I was inspired to do an experiment by
this comment by
@ChpBstrd. It was a thread about how personal blogs and forums like this one are in decline, and how most people are seeking financial advice on social media like TikTok. How good is the advice they're getting?
I have a TikTok account, but I haven't watched FIRE or personal-finance content on it until now. I usually watch science, gardening and travel videos. I'm hoping my account is fairly clean in terms of what its algorithm knows about my finances.
I searched for "early retirement" to see what it recommended. These were the top five videos that came up:
1.
https://www.tiktok.com/@vagabondartist/video/7247916456296353066This is one guy's "step by step guide" for regular people on how to retire early. My quick notes:
- Take advantage of your 401(k) - get the max company match - benefit from pre-tax growth
- The stock market always goes up over time - 10% per year on average - use index funds
- Stop thinking of your house as an investment - don't take equity out - buy a small house with easy payments
- The Rule of 55 for early withdrawal
- Consider moving abroad to a LCOL area in retirement
I was impressed. This was the best video of the five: solid, informative, good advice, not flashy or sensationalistic.
2.
https://www.tiktok.com/@johnsfinancetips/video/7150359442943561006Self-described millennial who wants to retire at 40. He describes the 4% rule and says to track your expenses and invest in index funds. That's all good, but he also says "your W-2 job will never get you there" and suggests real estate or a side hustle. Plenty of people FIRE with W-2 income!
3.
https://www.tiktok.com/@briannazfinance/video/7307311959777594655This was the scammiest of the bunch. This lady was promoting "non-traditional methods that the wealthy use" to retire early. She says that there's an investment product (which she was cagey about) that gives you both guaranteed income and tax-free withdrawals. Almost certainly shilling whole life.
4.
https://www.tiktok.com/@rroomfies/video/7361107759904886021Canadian TikToker who plans to retire at 30 with $1 million and a rental property. She plans to spend down her principal until she's 65, then she'll live on OAS/CPP pension income. This seems like a risky plan to me, but not completely unreasonable.
5.
https://www.tiktok.com/@amberwavesofbrain/video/733743138827200439827 years old and wants to retire in her 30s. She saves 60% of her income from her tech job plus a side hustle. She says "retirement is not an age, it's an amount of money" and mentions the FIRE movement.
I'll be honest, this was better than I thought. I was expecting a wasteland of spam, scams, and YOLO meme stocks. This advice was mixed, but there was more good than bad. At the very least, it mentions the basics: index funds, compounding, expense tracking, 4% rule, FIRE. (That said, a lot of the comments were the standard complainypants stuff, insisting that this is impossible, nobody can save so much, etc., etc.)
Of course, like I said, this is an unscientific experiment. It's possible I'm not starting clean, that something else I watched helped TikTok infer that I'm financially literate. Maybe if I watched, like, celebrity wardrobe malfunctions or monster-truck videos, it would have flagged me as unsophisticated and steered me to the really dumb stuff.
Anyone else want to try and see what they get?
