April 10, 2026: TikTok Tells You if You Can, Not if You Should
Social media can be a great resource for personal finance. It can be the starting point for making big decisions. It can bring awareness to strategies that you may have never heard of.
Personally, I watch personal finance videos on social media. I like to be up-to-date on the latest trends and hear respected professionals I trust provide their commentary.
But I have to caution anyone using it for making serious financial decisions.
Here are some things I have seen on social media that made me want to write this:
The information is flat out wrong. There’s no other way to say it - the influencers are simply sharing wrong and outdated information.
They’re selling a product or service. It could be a mutual fund, annuity, budgeting apps, or anything in-between.
They don’t know your situation. Influencers will promote strategies that don’t apply to everyone. There was a time when I was hearing a lot about dividend investing. This is a legitimate strategy for some investors, but I was having younger clients ask me about it. Why would a younger client need to shift to a dividend portfolio if they don’t need the income and value portfolio growth instead? They wouldn’t - but nuances aren’t often found on social media.
You are the product. Influencers get paid from ads, subscriptions, and clicks. It is not their job to provide financial planning advice, investment advice, financial analysis, etc.
The illusion of professional advice. They are not credentialed, licensed, or otherwise qualified to give financial advice. Basic advice like saving in a retirement plan is simple enough, but more advanced strategies that impact tax planning, estate planning, and other key areas should be done with care and with the guidance of a professional. When you see hundreds of thousands of views and likes, there is a temptation to believe the influencer knows what they are saying.
Over-emphasis on DIY. Basic advice and strategies are often a great way to use social media. There are some things that you truly don’t need a financial planner for. Do you really need to be told by a professional to have an emergency fund? But, this can go too far. Portfolio construction, rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, estate plan analysis, Roth conversions, and retirement cashflow planning are more involved. You can find social media posts on these topics, but a professional should be hired to bring it all together.
Social media is a two-way street: you can learn a lot from it, but what you learn may not actually be helping you. Make sure you’re using it the right way and hiring a professional for the important stuff.