MARTECH MINUTES: Social Media – Financial Friend or Foe?

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CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - Feb. 05,2021: Man holding Apple iPhone 8 with icons of social media on screen and laptop. Social media are most popular tool. Smartphone lifestyle. Starting social media app.

By Teresa Leno

Financial content on social media

Social media is an ever-changing landscape with new platforms arising often and a varying level of attention on each. Short-form content on social media platforms has become important to financial content creators like Humphrey Yang (2.7 million followers) and Graham Stephan (285.1k followers).

Americans turn to social media for financial guidance

survey released by NAPFA found that more than one-third (39%) of Americans under age 65 receive their financial advice online or from social media. And one-fourth of Gen Z Americans receive their financial advice from social media. Of those respondents who find their financial advice online, 60% say they have acted on the information.

While it is exciting to see young people more engaged in their finances and content writers creating financial articles, turning to social media personalities instead of a trusted financial professional can lead to misinformed decisions. Taking advice not relevant to your financial situation can cause unnecessary risk and potential harm if the information is inaccurate.

Not feeling prepared for retirement

The same survey found that over one-third (34%) of Millennials and Generation Z Americans say that a lack of financial guidance harms their ability to prepare for retirement, with the concern increasing with age. 34% of Millennials feel the most unprepared, with Gen Z close behind at 30%.

Only 22% of Millennials and 19% of Gen Z respondents have retirement savings in an IRA, while 35% of Baby Boomers and 23% of Gen X claim to have an IRA. Many individuals are even considering side gigs to boost contributions to retirement savings.

Different generations, different attitudes toward money

Gen Z receives most of their financial advice on social media from YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, while millennials get their information from YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The data shows that people are looking for trustworthy financial information in a streamlined and easy-to-digest format.  The data also indicates that they feel left behind or neglected by financial institutions.

If you are a financial professional, having a presence on social media with relevant financial content helps position you as the trusted expert that can help solve their financial and retirement savings problems.

We help financial professionals and their organizations create a solid financial content marketing plan using our content distribution tools and content library. For organizations with 25 or more advisors, we put compliance, marketing, and advisors on the same page using the same technology.

Contact Fresh Finance to learn more about their enterprise MarTech SaaS content tool for firms with 25 or more advisors


Teresa Leno worked as a financial advisor and experienced firsthand the importance of financial education to help clients make more informed decisions before a crisis. Through her experience, Fresh Finance was started as a financial content marketing solution to help advisors validate their expertise through sharing content.