Nate Hoskin, founder of Hoskin Capital, has a whopping 207,000-plus followers on TikTok. But unlike many of the platform's other stars, eccentric antics aren't the way the financial advisor, 24, has grabbed attention.
"I want to portray myself as someone who's an expert in his field rather than someone who's trying to be entertaining just for the sake of getting more followers," Hoskin tells ThinkAdvisor in an interview.
He is serious — about his online presence and about helping Gen Zers and millennials retire between the ages of 55 and 60.
"If you start [retirement planning] as early as possible, that's where you can add the most value," Hoskin says in the interview.
He himself is all about being early: By age 9, the precocious future financial advisor was already immersed in learning about finance.
By 22, he had earned the CFP designation. That was the same year — 2020, the height of the coronavirus pandemic — that he launched his own firm.
His availability and popularity on TikTok go far to begin the client bonding process even before a first meeting.
In the same age group as his target clients, Hoskin not only advises them but also supports their lifestyle. That helps to "empower them toward [reaching their] goals because we see eye to eye," he says.
On TikTok, he focuses on financial education and often posts one new video a day.
A big hit has been flowcharts he creates to explain finance, such as "The Retirement Waterfall," which illustrates the process of allocating assets among various accounts.
Hoskin spent fewer than three years working at a financial firm — Pacific Investment Research — before starting his own Denver-based company to serve folks in their 20s and 30s. No asset minimum is required.
Compensation comes from two-hour hourly-rate consultation fees, financial plan creation, portfolio management and a financial education membership program. Assets under management total $1.8 million.
ThinkAdvisor recently interviewed Hoskin, who was speaking by phone from Denver.
Eventually, he talked about long-term plans: expanding the firm but personally limiting his book of business to 100 clients whom he can serve "from their 25th birthday to their 90th birthday."
Here are highlights of our conversation:
THINKADVISOR: You don't post zany TikTok videos, as many people do. Why did you decide to use a serious approach?
NATE HOSKIN: I take my online presence very seriously. I want to portray myself as someone who's an expert in his field rather than someone who's trying to be entertaining just for the sake of getting more followers.
I'd rather have fewer followers who are really getting valuable content than having millions of followers simply because they think I'm interesting to watch.
How does being on TikTok help your business?
The No. 1 thing is that when people want to work with me; it's almost like they already know me because I'm so available on TikTok [as if I'm] talking to [them] directly. It's almost like we've had conversations in the past.
It creates a level of familiarity that allows people to feel very comfortable. In many cases, finances are a naturally uncomfortable matter.
So anything I can do to break down those walls and make someone a little more comfortable talking about these sensitive things, makes our conversation that much more productive.
But why are your videos so popular?
People in their early 20s who are on TikTok want to find people who are reliable sources of information that they can learn from.
I provide financial education and talk about a lot of things that I'm teaching my clients.
I filled that [education] niche early on when TikTok was becoming popular. That's how people found me and followed me: They wanted to learn more about what I was sharing.
How did you build up to hundreds of thousands of followers?
If you have a video that a lot of people are commenting on and who are following you as a result, the TikTok algorithm ["gets"] that that's a valuable video and will share it with more people.
So the more positive interactions I had with people, the more I created content that they wanted to see, and it was shown to more and more people.
What's one of the main things you provide educationally on TikTok that's had real impact?
I create flowcharts that amplify specific financial topics. For example, I have a chart called "The Retirement Waterfall": Depending on the amount of money you're able to save, what account should that money go into?
Following that chart, you can take a very broad topic and fit it into your specific situation.
That's been a really big hit because it's hard to visualize where all your money should go dollar by dollar.
You're 24 years old and have had comparatively little experience as a financial advisor. Why would young people who are green about finance choose you as their financial advisor?
One factor is that we share many of the same interests. So to many of the people I interact with, I'm not only an advisor but also a supporter of their lifestyle.
When they tell me about their goals and aspirations in the near term, I help empower them toward those goals because we see eye to eye.
We really understand each other rather than their feeling that they have to explain themselves.
What do these younger people need most from you?
The main thing I do is early retirement planning. I talk about it early in the hope of [clients] retiring early, between 55 and 60 in most cases.
If you start that as early as possible, that's where you add the most value.
When we do financial plans, we consider what it would look like to retire at 55 and then to retire at a more traditional age. We talk about the savings that would be required to do both.
