Financial influencers are replacing family and friends as information source

Business Forum

30 April, 2024 at 2:57 PM

Every day, retail investors are looking for information about the different markets to help them make decisions. But the sources for information have changed over time as people increasingly use the internet to find out about investments, instead of turning to family or traditional brokers. And a new class of information providers is making its way toward the top of mind of retail investors: the financial influencers, who are active on platforms such as Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram or Reddit. Experts warn, however, that there are risks with this approach, as the online environment is rife with misinformation and fakes.

An analysis by Bogdan Maioreanu, eToro analyst and markets commentator

When it comes to where to find investment information the favourite place for 38% of Romanian investors is Google search, according to the latest eToro Retail Investor Beat. But 31% of investors' are now looking for information from the financial influencers, turning away from friends and family. Just two years ago, in Q1 of 2022, friends and family were an important source of information for (32%) of the Romanian investors. Not anymore. By Q1 2024, only 16% of Romanian investors cited friends and family as a key source of investment information.

The rise in the popularity of financial influencers has been enabled by the use of social platforms to disseminate their content. If we are looking at age groups, financial influencers are the main source of information for investors older than 55 years (38%). They are important for 35% of the 35 to 44 years old investors, for 28% of the youngest investors - 18 to 34 and for only 23% of the 35 to 55 years old.

According to the eToro Retail Investors Beat survey, Romanian investors were the second most likely of all nations surveyed to identify influencers as a key source of financial information (31%), ahead of the US (30%) and surpassed only by the Spanish (39%). With the global average at 23%, financial influencers were less popular among Dutch and Czech (13%), Danish (16%), German, Italian and French (17%) individual investors.

Within the eToro Retail Investors Beat survey, Romanian investors were the second most likely of all nations surveyed to identify financial influencers as a key source of information (31%), ahead of the US (30%) and surpassed only by the Spanish (39%). With the global average standing at 23%, financial influencers emerged as being less popular among Dutch and Czech (13%), Danish (16%), German, Italian and French individual investors (17%).

Also if we look at genders, for Romanian women investors, financial influencers are the main source of information (36%) compared with men where this category is second with 29%, after Google search (41%).

Other sources of information used by the Romanian investors are online or in person courses (24%), third-party review sites (23%), social media (21%). The online forums are tied with the traditional media at 19%, followed by podcasts (18%) and friends and family in last place (16%). The least favourite place to look for financial information are the books (13%). If we are looking specifically at books, these are the least popular choice at global level too (9%).

Despite the ever increasing volume of information sources available to investors, one study from Tilburg University in the Netherlands found that increased exposure to financial influencers did not result in improved financial knowledge. One reason for this may be the large amount of misinformation and unauthorised financial influencers on social media. But the findings require further study.