As social media and AI tools flood the internet with financial tips of varying quality, advisers see a turning point where expert guidance becomes increasingly valued amid widespread misinformation and client confusion.
Financial advisers are finding that the flood of online money tips, from TikTok videos to chatbot answers, is not only creating confusion for clients but also opening the door to deeper conversations about planning, risk and trust. What looks like a threat to professional advice is, in some cases, becoming a reason for clients to seek out an expert rather than rely on the internet alone.
The appeal of digital finance content is easy to see. Social platforms are packed with clips on investing, exchange-traded funds, debt management and side hustles, while artificial intelligence tools can produce instant responses on almost any money question. Yet the quality of that guidance is often uneven. Allan Boomer, chief investment officer at Momentum Advisors, said much of what he sees online is wrong, and many of the loudest voices are influencers with little or no formal financial training. Uchechi Kalu, founder of Greenlight Financial Planning in Los Angeles, said clients increasingly arrive with ideas shaped by “get rich quick” schemes or oversimplified strategies that ignore the realities of their own circumstances.
The scale of the problem is reflected in recent industry research. Talker Research found that the average FinTok user spent more than 400 hours scrolling financial content in 2025. S&P Global has said only about one-third of adults worldwide understand basic financial concepts, while a CFP Board survey found that 75% of respondents had searched for financial advice online in the previous month. Another CFP Board survey released in June found that 57% of Americans had made regrettable financial decisions after acting on misleading online information, and only 39% believed online financial content was serving their best interests.
For advisers, the response is not to shut the conversation down but to meet it head-on. Boomer said clients who bring in questions from social media are giving advisers a chance to show their value, while Kalu said the real work is helping people filter the noise and apply only what fits their situation. The CFP Board has also tried to equip professionals with a toolkit for countering misinformation, reflecting a wider industry view that the rise of “finfluencers” and AI-generated answers makes human judgement, context and accountability more important, not less. In that sense, the internet may be expanding the market for bad advice, but it is also reminding clients why personalised financial planning still matters.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
