As More Americans Turn to FinTok for Financial Guidance, Experts Urge Caution

I’ll freely admit – I’m too old to be a so-called “digital native,” and don’t find social media especially compelling.

That may seem to disqualify me from weighing in on this topic, but if you give me a couple of minutes by reading on, I think you can still gain something.

So…

What Is FinTok?

FinTok is a sub-community of TikTokers who post content on financial topics ranging from real estate to stocks, crypto, Roth IRAs, side hustling, paying off debt – you name it, there’s likely a host of TikTok videos about it.

And it’s become a huge hit. So much so, that “The hashtag #FinTok, representing just the financial TikTok community, has more than 4.7 billion views on the platform.”, according to CNBC.

On average, that’s more than one for every two people on the planet!

Is all this helpful?

What Do FinTok Users Say?

A survey commissioned by banking app Chime and conducted last month by Talker Research asked how Americans use TikTok in general, and FinTok specifically, to improve their financial knowledge. Talker Research surveyed 2000 Americans who use FinTok, giving equal representation to Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers, at 500 each.

The survey found that, in 2024, users gained an average of 42 pieces of financial knowledge from FinTok. Unsurprisingly, the results skewed young, with Gen Z learning 49 bits of such knowledge compared to 44 for Millennials and 32 for Baby Boomers.

Some popular content areas were:

•  “Side hustling” at 38%
• “Pay off debt” — 25%
• “Passive income” — 25%
• “Budgeting/saving” — 25%
• “Investing” — 24%
• “Credit/credit scores” — 22%
• “Inflation” — 20%
• “Crypto investing” — 20%
• “No spend challenge” — 20%
• “Cash flow” — 19%
• “Cash stuffing” — 17%
• “100 envelope method” — 16%

Nearly 2 in 3 (65%) of those surveyed reported feeling more financially secure overall and even more users (68%) said their home financial situation improved. 

Drilling deeper, users reported seeing benefits – 46%, learning something new – 36%, and feeling more confident in their financial knowledge – 33%.

As a result of their positive experience, the majority (53%) plan to use FinTok even more in 2025 than they did in 2024.

Where Else Do These Americans Get Their Financial Knowledge?

Survey respondents said that before FinTok, they would turn to family members (47%) or friends (40%) for financial advice.

While only 8% each of Baby Boomers and Gen X learned about finances in an organized manner (e.g., in school), more than 1 in 4 (27%) of Gen Z did so.

Online, more reported they would turn to other social media platforms for information (40%) compared to dedicated financial websites and blogs (37%).

Half of FinTok users think the information they get there is better than other sources and 44% think that if you aren’t on social media you’re missing out both financially and otherwise. However, since the survey only asked FinTok users, this result isn’t representative of all Americans.

Can You Trust What FinTok Influencers (or Finfluencers) Say?

Many of the most followed FinTokkers are legitimate financial experts – some specific example backgrounds or credentials include:

• Financial planner
• Real estate investor
• Crypto investor
• Stock analyst
• Lawyer

These people do their best to provide accurate and helpful information in an entertaining and engaging way.

However…

According to Paxful, “1 in 7 videos from TikTok’s finance influencers is misleading… 14% of the TikTok videos we analyzed were identified as encouraging users to make certain financial decisions without carrying a disclaimer. We flagged any that encouraged users to buy specific assets, implied an investment would guarantee a profit, and urged users to invest a particular amount of their income.”

They continue to reports that these videos were viewed tens of millions of times, garnering millions of likes, and that the influencers in question boast nearly 10 million followers.

Worse, only 1 in 10 were open about their qualifications (or likely lack thereof).

CNBC reported that research conducted by the CFA Institute found that only 1 in 5 pieces of finfluencer content recommending specific investments included any disclosure about, e.g., any conflicts of interest.

In fact, a 2021 national survey conducted by Greenlight Financial Technology, Inc. found that “Nearly half of teens (48%) are learning about investing from social media despite ranking it as one of the least trustworthy sources for investing advice…” (my emphasis).

What Do the Pros Say?

Zack Gutches, Founder & Lead Financial Planner at True Riches Financial Planning says, “The biggest problem with social media marketing (especially TikTok) is viewers mistake general financial education for personalized advice. Personal finance is deeply personal, and consumers often don’t have the knowledge, expertise, or time to successfully implement the various strategies that are broadly advertised on social media.”

Will Nunn, CFP®, CEPA, Financial Planner, and founder of Horizon Financial Planning agrees and expands, “I will not put things on TikTok. I do plan to post some informative content on other social channels, but I have to be careful not to be too detailed. We don’t want people using particular items or concepts when they don’t apply to them and then getting upset when it’s not advice and not applicable to their situation. 

“This is a big reason why you don’t see a lot of hard-hitting, specific, informative content on social. It can also be seen as a negative and bring real financial planners down to the level of finfluencers and it’s easy for people to think all finfluencers know what they’re talking about when many don’t. 

“We get paid to be specific and clear, and if you’re going to put out financial content, know what you’re talking about. If it were up to me, I would make anyone giving financial tips on social media have a tag or banner stating if they are a licensed professional and how they get paid (selling products or a course, etc.). 

“As planners and advisers, we have to be transparent about our business practices, expertise, licensure, and how we make money. I see no reason why other people, also supposed ‘experts,’ don’t have to do the same. The viewer needs to be able to easily find out who they’re getting content from, how much those people actually know, and how they get paid. 

“That last part will help reveal if there is a potential conflict of interest. For example, if you sell real estate courses of course you will make real estate look like the one-stop shop for wealth creation and tax control, when in fact real estate can quickly go badly if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Sean Williams, Founder at Cadence Wealth Partners has a somewhat different take, “We are in the process of using TikTok as a platform for our outreach, as a recommendation from clients who love our humorous videos. I think the pitfall is the large amount of misinformation and half-truths out there. 

“Many creators on the platform don’t intend to provide relevant and practical financial literacy. Their interest is to create a following and generate clicks. Often the mechanisms to do this are outlandish claims and sensational taglines or hooks. 

“Just like in most areas of life, my personal belief is that the fewer restrictions the better. People are responsible for their own actions. It is the consumer’s job to do their due diligence before implementing things they learn on social media. However, if people sell financial products or provide financial advice, they should be subject to the same compliance and advertising restrictions that any other advisor is subject to.”

Is FinTock in Your Future?

Many professionals with extensive training and knowledge provide accurate and valid information on TikTok in general and through the FinTok subcommunity specifically.

Consuming content from these people will likely benefit users, at least insofar as it increases their financial knowledge and competence.

However, users must keep in mind that many FinTok videos fail on one or more of the following counts.

• Inaccurate
• Misleading
• Not valid for you as a specific user
• Intended to benefit the video poster rather than the user
• Outright scams

In this arena, perhaps more than in many other domains, caveat emptor (Latin for “let the buyer beware”).

Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be considered financial advice. You should consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.