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Secure finances: Berlin students learn how to deal with advertising etc.
On May 13, 2025, experts in Berlin discussed the influence of finfluencers on financial education and consumer decisions.
Secure finances: Berlin students learn how to deal with advertising etc.
The digital world is increasingly influencing how young people deal with finances. At this year's Tincon, keynote speaker Jolissa Rusin gave a talk entitled "Click, Cash, Chaos - How to handle finances safely online". She highlighted how much advertising, trends and finfluencers influence young people's money behavior. In particular, the focus is on advertising for crypto apps as well as discount codes in Instagram stories and offers such as “Buy Now, Pay Later”. The goal is to recognize the mechanisms of purchasing behavior and make self-determined decisions, which is a fundamental skill in today's consumer society, reports the Tagesspiegel.
Rusin pays particular attention to the frequent manipulation strategies that arise from potential consumer pressure. Time pressure and scarcity of offers are typical means that are used to entice consumers to act quickly. It is crucial that young people ask themselves: “What do I really need?” Another critical point in Rusin's presentation is the problem of finfluencers, whose economic interests often remain unclear. This lack of transparency mixes education and advertising and jeopardizes young people's basic financial literacy.
Need for financial education
To counteract this, Invest it! e.V. with various educational offers for schools. These include a teacher resource kit that offers lessons on topics such as payments, budgeting, debt, insurance and consumer decisions. Workshops are also offered for students that use interactive and experience-oriented learning methods. From the perspective of the initiators, it is urgently necessary to establish financial education as a separate school subject from the 8th or 9th grade.
Another step towards promoting financial education is the development of the ad-free financial app “Linum”, which was designed specifically for young people. This app is intended to help provide information and identify patterns, but Rusin emphasizes that it is not a replacement for critical thinking. The role of artificial intelligence in financial education is seen as supportive.
Dialogue about finfluencers
Dr. Sally Peters from the Institute for Financial Services e.V. and Thomas Kehl from Finanzfluss highlighted the challenges of making financial topics interesting without giving specific product recommendations. The social media project 'Fact Check Finance' was also presented at the event, which informs consumers about rip-off scams and alternative courses of action. The responsibility of schools in financial consumer education was also discussed, including as part of the 'Consumer Checker' project of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations.
Finally, there was a panel discussion about responsibility when dealing with digital financial tips. Everyone in attendance agreed that financial consumer education needs to be made accessible to all ages. The event ended with a get-together that promoted networking among the participants.