Financier №2 (42) 2026

The emergence of numerous digital solutions for stock trading creates the impression that learning to make money in the market is easier than ever. All you need to do is subscribe to a couple of podcasts, install a trading simulator app, and occasionally consult ChatGPT if anything is unclear.

However, an investor’s path to success still lies through a deep understanding of economic trends, financial assets, and the ability to build trading strategies. This comes with experience, while social media, blogs by recognised investment gurus, and technological innovations can be used as additional tools to achieve your goals.

Theory in Action

The modern model assumes that learning and investing are a single process (learning by doing), which is why educational services are now often integrated directly into trading terminals.

Mobile apps from popular brokers - such as Thinkorswim by Charles Schwab and digital platforms like ETNA Paper Trading Simulator - create a personalised learning environment where content is adapted to the user, who can immediately apply knowledge in practice. This approach eliminates academic dryness and boredom, but also creates the risk of superficial understanding of the material.

AI to the Rescue

With the rise of artificial intelligence tools, young investors are increasingly making decisions independently. This is due both to the high cost of private financial advising and the desire to avoid conflicts of interest.

According to estimates by the World Economic Forum, about 41% of Gen Z and millennials are willing to entrust the management of their money to AI assistants. Among older generations, this figure is significantly lower. An additional factor is speed: traditional financial institutions often react to changes with a delay, while digital platforms do not have this drawback.

AI solutions can process large data sets, analyse news, reports and market signals. However, even the most advanced technologies cannot become an “artificial substitute” for an investor — they are merely a decision‑support tool.

Infrastructure of Knowledge

YouTube, podcasts, Telegram and TikTok have become the main “universities” for young market participants. The easy way content is delivered on these platforms makes even the most complex financial instruments understandable to almost anyone.

At the same time, the internet blurs the line between high‑quality analytics and aggressive marketing, so it’s important to learn how to filter information before diving into financial analysis methods.

Studying charts in isolation is becoming a thing of the past thanks to the rise of investment clubs. The experience of a chat interlocutor is valued higher than the opinion of a professional analyst. This creates a sense of belonging, but also provokes errors typical of groupthink*.

*Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which group unity is valued more highly than the accuracy of a decision

The most popular finance and investment podcasts: The Motley Fool Money (2 000+ episodes), Planet Money (1 700+), We Study Billionaires (1 100+).

The popularity of non‑professional content raises the likelihood of poor decisions among market participants. According to the FINRA Foundation, a significant share of investors who rely on social media acknowledge the influence of emotions and short‑term factors on their market actions.

Self‑Taught Investor

Investment education has become more accessible, faster and generally “more human”, but there is a price to pay. Responsibility for the quality of one’s “study plan” now lies entirely with the learner. In a world where information is free, the most valuable resource becomes the ability to distinguish signal from noise.