Aadi Gujral first realized that
"I never really thought it was a big deal to be on TikTok 24/7," Gujral says. "I used to be that kid that always had an airpod in my ear, walking around just in my own world. We're such a digital generation, but we're so disconnected from the world and it made me really think about what type of impact this could have long term."
Gujral is far from alone in
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"Not all advice is from certified professionals and a one-size-fits-all approach often overlooks individual financial circumstances," says Chad Willardson, president and founder of Pacific Capital, a California-based wealth management firm. "Sensational success stories can also promote risky behavior. I've seen videos with millions of views and thousands of likes and comments where the investing advice was completely wrong."
Gujral, now 17, looked outside of TikTok for
"Kids nowadays don't know what a budget is," Gujral says. "Some don't even know how a credit card works. This has an effect on our future and yet financial education is not taught in school. That really made me wake up to this topic and want to start an initiative around it."
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Gujral's platform is still being developed, but the goal is to provide gamified learning experiences that cover the essential topics such as budgeting, saving, investing and credit, providing an
Making financial education more bite-sized can make financial literacy concepts accessible, especially to younger demographics.
"It gets people interested where they may have avoided learning about money and investing if not for social media," Willardson says, who's 16-year-old son, much like Gujral, has taken to different social platforms to learn about starting an ecommerce business. "It fosters this sense of community where users can interact with content creators and like-minded peers, [whereas] traditional financial advisers may be perceived as formal, expensive, and less relatable to younger demographics."
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Olivia Stover, a 25-year-old account coordinator at Next PR and an avid TikTok and FinTok user, says she's used
"People my age are navigating a world that's been through a lot of changes and that is in a very unique place in terms of the post-pandemic economy," Stover says. "It's a lot of not knowing what to do to help our finances or how to ask where to find a 401(k). When I think about meeting with a financial planner, or going into a bank about a loan, that terrifies me because I have no idea what I'm talking about, or what I should know going into those conversations."
Yet Stover says she does her homework, and recommends users approach the platform with discernment, cross-verify information being shared, and
"The next best thing to do is always to Google it," she says. "I know that may be another level of information overload, but I think if you can verify it, even just going on your bank app or website, is a good way to cancel out some of that noise from people that don't really have skin in the game or don't know what they're talking about."
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That kind of guidance and access is why Stover believes platforms like TikTok will continue to stay popular, even if it means having to be more cautious and adding more verification steps to their daily scroll.
"I know social media is two pronged with a good and bad approach," Stover says. "But it's really putting out this information that helps in a very digestible and easy way for people to find it. It's meeting our generation where we are."
While Gujral hasn't
"It's better to learn something that's so fundamental that you're going to be using it for the rest of your life," he says. "If you just learn these fun and easy concepts while you're young, you're going to really reap the benefits in your future."
