TikTok becoming the go-to place for financial advice

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — It may be at the center of controversy right now, facing the possibility of a ban in the U.S., but for many people who use TikTok it’s now much more than learning dance moves and making funny lip-sync videos.

Good Morning Cleveland anchor Mike Brookbank discovered that there’s a growing number of users turning to the app for help with their finances, but it’s a money move that comes with some risks.

Allison Benns is noticing the shift in social media.

“Financial content has gone up because of the economic situation we’re in right now,” said Benns.

We’re all looking for ways to stretch our dollar, and like Benns, Cara Robbins is scrolling to save.

“TikTok has really good budget friendly recipes that I’ve been finding, so I’ve been doing a lot of that,” said Robbins.

One of those content creators is Erika Kullberg.

She has amassed a huge following on TikTok with 9.3 million people.

“My goal is just to help as many people as possible get to financial independence,” said Kullberg.

Kullberg started making videos two years ago, and she said they went viral right out of the gate.

“Well, I think people are looking for someone to break down financial tips in an easy to understand way. So, I feel like people resonated with my videos in that way,” said Kullberg.

Kullberg’s journey started when she graduated from law school with $200,000 in debt and realized she knew nothing about money.

“And throughout that journey, I promised myself that when I finished paying off my debt, I wanted to help other people not feel so alone in their financial journeys. So that’s kind of how the social media thing happened,” said Kullberg.

Kullberg is self-taught and uses her background as an attorney.

“So for a lot of my most viral TikToks and Instagram Reels are about how to advocate for yourself as a consumer and make sure that these big companies aren’t taking advantage of you and that every dollar you have stretches as far as it can,” said Kullberg.

Mike spoke with local financial wellness coach Rachel Durci about this trend of turning to social media for money advice.

“Unfortunately, we are not terribly educated in this country on finances,” said Durci.

Durci said right now, there is a huge appetite for these types of videos and advice, but she cautions those tuning in.

“I think people think that it’s an easy way to get this advice and to get information, but unfortunately it sometimes spirals you in the wrong direction,” said Durci.

Durci said it’s fine to go to social media for advice, but you must go to the right places and not focus on a creator’s popularity.

“You can’t just look at the number of followers and say, oh, this person must be an expert in this field,” said Durci.

Here are a few questions we should be asking ourselves.

“Do they have a website? Do they have a business? How are they making their money? Is it just TikTok or are they working, you know, in the field? What are their credentials,” said Durci.

Sound advice that Allison Benns is already putting into action so social media doesn’t steer her wrong.

“I try to look at the creator and make sure they have some sort of license or degree in it. I just try to vet my sources for sure because there is a lot of information that I’ve noticed that can be helpful on there, but there’s plenty that isn’t,” said Benns.