to the question, why are people taking advice from influencers on platforms such as TikTok?
My research rabbit hole found little answers, because most of it is filled with warning signs, red flags and other viewer beware warnings. All of them said the same thing, they warned people of scammers, trying to trick people into investing and paying them good money to obtain their “advice”. This article goes into some detail, about spotting a scammer, and how to spot the difference between good and bad advice. Most of it, seems like common sense to me, like checking if the person has credentials to be giving advice, but as the article points out, the younger generation seems to care more about clout than credentials.
Some articles, like this one, talked about the red flags, and then pointed people into the direction of “reputable” financial influencers to follow. But it still didn’t answer my question to why people take financial advice from TikTok. I managed to find out why one influencer started creating content. His reason was to help mitigate the horrible advice that he saw out there (he’s mentioned in two of the articles listed in the references below). Although, it’s hard to say if his content is trustworthy, since the link in the article to his TikTok page doesn’t work and leads you to a spam account.
After my research rabbit hole, I have more questions than answers. And yes, there is probably some good advice out there in the vast TikTok land. I didn’t seek out the advice, because again I don’t want the nightmares, or to ruin my FYP page (I’m happy in my corner of TikTok thank you). I’ll stick to speaking to a professional regarding my financial security and future. Can there be some good advice out there? Probably, but I’m not convinced it’s a good idea to use TikTok as my financial advice resource, even if this article, thinks it’s “awesome,” I’m going to leave this trend in the dust.
What do you think about the idea of taking financial advice from TikTok? Would you take financial advice from a TikTok user?
Facebook: Wait, People are Taking Financial Advice from TikTok? My journey through the research rabbit hole. https://bit.ly/3QfVxHU
Twitter: Using TikTok for Financial Advice? My journey down the research rabbit hole. #FinTok
https://bit.ly/3QfVxHU
References
Slone, Isabel B. (2022, May 30) Why Young People Trust TikTok for Financial Advice. Canadian Business. https://www.canadianbusiness.com/ideas/tiktok-financial-advice-influencers/
Forberg, Sigrid (2022, February 5) Social Media Is a Swamp of Bad Financial Advice, and Experts Are Fighting Back. MoneyWise. https://moneywise.com/investing/investing-basics/tiktok-bad-financial-advice
Lake, Rebecca (2022, February 7) Personal Finance Influencer Red Flags. Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/financial-influencer-red-flags-5217694
Farrington, Robert (2020, July 1) Personal Finance Influencers Are On TikTok, And It’s Awesome. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2020/07/01/personal-finance-influencers-are-on-tiktok-and-its-awesome/?sh=75b732f6079a
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
I think like anything on the internet when you see anything like tips or articles and such, there is always further research needed down the line! Maybe some of the tips are simple like, buying generic brands to save money from name brands at the grocery store, but investing in someone making a video on TikTok? That seems a bit much as “investment advice”.
I think there is harm in this being taken the wrong way but each person has their own responsibility to do their research before believing everything they are told.
Hi Julie,
Awesome blog post! I don’t have TikTok so I can’t speak to this phenomenon but what I can say is that I think that the decision to take financial advice from an influencer would depend on the type of advice they are offering and the person they are taking the advice from.
Sure, some people are out there to scam you and some of the advice out there might not be in your best interest, but I do believe that everyone could use a bit of financial advice from time-to-time. Generic advice on navigating RRSPs and TFSAs, for example, could be helpful to a lot of people. It would be difficult to get this advice across to younger generations since we absorb information so differently from generations before us so perhaps TikTok is the right platform for the job.
I would also add that perhaps those who are sharing advice are actually financial advice specialists and are seeking a way to tap into the younger market of people who are less inclined to pick up the phone and make a call or go for an in-person meeting. In this case, I say “good for them”. At the end of the day, advice, and information found on social media in general should certainly be taken with a grain of salt unless you are able to validate the information as true.