Fin-fluencers: Financial Gurus or Misleading Masterminds?

The growing influence of financial influencers, or "fin-fluencers," on social media has sparked a lively debate about their role in shaping the investment decisions of the youth.

In a thought-provoking episode of "The ALT View" presented by StockGro, students of IIM Bangalore discussed this emerging phenomenon and its implications with industry experts Ajay Lakhotia, CEO and Founder of StockGro, and Anirudh Dhawan, Professor, Finance at IIM Bangalore.

The Alt View Is a youth-centric web show where India's leading business daily Mint goes on the ground and talks to students and youngsters on policy, tech and emerging subjects which influence their lives. The show is hosted by Abhinav Trivedi, Deputy Editor at LiveMint. 

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Filling the financial gap

From his experience of building India’s largest stock market education community, Ajay Lakhotia pointed out that financial education is missing in our ecosystem. “Your family doesn't teach you how to invest money; they teach you how to save. This gap is what most influencers are trying to fill.”

Need for regulation

As IIM-Bangalore students debated this trend, one group expressed that the advice from fin-fluencers often comes with a caveat. Influencers promote specific products—such as courses or investment strategies—which can lead to biased recommendations. They also recalled instances where Fin-fluencers shared incorrect financial advice, only to delete the videos later. They were keen to observe that fin-fluencers capitalized on emotions like greed and fear to drive their sales.

Building on this perspective, Mr. Lakhotia remarked that fin-fluencers gained significant popularity by narrating investment strategies as a "life hack"—an engaging and accessible approach that stands in contrast to the more complex methods typically employed by traditional BFSI players.

“Covid has changed this spectrum further by adding an element of boredom. People have a lot more time on their hands, so they are now googling and checking YouTube for investment advice. That is why SEBI can collaborate with fin-fluencers and spread financial education. Some of them are good and have a large captive audience,” Prof. Dhawan added.

Finally, students expressed that fin-fluencers need greater accountability through regulation while BFSIs can simplify their information to help the masses.

Even as the debate continues, Mr. Lakhotia reiterates that financial influencers are filling a key gap in financial education, but cautions about the need to build accountability to foster greater trust in their ecosystem. In this context, platforms like StockGro, which provide high-quality financial education and responsible advisory services, play an increasingly vital role.

Disclaimer: This article is part of Mint’s editorial series The Alt View. This episode is sponsored by StockGro.