What advisers get wrong about finfluencing

The term “finfluencer” in the world of financial advice is loaded, often carrying negative connotations. It stirs images of underqualified, overly flashy social media personalities giving unsolicited, potentially even illegal financial advice. Often using their own expensive lifestyles as proof of the “legitimacy” of their advice, ASIC recently announced it would be putting finfluencers in its sights.

However, for a profession that often has trouble advertising itself, exposure through social media could help enhance a business. One adviser who has looked to dip his toes into the world of “finfluencing” is Pivot Wealth founder Ben Nash.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a huge compliment,” Nash said on The ifa Show regarding the label of “finfluencer”, “but it’s almost a statement of fact when you do build a big following online. So, it’s not like I hate it either.

“I think it’s great that everyone’s aware of this stuff and it just means that people are actually paying attention.”

Nash has managed to grow himself a following of 130,000 people, posting 60 to 90-second videos on topics such as basic investment advice, scam alerts and quick tricks on how to maximise income. It is broad, general and most importantly, compliant.

“I disclaim everything and make it really clear [this is not personal advice]. What I find that works is being careful and deliberate the language that I use, particularly around when you’re explaining a concept or a strategy,” Nash said.

Compliance violations and general bad behaviour from finfluencers remain significant issues in this space. From market manipulation, bankruptcy and ASIC bans, there is good reason why many within the advice profession are sceptical of finfluencers.

Of concern too, according to Nash, is the belief from many advisers that finfluencers are sharing too much insider knowledge.

“I think some people can have sort of gatekeeper [mentality]. They believe that there’s a lot of a sort of secret sauce in [the content] that should be advice reserved for clients,” he said.

“I think the information’s all out there anyway.”

In fact, for Nash, he believes that an opportunity to increase people’s financial literacy is a good thing and does not mitigate the role advisers can still play.

“I remember when I first started doing content there was very little on things like debt recycling strategies. And we’ve seen more [awareness] from people [since we started posting] and I think it’s awesome that that’s gone into the public sphere. I don’t think that takes anything away from the value that advisors can deliver,” he added.

Nash has also seen an inflow of clients come to his advice firm that recognise him from his social, stating: “I love it when people come from our content and particularly when they come from following the content for a long time because you’ve already gotten across the key messages and philosophies in a lot of cases.”

A lot of the time, it even makes the process of giving advice smoother.

“They tend to already trained in your method and that makes it a lot easier for onboarding them and often means that people can get more out of the advice process as well because they’re not hearing about all of these concepts for the first time,” he said.

Though much of the apprehension around finfluencing may be justified, the opportunities it can afford advice businesses, if done with compliance in mind, are significant.