Nearly four in five millenials or Gen Zers say they have received advice from this source.

Answer: 79% of Americans representing the millennial or Gen Z age groups have gotten financial advice from social mediaQuestions:

• Have you learned any personal finance habits/tips from social media? Are there any specific lessons that stand out? 
• While social media is a powerful informational tool, how can you make sure the advice/information you are seeing is accurate and correct?
• Lots of people have opinions/attitudes/beliefs about money. How can you tell whether advice you are receiving is good advice? 

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Forbes):

"The vast majority of millennials and Gen Zers say they’ve picked up financial advice from social media. But where do they most often obtain financial information? Millennials favor Reddit, while Gen Zers prefer YouTube. Nearly 7 in 10 of those surveyed (69%) encounter financial advice on social media at least once a week, and 1 in 4 stumble upon it every day."

"As you’re browsing social media platforms, a flurry of financial topics pop up, such as stock and bond tips (the most common topic spotted by survey respondents, at 57%), recommendations about debt reduction or guidance on retirement savings. The two least commonly seen topics among those we surveyed were get-rich-quick schemes (11%) and borrowing money (7%)."

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Want to access more Behavioral Economics-focused activities and resources? Check out the Behavioral Economics unit page.

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About the Author

Dave Martin

Dave joins NGPF with 15 years of teaching experience in math and computer science. After joining the New York City Teaching Fellows program and earning a Master's degree in Education from Pace University, his teaching career has taken him to New York, New Jersey and a summer in the north of Ghana. Dave firmly believes that financial literacy is vital to creating well-rounded students that are prepared for a complex and highly competitive world. During what free time two young daughters will allow, Dave enjoys video games, Dungeons & Dragons, cooking, gardening, and taking naps.