The number of younger investors who receive ideas from TikTok has risen from 12% in 2021 to 20% in 2024.
According to research from Hargreaves Lansdown, Reddit has also seen an increase in popularity from 17% to 26% for younger individuals to receive investment ideas.
This is occurring at the same time that reliance on traditional company financial sites is decreasing, the research shows.
In 2021, 43% of 18–34-year-olds surveyed would get their money knowledge from websites of financial companies, however this figure has now dropped to 29%.
Hargreaves Lansdown head of money and markets Susannah Streeter said: “The collision between social media and financial markets has been one of the most dramatic trends emerging over the past few years and it shows little sign of easing.
“Swiping through posts to get ideas about investing is increasingly a favourite pastime among many younger investors with TikTok and Reddit becoming more influential.”
Streeter did add that it is “encouraging” that social media is prompting a more diverse range of investors to start putting their money into financial markets.
Still, concerns remain that “it’s often on posts or in chat rooms on social media where speculation surrounding hot stocks and more risky investments runs rife”, Streeter added.
The number of investors aged from 18 to 24 who get investment information from newspapers has almost doubled, from 12% in 2021 to 23% this year.
Middle-aged investors using social media for investment ideas is also on the rise.
The number of 35-54-year-olds using Reddit has doubled from 5% in 2021 to 10% in 2024, while those using Instagram has surged from 4% to 10% during the same period.
There has, however, been a reduction in the number of people in this age group using TikTok.
‘Older’ investors – those over the age of 55 – still get their main source of information from traditional financial websites (35% in 2024 compared to 31% in 2021).
Just over a third (34%) of this age group said they spoke to a financial adviser.
Newspapers were again a popular choice among this age group, with 31% using it as a source of information.
However, this represents a slight drop from 2021 (33%).
Just 1% of those over 55 said they use social media to receive financial information.
The data also shows a gender split, with only 7% of women saying they have their own investment ideas compared to 19% of men.
Streeter added: “This could be argued as fresh evidence of the tendency of men to be over-confident and more impulsive, on average, compared to women.
“Other research has shown that women focus less on short-term gains and more on long-term goals, trade less frequently and typically outperform men when it comes to investment returns.”
Hargreaves Lansdown commissioned Opinium to speak to 2,000 people to obtain these results.
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