A new survey suggests that young consumers who use social media to learn about complex financial topics may be savvy enough to understand the pitfalls.
Given increasing inflation, stagnant wages, and spiraling student loan debt, it’s no wonder that Gen Z has an interest in personal finance. But while previous generations likely learned about investing and saving from financial textbooks, a new survey reveals that the majority of Gen Z learn about the subject from social media platforms like TikTok.
According to the survey by WallStreetZen, 76% of Gen Z admit to turning to platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit for financial education. When you look at the most popular social media platforms Gen Z relies on for financial instruction, the breakdown is as follows:
- TikTok: 42%
- YouTube: 27%
- Reddit: 14%
- Instagram: 10%
- X/Twitter: 4%
- Facebook: 2%
- Others: 1%
As for the types of financial topics that Gen Z uses the above platforms to learn about, saving and budgeting comes in first place, with 81% of respondents saying they seek out information about the topic. Passive income and stock market investing take second and third place at 63% and 59%, respectively.
Here’s how the most popular financial topics compare in the survey:
- Saving and budgeting: 81%
- Passive income: 63%
- Investing in the stock market: 59%
- Retirement planning: 34%
- Debt: 26%
- Investing in cryptocurrency: 24%
- Investing in real estate: 22%
- Investing in other assets: 18%
Of course, if you’ve spent any time browsing TikTok videos about the topics above, you’ll know that while there are some accounts that do offer accurate and valuable personal finance advice, TikTok and other social media platforms can also be a minefield of incorrect or purposefully misleading financial advice and bogus get-rich-quick schemes.
Thankfully, a majority of Gen Z respondents said that they are aware of the pitfalls of social media financial advice.
- 83% of respondents said they were aware they had encountered misleading information about personal finance on social media.
- 82% said they were aware that personal finance advice on social media platforms often tends to oversimplify things, particularly on TikTok due to its short-form video format.
- 63% said they were aware that social media-derived personal financial advice often lacks personalized guidance for an individual’s unique situation.
For its survey, WallStreetZen polled 1,002 Americans aged 18 to 26 between September 1, 2023, and September 6, 2023.
