Viral Financial Challenges Are Taking Off

TikTok is turning into a crash course in how to survive a financial apocalypse (whether real or simply vibes), with several spending-focused challenges taking off on the platform.

Why It Hits (Our Wallets): As Americans wrestle with tariff-related price increases, the soaring cost of living, and underemployment, they’re looking for ways to save money — Gallup found that 57% of Americans are worried they won’t be able to maintain their standard of living, and Bankrate found that 43% face mental health challenges due to the strain. Maybe TikTok can add some motivation for redoing that budget.

Behind the Hashtags: A study by Intuit Credit Karma found that 83% of consumers expect their financial situation to worsen over the next few months.

Some TikTok trends are hoping to help people weather the storm.

• “No buy 2025” challenges people to not spend anything on non-essential purchases — like entertainment, clothing, and electronics — this year.
• “Low buy” or “underconsumption” calls for people to make more mindful decisions on their purchases, like spending less on what they’re typically accustomed to.
• “Slow buy” doesn’t challenge people not to spend, but it does want people to pump the brakes on their purchases — like waiting 48 hours before clicking “buy.”

The Future: The goal of these trends is to give people some get-frugal-fast hacks… or at least stop people from “doom spending,” per CNBC. And while it might seem silly to let social media trends heavily influence your buying decisions, H&R Black found that 68% of Gen Z consumers actually do consider them. One third of them even actively search social media for financial advice. Heck, there’s even a bunch of creators who are now making money by complaining about money. Not a bad gig.

Prediction: While these trends may not last, don’t be surprised if Gen Z learns some crucial financial principles that get their budgets in check better than millennials ever did.