How Advisors Can Harness Media to Reach Gen Z

Meeting digital natives where they’re at isn’t always easy.

But with more than a third of Gen Z investors citing influencers as a “major factor” in their decision to buy, experts say that advisors — an aging demographic, by all accounts — need to be attuned to younger generations’ habits. Nearly half of Gen Z uses social media as a primary source of investing information, compared with 42% of Millennials and 26% of Gen X, according to recent research from Finra and the CFA Institute.

“[Social media is] where younger people are,” said Kyla Scanlon, an influencer and founder of the financial education company Bread. “That can be difficult for a lot of [older advisors], where they’re like, ‘Oh, I prefer to do everything the old-fashioned way,’ and that doesn’t work with younger people … They get all their information on social media.”

Generation Nihilist

Rising costs of living and stagnant wages have contributed to feelings of financial nihilism — someone’s sense that they’ll never be financially stable, or homeowners, or retirement-ready — in every generation, but particularly Gen Z:

• Less than one in three Gen Zers is currently saving for retirement, a Bankrate survey showed, with 30% of this demographic “feeling behind” on retirement savings.
• This generation is also twice as likely as the general population to say they don’t know where to find an advisor, despite being, on average, 13 percentage points more likely to want one.

There are several ways advisors can harness the power of the internet to expand their reach. Taking a “personal approach” is key in an age of branding, since Gen Z is wary of ulterior motives in advertising and online financial advice, Scanlon said. “The way that [advisors] should approach it is that character-based approach,” she said. “It’s not like, ‘I will have Blackrock ETFs and VanEck ETFs.’ It’s, ‘I am a person who’s going to help you through this.’”

Utilizing client testimonials can also be a powerful tool in the review-centric era of sites like Yelp. The company Wealthtender makes use of the SEC’s lifting of the testimonial rule, which CEO Brian Thorp thinks advisors still aren’t taking advantage of. Even though testimonials have been allowed since 2021, only 9.3% of SEC-registered firms are using them, he said.

Into the Pod-verse. Podcasts can also be a key way for advisors to build out their Gen Z books, gain an online following, and establish credibility. Six out of 10 Gen Zers say that it’s “important that podcasts provide them with good tips and advice,” according to data from SiriusXM. Mitlin Financial founder Larry Sprung said his firm’s podcast — whose guests are asked what brought them joy that day — has helped the firm establish its core message and set itself apart.

“We started leaning into it. We created shirts… We feel like, especially in the world today, there’s so much divisiveness,” he said. “Joy is somewhat universal. It has resonated with a lot of people.”