The news: Insurance advisors are increasingly fielding questions sparked by insurance advice clients found on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, per InsuranceNewsNet. 

Advisors say the shift means preparing to correct misinformation in real time rather than starting conversations from scratch.

Why this matters: Advice circulating online is frequently wrong, yet clients often act on it without verifying whether it applies to their situation. A study of 39,000 influencers by the Swiss Finance Institute and University of California, Berkeley found that viewers may be better off doing the opposite of what influencers recommend, per InsuranceNewsNet.

Common insurance myths recurring across social platforms include  claims that whole life coverage is "a scam." Another suggests that infinite banking and indexed universal life policies function like personal checking accounts.

The pattern behind these myths is consistent. Influencers without financial industry experience can oversimplify products—and algorithms can reward videos that grab consumers’ attention and offer easy-to-remember takeaways.

Implications for insurance advisors: Simply telling a client they’re wrong can be counterproductive. Instead, advisors can ask why a specific video resonated rather than challenging its content.  Viral video usually taps into a real fear, such as paying too much for coverage. Identifying that underlying worry gives advisors an opening to explain what the video got right, what context it left out, and how the client's specific circumstances change the answer.

Advisors can also compete more effectively on relevance, context, and trust than on information alone. That favors advisors who publish their own content and answer the questions clients are already asking, becoming a familiar, credible voice before the next viral claim reaches their inbox.

Every unanswered question a client brings from social media is an opening for another influencer, often without fiduciary duty or compliance obligation, to shape how that client thinks about insurance and retirement products. 

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