Emergence of 'finfluencers' helps raise awareness about finance, but licensed advisors question their knowledge, partiality

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SINGAPORE — A young man and woman in their 20s appear in a TikTok video, talking enthusiastically about their personal experience investing with only S$50. The caption on the video says it is a paid advertisement for a trading platform app called Syfe Trade.

This is one of the most popular videos posted by siblings Sara and Aaron Wee, who go by the TikTok name The Weeblings, having amassed about 114,000 views so far.The Weeblings are part of a growing group of young"finance influencers", or"finfluencers" in short, who use social media to talk about a range of finance topics, from investments and cryptocurrency to budgeting.

But at the same time, there are also concerns that finfluencers may not be equipped with adequate finance knowledge or their views may be biased due toMr Seth Wee of Sethisfy said he started his finfluencer journey in January 2020 with the aim of building a community and sharing his personal financial experiences on YouTube.

“The Weeblings also talk about other aspects of finance and business such as drop shipping and trading, which got me interested because they don’t just stick to one thing,” said Mr Kang. Operations executive Timothy Ng said he follows finfluencers Seth Wee and Chris@Honey Money SG’s Telegram channels as he finds their content easy to understand.

While finfluencers may have gained popularity, licensed financial advisors who spoke to TODAY do not regard them as rivals. Rather, these advisers believe that finfluencers make finance-related information more accessible to the public. Mr Kenny Loh, a real estate investment trust specialist and independent financial advisor, said: “Finance influencers generate income from advertisements and don’t need credentials to do so.

, a financial advisor with the blog, added that there is “a lack of restrictions imposed on what finance influencers can talk about” as they are not regulated by MAS. The Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information alumni said she would “distinguish clearly when I am sharing a fact or opinion”.

"By choosing to deal with unregulated persons or entities , consumers will forego the protection given under the MAS regulations," the authority said.

 

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