Gen Z’s Quest for the #RichTok Lifestyle Leads Them to Social Media for Investment Guidance

Gen Z has a penchant for — and they . When you combine these, you get a generation that overwhelmingly turns to social media for investment advice as they strive for the most elusive goal for youth: financial independence.

Social media was cited as the top reason 55% of Gen Z and 44% of millennial investors started investing, according to a five-year survey of 300,000 investors by the Oliver Wyman Forum. 

In their quest for alternative routes to financial security, personal finance influencers are offering solutions. Videos showing how to $1,000 in the stock market or explaining “stock market gossip” in terms of the Kardashians or franchise amass hundreds of thousands of views across platforms. 

, commonly known as Your Rich BFF, has 2.7 million TikTok and 3.8 million followers and offers advice on investing, financial planning, and tax loopholes.

“Suddenly, you have someone who doesn’t resemble your father’s financial advisor. You have someone who seems like anyone’s college best friend,” . “I aim to entertain my audience, transform finance into funance, and make discussing money more accessible for the next wave of rich BFFs.”

Creator Rebecca Ma, known online as Becca Bloom, has 8.2 million followers on Instagram and TikTok. She shares her daily routine, including feeding her cat caviar for breakfast and displaying her endless luxury clothing hauls. Each post garners millions of views and likes. 

The popularity of these videos reflects a shared for extreme financial success. The Oliver Wyman Forum survey revealed that in 2022, 18% of people felt pressured to earn money to feel successful. By 2025, that figure had risen to 33%, and this sentiment more than doubled among low-income earners and boomers approaching retirement. 

Economic uncertainty is driving Gen Z to invest early  

Over half of Gen Z began learning about investing before entering the workforce, whereas only 20% of Baby Boomers did, according to a 2024 survey. Nearly a third started investing during college or early adulthood, double the rate of millennials who invested at that age. 

Early investing is part of a strategy for financial independence, which is now the fastest-growing unmet financial need, as per the survey. Economic nihilism is on the rise among Gen Z due to a stagnant job market and concerns about the future of safety net programs like Social Security. 

“There’s a genuine eagerness to learn,” said Natalya Guseva, head of financial markets and resilience initiatives at the WEF, which has surveyed investor habits every two years since 2022. She views Gen Z’s hunger for financial literacy as “driven by various factors,” but predominantly a sense that they can’t rely on entities like governments and pensions as much as previous generations. She also highlights greater access to information and diverse investment products as attractions for Gen Z. 

According to the WEF, across all age groups, financial independence is the top skill people wished they had learned more about earlier. Gen Z has taken this extremely seriously and is determined to earn as much money .  

“Gen Z and young people in general have numerous financial goals, and we observe that many are actually quite medium to long term,” Guseva stated. “Only about a tenth or fewer of our investors aim to outperform the market or speculate.”

Young people prefer AI over traditional advising

According to the Oliver Wyman survey, nearly half of people consult AI when investing, compared to just over a third in 2023. Investors using AI typically use it as a sounding board rather than allowing it to independently invest their funds. Respondents noted that compared to traditional financial advising, AI offers a judgment-free learning environment and makes them feel more understood than human advisors. 

“We also notice that younger generations, particularly Gen Z, state they would trust an institution more if it had an AI chatbot,” Guseva said. “Many are using AI to learn about investing” 

Under mounting pressure, Gen Z is making riskier investments. While the Oliver Wyman Forum found that Gen and Baby Boomers’ investment portfolios tend to be more traditionally structured with higher diversification and risk-hedging, cryptocurrency accounts for over a third of 71% of Gen Z investors’ portfolios, as per the WEF. 

“We observe that more people know how to access crypto than stocks, CTFs, and bonds, and more people feel they can understand crypto than stocks, CTFs, and bonds,” Guseva said. “What this indicates is that crypto has conducted an extremely effective marketing and awareness campaign. For us, it’s a lesson in how to reach people where they are.” 

Gen Z’s shift toward higher-risk, high-reward assets such as cryptocurrency is not merely a trend. The survey revealed that their financial habits rank second in the areas where they feel most misunderstood, and their rejection of slow and steady wealth accumulation signals their departure from conventional wisdom that doesn’t align with their vision of the future.