Using social media for financial education — a brief introduction
Time to level with you: we’re spending more time than ever browsing the internet. On average, global internet users spent 144 minutes on social media sites PER DAY. As much as we restrict this, the way the world’s population is interacting with each other is in a state of constant flux. It just isn’t always possible to keep in touch with everyone and consume news and information offline.
With that in mind, here at Strabo we’re all about adaptability. By changing the way you use the internet and skewing your following towards accounts and pages that provide easy to consume information about important topics, you can mix in some financial education to the slew of memes and pet pictures that currently take up the lion’s share of your attention. In our experience, as with anything, balance is key. You can curate a feed that isn’t intimidating or tedious enough to discourage consumption, but that contains enough of the good stuff to brush up on your knowledge, and improve your finance management. And spoiler: the fin-memes are not to be missed. So let’s dive in:
Here in the Strabo office, we’re huge Reddit users. The democratisation of knowledge is a powerful thing, and long before the Gamestop saga, people were crowdsourcing the solutions to their financial conundrums. However, it’s a minefield which is best negotiated carefully — use your own judgement, and avoid impulse purchases of individual securities unless you’ve done your due diligence. Here are our top 5 subreddits to subscribe to:
r/PersonalFinance — while not weighted towards the more HNW end of the spectrum, this is a good one for the beginner. Make sure you check out the wiki for information and the top posts for cookie-cutter advice that comes up over and over.
r/FIRE or r/FIREUK — you may have heard of the FIRE movement. Financial Independence, Retire Early. Now, while we at Strabo are much more focused on the first part of that than the second (we love our work, of course!), the whole movement is a great place to start thinking about your incomings vs outgoings, and how to cut through the noise and make financial decisions that will seem just as smart in 20 years as they do today.
r/PovertyFinance — again, one weighted towards the lower end of the spectrum (see r/FatFIRE if you’re after the opposite). Personally I find this one good for perspective. While not really about budgeting (we’re more concerned about the top line here than the bottom), it’s good for generic saving advice and tips.
r/Investing — the older and more mature cousin of r/WallStreetBets, here you’ll find more advanced analysis and information on things like asset allocation, stocks vs real estate, and smatterings of individual analysis on popular tickers.
r/ExpatFIRE — finally, one that’s close to our heart. Financial independence across jurisdictions. This one is much smaller and benefits from the kind of community feel that has become a bit lost with the others. Engage with users and mods, contribute your experiences and learn how others manage their finances on the go. You might even bump into one of our team on there!
And the bonus if you’re a stock market aficionado: r/SecurityAnalysis — this leans more into stock picking than personal finance but it’s our guilty pleasure.
Twitter can be a bit of a minefield. The problem when it comes to FinTwit, as it’s colloquially known, is that everyone has an opinion. They can’t all be right, and are often spectacularly wrong, to the derision and shaming of the baying crowd. We’re hesitant to recommend individual accounts as our list is constantly changing, but hit us up here to find out whose caught our eye lately (and give us a follow too). We find this to be more useful for general tips and unexpected advice rather than searching for something specific with Reddit, so curate a list over time and let them integrate with your existing feed. You can also create Twitter Lists and switch between them, if you like separating your finance from your friends.
In the interest of equality, we’re including this one for the visual learners. Instagram content tends to be a bit less serious and a bit more fun, but no one’s ever complained about that. Bloomberg business is a pretty solid start, and Chartr daily is our niche pick for deep dives into interesting business and company stats. For those a bit deeper into finance, Litquidity and Arbitrage Andy have picked up popularity as stock market investing has become more pervasive, and can be trusted for satirical Wall St based content (you’ll soon pick up the lingo). No Strabo content just yet, but you’ll find us there soon!
YouTube
The video sharing platform can tend to be a bit of a minefield — often you’ll find yourself sifting through a load of clickbait in search of engaging and useful content. For starters, you could have a look at the following:
WhiteBoard Finance — specialising in personal finance and investing basics, Marko Zlatic holds your hand through a variety of different topics. He’s particularly insightful on the decision making process behind auto purchases, something that you’ll be seeing on an exciting new feature on our platform.
Ryan Scribner — Ryan’s emphasis is on drip feeding your stock contributions and pound (or dollar) cost averaging. However, what we particularly like are his tangents into travel and remote work.
Mapped Out Money — Nick True posts his videos from the Airstream Camper that houses him and his family, and no one could espouse the Strabo values more closely than that! He deals with the spending side of the wealth management funnel, which is why we’ve also included his insights. There is a strong emphasis on a minimalist lifestyle, which may not be suitable for everyone, but it’s all par for the course.
We’d love to hear some insights from you— who or what do you follow and what are their specialist areas? Let us know! You can reach us on Medium, Twitter or LinkedIn.
