10 personal finance accounts you need to follow on Instagram

Cyberspace is teeming with experts who want to help you organise your money more prudently

At The Established, we take our money quite seriously. Every month our ‘Smart Girl’s Guide to Finance’ tackles a topic in great depth in order to give you, dear reader, some sound financial advice on planning and managing your spending patterns.

In a nutshell, we want you to save, save and save, be better organised, debt-free and creditworthy at all times. Mastery over your money can be very liberating. We’ve scoured the ’gram looking for personal finance experts who can help you make better decisions and good investment choices.

Sharan Hegde @financewithsharan

A cursory glance at his timeline and you note that Sharan Hegde (@financewithsharan) is serious about the advice he’s dishing out. At 26, Hegde is clearly targeting his peers and a younger audience with direct, easy to understand advice on money matters. If his Instagram credentials aren’t impressive enough at 1.6 million followers, he’s also got more than 300k YouTube subscribers and over 64,700 followers on LinkedIn. Topics like start-up ideas, getting a bonus and achieving financial goals, among several others, are tackled with gusto.

Follow: @financewithsharan

Ankur Warikoo @ankurwarikoo

Ankur Warikoo’s life motto is “do epic shit,” which is also the title of his bestselling book. Warikoo actually has the chutzpah to practice what he preaches. A serial entrepreneur, he dropped out of a college in the United States whilst studying physics (which he loved) and eventually made his way to running successful businesses. Confident and camera-friendly, Warikoo is the new-age guru with free-flowing advice on life and finance, in both English and Hindi. There’s plenty of wisdom here on money and investing.

Follow: @ankurwarikoo

Sayali Rai and Niyati Thaker @fincocktail

Helping you demystify finance are Sayali Rai (@sayalirai) and Niyati Thaker (@niyati1291). It’s easy to see why they have 149k followers, as their posts are simple, direct and detailed. Rai, an ex-investment banker and Thaker, who is a chartered financial analyst (CFA), deliver content in 15-second videos. They also conduct webinars and one-on-one sessions with users. The duo believes in smart formulas that calculate RoIs, as well as market and investment trends in simplifying money matters that have been made complex with reason.

Follow: @fincocktail

Shashank Udupa @shashank_udupa

Starting out as an investment banker, Shashank Udupa co-founded Avalon Labs and now, Avalon Meta, a platform that consolidates all of the user’s interactions, including courses, group discussions and quizzes taken into one resume for potential recruiters. Passionate about finance, Udupa has 176k followers on the ’gram who keenly follow his advice on how to get free airline tickets, learn about balance transfers to help with EMI payments, tax rates and stock market scams.
Follow: @shashank_udupa

Finology @myfinology

Run by fintech company Finology, this is an integrated platform that bundles ‘scientific financial planning, handpicked courses and business-grade stock analytics’ into one stream. While we would view their stock reccos with a healthy amount of ‘need to investigate’ further, their Instagram posts are eye-catching and attempt to explain economic matters with some lucidity.

Follow: @myfinology

Erin Lowry @brokemillennialblog

Erin Lowry is the #girlboss, behind the blog-turned-book Broke Millennial series, and gives her followers straightforward, easy-to-digest financial advice. She’s also been featured in The New York Times (@nytimes) and The Wall Street Journal (@wsj) and Fast Company (@fastcompany). She stays both funny and relevant, endearing herself to more than 50k followers.
Follow: @brokemillennialblog

Ellevest @ellevest

Less personal and more corporate, Ellevest is an American investment platform and financial literacy programme aimed at women. It was co-founded by Sallie Krawcheck and Charlie Kroll in 2014. Though it initially began as a long-term wealth management platform, it now includes debit cards, banking services, workshops and financial coaching and a subscription business model. They are fuelled by the raison d’etre “that nothing bad happens when women have more money.” What’s not to like?
Follow: @ellevest

Mastermind Investor @mastermindinvestor

Aimed at educating stock market enthusiasts and traders, this account is very investment-driven. With easy-to-follow explainers that are heavy on infographics, it aims to educate potential investors on the state of the economy, big corporations, taxation issues and government policies.

Follow: @mastermindinvestor

Female Invest @femaleinvest

Their motto is “on a mission to close the financial gender gap and to educate women and non-binary people on personal finance and investing.” They had us at “financial gender gap”. It is described by one follower as a "great platform for beginners who want to invest. Even better is the empowerment for women, by women!" Started by three women who wanted to create a private space for women to talk about money and investing, this one is a no-brainer to follow even though some advice might be targeted at an overseas audience.

Follow: @femaleinvest

How I Fund This @howIfundthis

Started by the 30-year-old Jessie who describes herself as “your personal finance cheerleader,” the aim here is to help you become better with money. Expect honest personal finance stories, actionable tips and tricks and inspiration on how to live your best life on a budget.

Follow: @howIfundthis

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