Rebecca Jennings: The Influencers Getting Rich by Teaching You How to Get Rich

Consider, for instance, the kind of person most closely associated with influencer courses. YouTuber Jake Paul advertised his “Financial Freedom Movement” course in 2020 with a fiery screed against traditional schooling: “I’m sick of our education system and how it’s teaching kids 0 real life skills for them to secure there (sic) own future,” he tweeted. His solution? A $20 per month course where kids can learn skills like becoming an Uber driver or food delivery worker to support themselves while they network their way to social media stardom. (The program’s website is no longer functioning.)

As I posted on Mastodon earlier today, schools absolutely do teach kids financial literacy, it’s just that a bunch of students don’t pay attention. I have no idea how good Jake Paul did in school, but I’d believe you if you told me he wasn’t exactly a model student.

By the way, not using “model student” as a measure of a person’s integrity. I wasn’t a model student either, but I’m not going around making wildly inaccurate claims about education standards.