Why Personal Finance Gurus Are Awful at Giving Personal Finance Advice

With fears of a recession approaching, it’s natural to turn to the experts for some personal finance advice. Much of the advice you find from self-proclaimed finance gurus is straightforward enough: Save more, spend less, and, oh yes, one last thing: Buy their book to learn how you, too, can achieve financial freedom!

The problem with personal finance gurus — and why you should be sceptical of their wisdom — is that their real job is as an entertainer, not a true advice-giver. We’ve touched on similar issues when it comes to the sort of financial advice you find from “experts” on TikTok. Here’s why you should think twice about following the advice of personal finance gurus.

Calling yourself a guru doesn’t make you a guru

Personal finance gurus are no doubt good at one thing: Through Instagram posts, TV appearances, and self-help books, they break down complex economic concepts into easy-to-understand steps that anyone can follow. “Easy-to-understand,” however, doesn’t always translate to “accurate.” Being rich doesn’t mean you know how to help other people get rich. After all, anyone can call themselves an expert, guide, guru, or whatever title they want.

Take one of the most famous financial gurus out there, Dave Ramsey, whose Twitter reads like the main difference between you, a plebeian, and him, a mega-rich, is that you keep buying things you don’t need. It’s that simple!

Of course, not all the advice is from financial gurus is awful. The basics make sense: follow a budget, invest wisely, and so on. Unfortunately, most of these “experts” are already rich. Their existing wealth gives them an air of authority about how you can become wealthy, when in reality, it makes them too far removed from regular financial woes to actually be useful.

What’s more, their advice makes broad assumptions about human behaviour they likely know nothing about. How can you advise someone to always save 10% of their income when their priority is avoiding eviction or getting food on the table? At best, financial gurus spout platitudes that are generic and condescending. At worst, they’re pushing misinformation for their own financial gain.

Personal finance gurus don’t need you to succeed

Like how diet industry doesn’t actually want you to lose weight, and how dating apps don’t actually want you to find love, finance gurus don’t actually want you to get rich or else they’ll lose their customers. Personal finance advice is its own industry that would prefer you stay right where you are financially.

And like with dating and dieting, there’s a culture of shame around your ability to make and save money. Finance gurus aren’t going to blame the larger economic system, or they’d be out of business. Instead, they take advantage of a society that already ties morality to money-management.

The confusion between personal finance and personal morality helps lead to a focus on small spending habits over the realities of wealth and class. That’s why you’ll always see advice about daily purchases that don’t actually wreck your long-term finances the way we’re led to believe. The reason for this isn’t too complicated: It’s easier to digest tips that say “stop wasting money on coffee!” over a more hopeless, broad, but realistic context of “be born in a higher income bracket.”

How to be sceptical of financial advice online

Finance gurus are incentivized by gaining followers, not by giving you accurate economic guidance. Having a marketable personality is going to work for them better than the level of nuance that personal finance demands. Here are some questions to ask before you follow the advice of personal finance gurus:

• What are their credentials? There is no fiduciary standard to becoming a “guru.” Check for certifications qualifications like a CPA (certified public accountant) or RIA (registered investment adviser). If they were born into wealth and have a history of trying to be an influencer in one way or another, be sceptical of their tips and tricks.
• Is this too good to be true? As a rule of thumb, avoid “get rich quick” investment advice. If it were actually true, why would this person be sharing it with millions of people? Consider doing a bit of your own research before trusting an Instagram infographic about investment strategies.
• Is the creator trying to sell you something? This is main aspect of advice-giving to keep in mind. At the end of the day, no one is looking out for your finances out of the goodness of their heart. Be wary of buying certain products or stocks, since the guru is likely using you for their own financial gain.

At the end of the day, personal finance gurus are going to give advice that’s better for them than it is for you. For some more grounded personal finance tips, here’s our guide to getting your budget started, and here are personal finance steps you can take now to prepare for a recession.