Many fund managers, analysts, brokers and successful individual investors regularly post about their activities and insights online through blogs, newsletters and videos on various social media platforms. Following prominent online investing influencers can help you glean information on current trends and learn successful strategies. Their commentaries can also provide inspiration as you pursue your own investing objectives. While investing influencers have their place on social media, a financial advisor can do more for you by tailoring advice for your specific situation.
Why Follow Investors Online
If you’re interested in investing, finding investors to follow online can be an enjoyable pastime and may help you become a better investor. Here are some possible benefits you can gain from following investors online:
- Stay on top of current trends in investing.
- Learn about the winning strategies that successful investors have followed.
- See how successful long-term investors react to down markets and mistakes.
- Find a source of information that fits your personal situation and preferences.
- Engage in copycat or coattail investing by emulating their picks.
- Be inspired by seeing how others have done it.
Before taking any personal finance influencer seriously and incorporating their take into your investment portfolio or strategy, consider vetting them by asking yourself some of the following questions:
- Evaluate their transparency. Is the identity of the influencer clear? Do they provide an email address or other contact information? Does the influencer appear to be a real individual?
- Assess their credentials. Does the influencer provide checkable information about their educational background, professional designations, investing experience and track record?
- Consider whether their advice is credible. Are they suggesting investments or strategies far outside the norms of the industry? Do other influencers reference their posts?
- Check how they engage with their audience. Do influencers project a reasonable and professional demeanor? Do they promote commercial investment products or services? Are their suggestions based on evidence and logic?
Ultimately, it may be difficult to know that an investing influencer is worth paying attention to. However, making an effort can help you to at least weed out bad actors from popular investors to follow on social media.
Investors to Follow
Investors post snippets online via X, where the community of investment commentators is known as FinTwit, as well as on TikTok, where they’re called members of FinTok. Other, generally longer-form investing commentary is available through newsletters, blogs and articles. Here are some popular investors to consider following online, and where you can find them:
- Josh Brown. This investment company CEO and FinTwit celebrity with more than 1 million followers recently stopped writing his popular “The Reformed Broker” blog and started an investing podcast called Downtown Josh Brown.
- Errol Coleman. FinToker Coleman posts a plethora of brief educational videos on TikTok recounting his experiences as a day trader.
- Ray Dalio. The billionaire founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, disseminates his views on investing, success, leadership and other matters via X, often in multiple tweets per day.
- Sam Dogen. Dogen’s Financial Samurai blog targets investors who want to achieve financial independence with well-researched, data-backed posts that also delve into general personal finance topics like teaching financial literacy to kids and designing a safe withdrawal rate for retirement funds.
- Howard Marks. The co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, which specializes in investing in distressed securities, billionaire Marks takes deep dives into his contrarian views in regular Memos posted on the Oaktree website.
- Liz Ann Sonders. The chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, Sonders is active on LinkedIn, where she posts and re-posts current takes on economic trends and events of interest to the investment community.
- Timothy Sykes. Becoming a millionaire by day trading penny stocks is the focus of Sykes’ contributions via his blog, educational programs and activity on a number of social media platforms.
- Cathie Wood. The founder, CEO and chief investment officer of ARK Invest and its flagship ARK Innovation ETF tweets actively on disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and their relevance in investing.
Bottom Line
While some investing influencers may lack the educational credentials, industry experience and regulatory oversight offered by typical professionals in the financial and investing community, the most popular have attracted hundreds of thousands of followers due to their gift for communicating investment concepts in readily accessible ways. And, if treated with appropriate caution, following them via their posts, blogs, newsletters and videos can supply you with ideas, cautionary tales, education and inspiration to help you grow as an investor.
Personal Investing Tips
- You can get inspiration and ideas from following investors online. But for customized insight into your individual situation, consider working with a financial advisor. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
- Use SmartAsset’s Investment return and growth calculator to see how much your portfolio will grow using different average rates of return.
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