Finfluencers! How Good is Popular Personal Financial Advice?

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This is the closest that Patrick Boyle can come to giving financial advice without giving financial advice.

"Dolling out stock tips that she derived from star charts." So basically technical analysis.

Patrick never misses an opportunity for a dig at Kevin O’Leary 😂

I use the motto: "If it's advertised by an influencer or a celebrity, I'm not buying it". Doing your own research is gold, the rest is entertainment

A lesser creator would've just made a 13 minute video calling these guys charlatans, but of course Patrick makes a 30 minute video breaking down what their advice generally is and how it does and doesn't work.

The issue with finance influencers is they do no make their money from the craft they claim expertise in but from monetizing their audience.

Listening to Patrick clowning on Kevin Oleary will never get old.

My parents got crushed by an adjustable rate mortgage in the late 80’s and were paying 11% at one point before they sold and literally moved back into the woods.

I can confirm that it is a huge emotional relief to reduce the number of loans, not just paying off the one with the highest interest rate first. I know the mathematics, but having 3 loans instead of 5 just makes a huge motivational difference. Thats all about your personality.

My wife and I were raised during/after WW 2 in Germany. Both families never used debt. We immigrated to the USA 1963 and continued the practice of saving before we buy anything. We are now retired and observing people around us struggling with debt. Someone said: It is better to be lucky than accomplished. Lucky being born to such parents.

While I am definitely not really interested in celebrity financial influencers, I don't think you should discount the psychology and anxiety that goes into money decisions. One reason I think financial academics have such a hard time connecting with the public is because they can't get out of talking about what would be the optimized way of doing something and have zero interest in "home economics", while these people (for better, worse and sometimes manipulative) take into account the fact that people have weird psychological hang-ups and are way more concerned about the day-to-day of their lives

"Where will gen z find financial advice if tik tok is banned?" -Forbes 2023

Dave’s “debt snowball” makes sense because it’s psychological for the average person who doesn’t have as good impulse control on their finances.

Other than housing I don’t carry any debt. I use credit cards for the points. But I pay the balances weekly. Though this wasn’t always the case. About twenty years ago I had horrendous credit card debt. Then one day I got really angry with myself. I thought why am I still making payments on things I no longer own? My plan was to pay off the smallest balance cards with the smallest minimum payment first to free up cash flow. Once paid off that free cash flow went towards the next one and it snowballed from there. I also locked down my discretionary spending. For a couple of years I didn’t go to the movies or eat out. I shopped at thrift stores, which I still do. In general it completely changed my thinking on buying things. Socks, underwear, and shoes I buy new. Nearly everything I buy at a thrift store. It’s really satisfying buying a vehicle with cash. Which I buy used too.

You and Coffezilla protected counteless people from losing their life savings. I sometimes wonder how many people have been positively affected by your work.

I guess personalities matter. Though you're right about Dave Ramsey's focus on balance, I needed the smaller wins to become debt-free. Over a decade later, I still remember the excitement and sheer drive I felt with each consecutive loan paid off

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is a great book for people who have very little financial literacy. You can't imagine how disappointed I was when I found the rest of Kiyosaki's books are worth less than the paper they were printed on.

The kevin o'leary joke was spot on. 😂

I think the academics discount psychology too much when forming their advice. Often times the financial advice book can cut through that effectively enough where someone is much better off following it as their alternative is doing nothing.