Finfluencers – finance's new “F-word”?

The growing influence of financial “finfluencers” – and the risks they pose to consumers – has come under scrutiny in a new analysis published by Money Marketing.

Kleingeld notes that social media has made financial information far more accessible to the public, but warns that consumers must be able to distinguish between someone simply sharing information online and someone providing regulated financial advice.

She is urging consumers to interrogate the credentials and motivations of popular financial personalities before acting on their content, and to draw a clear line between general education and personalised financial recommendations.

Professional financial advisers, Kleingeld argues, remain essential precisely because they take the time to understand a client's individual circumstances, goals and risk profile – something a generic social media post cannot replicate.

Despite the risks, Kleingeld stops short of branding finfluencers a threat to the industry. Instead, she frames them as simply another source of financial information for consumers to weigh up – provided they understand its limitations.

Read Henda Kleingeld's article, shared with permission by the Fiduciary Institute of Southern Africa (FISA).