John Liang

Biography:

John Liang uses his YouTube and TikTok pages to teach others about personal finance.

He is also a real estate investor and a “points millionaire.”

Why He’s a Top Money Expert:

He has over 2.2 million followers on TikTok.

Q&A:

What’s been your most popular video and why do you think it has resonated with so many viewers?

Various videos related to workplace topics really resonate with my audience. Things ranging from how income tax brackets work, to getting a new job, to quiet quitting, etc. I think they’re topics that everyone can relate to. We’ve all had that tough boss. We’ve all had that job they didn’t pay us enough.

You’re passionate about increasing financial literacy. What topic do you wish people were more informed about and why is it so important to have an understanding of this topic?

Credit cards. They are one of the easiest and best financial tools to help you save money. But so often people are misinformed on how to use them. Or worse, they’re too scared to use them. As long as you pay your credit card bill on time and in full, you’ll stand to reap all benefits – building a strong credit score, earning travel points and miles, etc.

There’s a lot of great financial advice on TikTok – but also a lot of not-so-great advice. How can viewers determine what advice they should and shouldn’t follow?

Not just TikTok but life in general, fact check and verify everything for yourself. TikTok is a great place to gain exposure to various topics. But always do your own diligence after the fact. Many topics on TikTok appeal to the widest possible audience. But we all know that financial advice is very point specific to the end-user. So make sure the advice is applicable to your life and lifestyle.

What’s the worst financial advice you’ve seen being given (on TikTok or elsewhere) and why is this bad advice?

Worst piece of advice: anything related to picking individual stocks to “beat” the stock market. The overwhelming majority of retail investors will fail to beat the market over their entire investment time horizon. We also know that many institutional investors fail to beat the market yet over a year. Yet I see a lot of advice on TikTok showing you how to pick the magic stock or how to enter the magic trade. It doesn’t exist.