As a brand-new Pom mom (aka Pomeranian servant caretaker), I am getting used to having a little ball of fluff in the bed with me. I have turned into a light sleeper in a concerted effort to not roll over onto my newly acquired pup, which leads to a fair amount of late-night doom scrolling on Instagram. This is where I’ve discovered my new favourite subsection of “Influencers”, the “Finfluencers”!
According to Investopedia: “A personal finance influencer is someone who uses social media platforms to offer tips and insight on money to their followers. These are often everyday people who use their own experiences with money to help others solve their financial problems.”
I’m torn as I write this because the majority of the finfluencers I watched were young, adorable and overwhelmingly female (yay for the industry!). Their posts and videos about fairly basic financial concepts, such as budgeting, are peppered in with photos of them in luxury cars, at warm beach locales or clad in the latest fashion/makeup trends. I’ve been working in this industry for 18 years and notably my trips to warm beach locales are quite limited, and my latest fashion trends tend to be the newest wool pants in the “work” section with maybe an argyle sweater to mix it up, but I digress. My interest was piqued, so I investigated a few of these finfluencers!
Just as I anticipated, no licensing, registration or regulation is required to be a finfluencer on social media. I can’t say I’m surprised. A lot of the advice offered by finfluencers is in relation to concepts such as budgeting, saving, credit building, first home purchase, paying for a wedding, all clearly topics of interest to a younger demographic. With the average age of financial advisors in Canada close to age 47 as of 2022, I can see how a finfluencer is a lot more relatable to the up-and-coming generation than someone much older behind a big cherry oak desk. Lucky for me, I’m not “much older” and my office is minimalistic, but I digress again.
Not one of the finfluencers I scrolled through gave bad advice per se. It’s advice for anybody starting out to set themselves up for a good financial future. The advice commonly was along the lines of track your spending, maximize your RRSP/TFSA accounts, avoid credit card debt, and the like. There were some red flags while scrolling and I’d like to highlight those, as the consequences can be grave.
Just because someone has tens of thousands of followers on social media doesn’t mean that they are qualified in their area of influence, as demonstrated by the lack of licensing and regulation discussed previously. Often times they poke fun at “Crypto Bros” like Aiden Pleterski, completely forgetting that their qualifications mimic his. That is, none.
Beware of any finfluencers selling a course, product, or service on social media. You would be best served to look up the finfluencer on their regulatory body’s website to ensure they are licensed and qualified to talk about the end course/product/service they are talking about and trying to sell you. Hot stock tips especially about “trendy” investments such as crypto should be considered only with all the parameters of someone’s financial situation in mind. An online finfluencer is likely busier marketing than having one-on-one appointments with long-term clients to determine if a course of action is appropriate… that is, assuming they are licensed to see clients at all.
Get-rich-quick schemes thrive in economies where costs of living are skyrocketing. The appeal of taking a short-term, high-risk position in an investment you don’t understand (think dot-com, think crypto) is high, but it’s best to consider your full financial situation before making any large moves.
All in all, I enjoyed the time I doom scrolled through finfluencer pages, but it’s to be taken with a big flaky grain of Himalayan sea salt. In the information age, it can be difficult to sift fact from fiction, and often times fiction is packaged in a very appealing way with an effort to conceal risks. I would suggest that you sit down with a qualified financial professional before you consider implementing any strategies you’ve heard of online, to determine if it is right for you, particularly without knowing the background of the person offering it to you. Here’s to a good financial future!
Bharathi Sandhu is a Sr. Business Development Specialist with Raymond James Ltd. Information provided is not a solicitation and although obtained from sources considered reliable, is not guaranteed. The view and opinions contained in the article are those of the author, not Raymond James Ltd. This article provides links to other Internet sites for the convenience of users. Raymond James Ltd. is not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites, nor does Raymond James Ltd. endorse, warrant or guarantee the products, services or information described or offered at these other Internet sites. Users cannot assume that the external sites will abide by the same privacy policy which Raymond James Ltd adheres to. Raymond James Ltd. member of Canadian Investor Protection Fund.
