Research Symposium

BIO

Gabriella Gallardo is a Finance major from Denver, Colorado. Gabriella has been conducting research under Monika Pareek with Kelsey Everitt to investigate Financial Influencers, aimed to categorize, assess the quality, and evaluate the impact that the information spread by Financial Influencers on public financial literacy and risks taken by consumers from a socioeconomic approach, focusing on race, gender, and age. Outside of her participation in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, she serves as the Finance Chair of the Iota Rho chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, an annual giving trustee of the Student Foundation, and 2024 FSU Orientation Leader. Gabriella plans to continue her participation in research, in particular in the economic field. Gabriella's long-term career goal is to become a financial advisor with an emphasis on pro-bono advising.

Finance in the Age of Influence

Abstract

As digital media has become more prominent in today’s culture, more and more people find themselves getting their information from online sources. This information ranges from makeup recommendations to mortgage rate analysis, which is gained from influencers. A certain subsection of influencers is Financial Influencers, also claimed under the term “Finfluencers”, give advice online about personal finance ranging from saving tips to credit advice. Since the rise of Financial Influencers, people have shared their concerns about the accuracy of the information that these influencers are sharing, often too easily manipulating audiences that lack prior knowledge. The research began with a literary analysis of prior research on Financial Influencers to find unanswered questions and leading to data analysis on content from popular Financial Influencers. The research is aimed to categorize, assess the quality, and evaluate the impact that the information spread by Financial Influencers on public financial literacy and risks taken by consumers. Furthermore, as research based in the sociology field, the study explores the relationship between the credibility of the influencers, the demographics of their audience, and the likelihood of the content influencing risky financial behavior. The research combines economic sociology and digital media studies to contribute to the understanding of the growing digitalization of financial culture and the implications it has on financial literacy.

Keywords: Finance, Sociology, Economics, Influencers