Bad financial advice can ruin your life. At best, it can lose you some money. At worst, it can totally bankrupt you — or even get you in trouble with the law.

We saw this latter scenario play out all over the internet last week when a viral “infinite money glitch” encouraged TikTok users to basically commit check fraud. The glitch? Write yourself a large check, deposit the nonexistent money into your account, and then quickly withdraw the cash.

Now, those users may face fraud charges.

The “infinite money glitch” didn’t expose a flaw in the banking system, as those users thought. It exposed a failure of financial literacy.

From “financial experts” who tell you that your only barrier to homebuying is your latte budget to amateur day traders encouraging you to dump all your money into a single stock, bad financial advice on the internet is diffuse. Separating the good advice from the bad advice is difficult — there are plenty of people parading themselves as experts who have no credentials whatsoever. So, here are two lessons we can take away from this fraudulent TikTok trend.

One, it’s important to talk about money early and often. (With everyone in your life.)

And two, anyone selling you a get-rich-quick scheme is selling you snake oil. There are no guaranteed get-rich-quick schemes. At Ellevest, we believe the best way to build wealth is by investing regularly and working with a financial planner on a strategy that helps you hit your goals. We designed our financial planning packages to help you not only build wealth, but also build the life you want.

Get started today — your initial consultation with an Ellevest CFP® pro is on us.

“Financial planning is about delivering a client into freedom. Every person has a dream of freedom, and they ought to be living it. And that goes for people who don’t have any money, people who are in debt, as well as people who have lots of money.”

— George Kinder, the father of the “life planning” movement, a branch of financial advice that connects a person’s finances to their dreams, goals, and values. That’s how we practice it at Ellevest. If you’re ready to find your own version of freedom, book a complimentary 15-minute consultation with an Ellevest financial expert.

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