Firm CEO and B.C. advisor each offer insight into why these influencers push risky financial messaging, offer ways for firms and advisors to manage
The ‘manosphere’ has moved out of its online niche. In recent years, social media influencers promoting an aggressive, zero-sum vision of masculinity have found increasing purchase among young men and boys. These influencers run along a spectrum, from ‘fitness bros’ and gamblers to self-proclaimed misogynists with human trafficking charges. UN Women outlines that while many of these influencers ostensibly discuss self-improvement, that is often framed as improvement at the expense of others, especially women. These messages are resonating with young men. According to the Movember Foundation, around two thirds of young men regularly engage with masculinity influencers online.
While ‘manosphere’ influencers can vary in their messaging, they broadly espouse the idea that emotional control, physical appearance, dominance over women, and material wealth are all markers of male worth. Wealth and finance are central to these messages. Men are described as “high value” or “low value” and these influencers often surround themselves with markers of wealth: sports cars, mansions, private jets, & yachts. As they do so, they often promote risky financial decisions: meme coins, sports betting, and equity investments presented as bets. Their messages have an audience, according to a recent CSA study 82 per cent of 18-24 year olds in Canada use social media for investment information. As these influencers start to shape the minds of a generation of young men, some in the financial services industry are sounding alarm bells.
“I think that manosphere influencer culture to a certain extent is preying on some insecurities that some younger men have, namely that they won’t be able to provide in the way that they perceive traditional male figures providing,” says Adam Elliott, President & CEO of iA Private Wealth. “There’s a search for help and these influencers in the manosphere are responding to that. It’s also, fairly hyper-aggressive and quite dismissive of traditional financial advice. It dismisses concepts like diversification, regular contributions, or the idea that ‘slow and steady wins the race.’”
Instead, Elliott explains, wealth building is presented as the product of gambling. Whether that’s actual betting, on sports, on prediction markets, or in casinos, or in crypto or equity investments with little underlying value. Elliott says his firm has observed a large degree of connection between manosphere influencers and crypto markets, especially markets for less-established cryptocurrencies. The general trend in what he has seen is advocacy for financial decisions with highly binary outcomes.
“It’s a culture where you’re always putting everything on 14 red,” he says.
These messages are resonating, in part, because young people feel hopeless in the face of high costs and poor prospects. People who are working and see themselves unable to save for even short-term goals may not think that putting something away for 5 per cent returns will be enough. That makes people receptive to the promise of getting rich from a meme stock. Especially when the ‘strategy’ is pitched from behind the wheel of a Bugatti.
“The manosphere provides people with tangible goals. Whether or not they’re reasonable goals is another question. Showy pieces of wealth, muscle, women, they’re presented as quantitative metrics,” says Chris Warner, Wealth Advisor and Client Relationship Manager at Nicola Wealth. “Whereas, humility, excellence, virtue, kindness…these are not traditionally masculine, they’re harder to explain, they require a level of nuance that maybe doesn’t appeal to everyone age 18 to 24.”
Warner notes that in his practice, most of the young men he encounters have been introduced by their parents and come with a more prudent understanding of wealth creation. His concern lies in those he doesn’t reach on a day-to-day basis. Those who don’t have access to advisors or who have already been told not to trust them. He also sees hopelessness as a contributor to the popularity of the manosphere and adds that we have seen a broader societal financialization, where human pursuits like education and exercise are framed in terms of ROI and economic cost. These influencers can leverage that language to promote their ideas and lead men further down a rabbit hole.
Clarity can be a cure for hopelessness and Warner believes that advisors can be a source of clarity. They can show young people that their goals are possible and that paths exist to achieving them, even if that requires considerable discipline and deferred gratification. He acknowledges, though, that the economics of the industry mean that many young people with smaller accounts and no family connection to wealth are left without access to human advice. Statistics back this up. According to a 2025 study by the FCAC, only 20 per cent of 18-34 year old consulted a professional financial advisor. A 2024 study by the CSA also found that advisor usage had fallen both among younger investors and those with portfolios under $100,000.
Elliott, for his part, sees asset minimums as a real risk for advisory firms. He understands why it might make sense at the practice level, but he prefers a model that allows for flexibility, especially as advisory practices and teams grow. Senior advisors might have significant asset minimums, but they have junior associates who can take any size account. That model, he says, can enable better access for young people starting out while keeping a view of the industry’s economics in mind.
Giving young people access to advice also means meeting them where they are. Elliott says that at iA Private Wealth, advisors have been encouraged to get on social media and provide qualified educational content that can reach younger audiences. Getting those advisors onto YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram has taken work, both in social media training for advisors and in coordination with compliance teams. That’s taken creativity, and the acknowledgement that 15 seconds of disclaimers at the start of a 30-second video won’t work. Elliott believes the industry must keep leaning into social media to push back against the recklessness being promoted by unregulated actors.
For individual advisors, especially men in the industry, there is also an increasing responsibility to model positive behaviour. Both Warner and Elliott insist on operating publicly, privately, and professionally with respect and collaborative intent towards every person they meet. Combatting the messages of domination that the ‘manosphere’ preaches with demonstrated evidence that good things can be done in collaboration. Elliott adds, too, that the industry and individual advisors now have a responsibility to understand, address, and react to the ‘manosphere,’ because it isn’t going away on its own.
“Advisors don’t just serve individuals, they serve families. When wealth planning is holistic and multi generational, advisors have a responsibility to work with the next generation and to help ensure the long term financial success of the entire family. All the work they put into building wealth with their clients over years and decades could be at risk if they don’t understand what’s going on in social media,” Elliott says. “From a pure business perspective, they’ve got a high chance of either seeing that multi-generational wealth transfer not follow the next generation into their practice. I also think that they’ve got a serious risk that the savings they have helped their clients accumulate over many years could be seriously negatively impacted if they have these competing forces who are providing very poor advice.”
