The emergence of finfluencers on social media raises questions about when guidance becomes advice and what information consumers should trust, according to this week’s guests on the FT Adviser podcast.
Mortgage brokers and financial advisers have joined social media and are increasingly doing live streams on platforms such as TikTok to answer any questions people may have about their finances.
But while they know to steer clear of the advice boundary, others may not be so savvy.
This raises the question of whether this blends advice and guidance.
Appearing on the podcast Stephen Perkins, managing director at YellowBrick Mortgages, said there was a fine line between educating people and giving advice.
He said: “Those that come from a regulated background, such as mortgage brokers, tend to be on the right side of that line because they have compliance departments and will be aware of their boundaries.
“But there is a growing number of influences on social media now that are talking about financial matters that do not come from that background and have definitely stepped over that line to give very specific advice to the masses which may not be appropriate.”
Financial coach Philly Ponniah, who also appeared on the podcast, said despite her wealth management background she would always pass clients on to advisers when they have more complex issues which give way to advice.
She said: “I get a lot of people who come to me who say they wouldn't even know where to start looking for a financial adviser.
“These people then go out and start looking for some of these answers. The number of searches for personal finance information is so high on TikTok.
“There's a real demand for the knowledge and people kind of go against wanting to find someone who's typically a man in a suit so they look for someone who they can go and ask.”
Perkins said people putting out financial content could add disclaimers saying they were not giving advice but at the end of the day they had to realise their followers will take it as advice and will act upon it.
“I wouldn't get medical advice from someone on TikTok but a lot of people are putting faith in TikTok for some of their biggest financial decisions,” he said.
The FT Adviser Podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Acast, Google Podcasts and most other major podcast platforms.
amy.austin@ft.com
