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Welcome to the Meaning of Money podcast, your weekly dose of financial education in under 10 minutes. I'm your host, Shalit Thismodic, certified financial planner and financial educator. Today we're talking about personal finance tips from social media and why you're most likely not missing out on anything. Let's get started. Social media can be a great way to consume a lot of information very quickly, and personal finance advice can be found on every major platform. In short videos or posts, influencers, often claiming to be experts, shared the personal finance tips that made them a millionaire, or eradicated their debt, or allowed them to retire in their early 30s in a beautiful tropical location. These posts often come from the person's own experiences with investing in real estate or cryptocurrencies or other passive income streams. And if you are as savvy as they are, you can achieve these dreams too. Posts such as this have led many friends and clients to ask me financial questions that start with, I saw on TikTok and end with, do you think that is a good idea? This brings me to my biggest gripe with personal finance tips from social media. Personal finance tips on social media lack nuance. While there is value in listening to other people's financial journeys, what work for them may not necessarily be a good option for you. Also, these posts typically lack background information on the person giving the advice, their motives for providing the advice, and their financial lives beyond the information presented in the post. Finally, whether the presenter is intentionally misleading or simply misinformed, these tips may not actually even be accurate. Regardless, seeing so many people online that seem to have it all figured out can leave this nagging feeling that you're missing out. So how do you know which social media tips are helpful and which you should just ignore? I suggest asking a few questions. First, what do I know about the person giving the tip? For example, are they trying to sell something? Are they a professional in the finance industry? Or is this just based on their personal experience? If the tip is based on their personal experience, do you know if their financial situation is similar to yours? For example, suppose you were looking at an investment tip for a millionaire. A millionaire may be able to take on significantly more risk in their financial portfolio than someone just getting started with their financial life. investment, it may just be an annoyance, where if you invest your emergency fund, it may take a very long time to rebuild it and leave you in a financial vulnerable situation in the meantime. People sharing personal finance tips based on their experience have no way of knowing what makes their advice appropriate or inappropriate for someone else. They simply present what has worked for them. I also must say, if anyone is suggesting that they have a risk-free investment opportunity of losing money, whether they are professional or not, I beg you to ignore it. That is just simply not a thing. Second, Can this tip be cooperated by other reputable sources of financial information, like Investopedia, the Wall Street Journal, the IRS website, or a financial professional in your life? New strategies do emerge in the financial industry, but investing secrets do not stay secrets for long. If the general public knows about an investment strategy, it will likely be discussed somewhere else as well. Third, does this advice align with my financial life and goals? For example, investing in a rental property could be an excellent idea. However, if you have short-term financial goals that you are working on, it's probably not a great idea to put your money in an investment that cannot be easily turned back into cash. If you're very risk-averse, investing in cryptocurrencies probably doesn't make a lot of sense for you. Social media posts often play on the fear of missing out. They seem to suggest that there's only one way to build financial well-being, and if you can't currently use the strategy presented, you're being left behind. I implore you to ignore that. And yes, that even includes the personal finance tips that I give. Focus on building your financial well-being in ways that make sense for your financial life. And if you need help determining what that path is, seek out a professional, or at least, make sure that the social media tips you plan to use suit the path you were on and not someone else's. That brings us to the end of today's episode. If you found our podcast valuable to building the financial life you want, subscribe, leave us a review, share with others who may find this information insightful. And of course, you can always learn more at the website, meaningofmoney.com. Bye for now.