TikTok & The Times

by Joline Godfrey

Some years ago, a man attending one of my talks shared the story of how he came to be a financial advisor. “From the time I was about ten, my grandfather had me sit with him once a week to read the left side of the Wall Street Journal’s front page—you know the summary of the stories inside the newspaper. Most of the time I didn’t have any idea what we were talking about,” he told me. “But I loved spending time with my grandfather. I’m a financial advisor because of that early exposure to financial stories that made sense as I got older and began to grasp what my grandfather talked about with me.”

This story came back to me recently when I asked a small group of well-educated teens and twenty somethings where they get their news. Two named TikTok; one said friends; one cited Instagram; two responded with the NYT and WSJ; and one said, ‘all of the above’. Mainstream media has known for years it has lost readers to social media.  And I didn’t ask WHAT they call news, but I’m pretty sure reports on the Fed and fiscal policy would not have come up.

I wasn’t reading the financial pages as a teen myself. But pre-social media and, confined to three primary channels (four, counting PBS) in every household, the nightly news permeated my consciousness. And hyper-personalized listening environments—amplified by listening alone through one’s earphones, didn’t exist. As I got older and began to tune in, I had context—and familiarity with names, headline news, and current events. And by the time I hit college, newspaper and weekly news magazines kept me at least moderately aware of the world around me.

To be fair, today’s teenagers are aware—probably MORE aware than I was as a teen. But they are aware in a different way. While they share information, listen to influencers, and tune into issues like climate, social justice, well-being, status, what’s hot and not, etc., they are influenced by algorithms, not necessarily diverse or reliable sources of information.

A recent NYT piece reports that, “So many [teens] have ceded their online autonomy so fully to their phones that they even balk at the idea of searching the internet — for them, the only acceptable online environment is one customized by big tech algorithms, which feed them customized content”. And perhaps more worrisome: “an even more insidious result of minors’ growing addiction to social media: the death of exploration, trial and error and discovery. Algorithmic recommendations now do the work of discovering and pursuing interests, finding community, and learning about the world. Kids today are, simply put, not learning how to be curious, critical adults — and they don’t seem to know what they’ve lost.”

Teens and 20-somethings with access to the opportunities and challenges that accompany financial responsibility need more than selective  ‘information’ shared on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads, or the newish X. They need informed data and opinions, as well as critical thinking skills that allow them to explore and evaluate economic and social issues about which they will—one  be making decisions and impacting policy

Which brings us to an element of financial education too often overlooked: regular reading and listening habits, access to diverse, but informed opinions, reliable data, the capacity to assess what data is reliable and what not, engagement with mentors, parents and grandparents who take time to share articles, reading, and news from many sources.

Young people feel their lack of financial fluency—and experience anxiety and denial over what they know they don’t know. Taking a page from the man whose grandfather read the WSJ with him as a boy here are some recommendations for how to help build financial fluency in younger family members:

·      Gift digital versions of newspapers—and commit time to share stories with that young person. Twelve is not too young to make the gift and send the message that staying knowledgeable about current events is a life skill you expect them to acquire as they mature.

·      At a minimum, challenge them to the NYT’s weekly news quiz (or some version of a current events quiz).

·      Take them with you to talks, meetings, and events that seem ‘too serious’ for them

·      Explain, without judging, vocabulary and concepts that seem unfamiliar to them.

·      Persist, even when they seem resistant, stick with it. I am constantly reminded by grown-ups of what they were told “over and over’ by parents and grandparents. We learn through repetition and nagging is just that, exposure to information you hope to instill over time.

·      Let them ‘overhear’ you discussing news from a wide variety of sources—at the table, with friends, at every opportunity.

·      Place financial stories in the context of their lives. Leverage the strike in Hollywood, changing strategies at Netflix, the decline in Disney’s stock price, or testimony in Congress about cryptocurrencies to get their attention. Even if you draw yawns today, something will stick. The time and stories you share, and the behavior you model will matter. Young people who self-identify as creatives may reject efforts to engage them in financial conversations as irrelevant to their needs or interests. Context is especially critical for this group. Art market economics; the balance sheet of Broadway and local theaters, and the disparity between ticket prices for Taylor Swift and anyone else are all topics that will be hard for any self-proclaimed creative to stay out of for long.

Nurturing financial education in the next generation is a process, not an event.  Starting in childhood and sustained over the course of a lifetime, families who model financial habits, embed financial lessons in stories, and nurture a family culture of continuous learning create fertile soil for kids to grow up more comfortable with themselves, at ease with financial decision-making, and engaged in the life choices and challenges that accompany financial lives..