Young investors tap social media for investing advice, with mixed results
Young investors tap social media for investing advice, with mixed results
Kerry HannonWed, April 8, 2026 at 8:34 AM UTC
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Most investors sift through myriad sources before making an investment decision. Social media is speeding up the process — not always with good results.
A new report from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation dives into how investors use social media and follow “finfluencers” to inform their investment decisions.
“There’s such an inundation of information and such a pressure to act quickly,” Gerri Walsh, president of the FINRA Foundation, recently told me. “It's very simple to make an investing decision that you might regret if you don’t build in a speed hump for yourself.”
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Younger investors are more apt to act on advice from a finfluencer
Those who said they make decisions based on recommendations from a social media personality were mostly younger — 6 in 10 were between age 18 and 34 — while only a tiny sliver, 9%, were 55 or older, according to the report.
“This research shows that social media is a significant resource for investors, but it comes with both potential benefits and costs,” Walsh said. Many people who turn to these sources score low on investment knowledge tests yet tend to be overconfident about their investment savvy, she added.
Read more: The rise of ‘finfluencers:’ Can you really trust financial advice on social media?
Source: “AOL Money”
