Thirty states now force kids to take personal finance before they can graduate high school. Sounds great until you realize those same students are pulling up YouTube during class because the textbook’s talking about mortgage rates from 2019. Somethings have changed in the last few years. More people can name three finance YouTubers than explain what a 401(k) match actually means. That’s not a dig at anyone, it’s just reality.
Back in 2019, Credit Karma surveyed people and found 63% wanted schools teaching this stuff. Recent polls show it’s now over 80%. Lawmakers finally listened. States started passing requirements. But here’s the catch. Requiring a class doesn’t magically create good teachers. Most schools grabbed whoever could technically check the box. Meanwhile, ex-real estate agents and self-taught investors were posting videos that made actual sense and millions of people started watching.
That’s what this whole thing comes down to. Not who’s got the fanciest camera or most subscribers. It’s about who finally makes you understand where your money goes every month, or why compound interest isn’t just something your grandpa mumbles about at Thanksgiving.
Top 7 Accounting & Finance YouTubers in 2025
1. Graham Stephan
Graham Stephan’s sitting at 5.1 million subscribers right now. What got him there? Man became a millionaire by 26 and still refuses to buy Starbucks. His parents filed bankruptcy when he was 16. Barely graduated high school. Couldn’t get into college. Grabbed a real estate license at 18 because he had zero other options. Started at The Oppenheim Group taking listings nobody else wanted. $500 commissions for showing rentals all week. Then some random buyer walked into an open house. Graham repped him on a $3.5 million Beverly Hills sale. That commission check changed everything. Not the money itself, but proof he could actually do this. Videos like “WTF Just Happened To Bitcoin?!” pull serious views because he’s not pretending he’s got a crystal ball. Just walks through his thinking. Shows his math. Admits when he’s guessing. Runs 13-17 minutes, posted weekly or twice weekly. Treats viewers like adults with functioning brains.
2. Mark Tilbury
Mark Tilbury makes zero sense as a YouTube guy. He’s 56. British. Does videos with his son Curtis that should be cringe but aren’t. Seven point three million subscribers say something’s working. Dropped out of school at 16 with nothing. First job making wooden trash cans for less than $2 per hour. Boss kept dumping the worst tasks on him, so he quit and started selling remote-controlled toys in 1988. Model World Ltd still exists today. His companies did okay. UK records show combined worth around $660k, not the millions some articles claim. Mark’s straight about that. Most of his wealth came from property investments and decades building those businesses, not overnight success nonsense. Didn’t touch social media until 2020. Started posting money videos. The dad-son dynamic became his thing. Monthly uploads average over a million views because people trust the guy who admits his companies aren’t as massive as rumours claim.
3. Andrei Jikh
Andrei Jikh’s got 2.89 million people watching him do something wild: showing his actual money. Not theories about dividend stocks. Real positions, real amounts, real returns. Used to be a professional magician. Steve Harvey’s show, Nat Geo’s “Brain Games,” the whole circuit. Figured out magic and finance have something in common: most people trying to trick you. Decided to be different. Channel started earning zero dollars for four months. Year one? Over $100k in ad revenue. He shares that whole journey, what worked and what bombed. Posts weekly about dividend income, stock picks, crypto moves. Big difference from everyone else is that he’s not telling you what you should theoretically do. He’s showing what he’s doing with his own cash, explaining why, then following up months later with results. That transparency’s rare.
4. Minority Mindset
Jaspreet Singh’s channel exists because of a scam. While launching his athletic sock company, some marketing firm cost him thousands. Instead of just eating the loss, he started teaching people how to dodge similar garbage. Licensed attorney who could’ve had a comfortable law career. Chose this instead. Built Minority Mindset into an actual media company. Market Briefs newsletter, Market Insiders app. Totally open about the business model: YouTube ad money funds everything else. What separates him: economic context. Other creators say “buy this stock” or “try this side hustle.” Jaspreet connects money decisions to bigger forces like inflation, recession planning, how Federal Reserve moves actually hit real businesses. Videos run longer because he’s tackling system-level questions, not quick tips. For accounting people and students, his channel gives you the macro literacy that technical skills alone won’t. Understanding GAAP matters. Understanding interest rates affecting your clients matters way more.
5. Farhat’s Accounting Lectures
Professor Farhat treats YouTube like a classroom without the bill. Lectures cover GAAP, financial ratios, audit standards, tax accounting, depth you’d get in actual coursework. Teaching’s structured. He doesn’t just explain calculating depreciation. Explains why different methods exist, when you’d use each, how that choice hits financial statements and taxes. Wants conceptual understanding, not memorization. For CA students and accounting pros, this works as ongoing education. Exam prep, professional development, complex topic refreshers, covered with accuracy other channels trade for entertainment value. Won’t appeal to everyone. Minimal editing, no flash, zero viral attempts. But if you need precision, that’s the whole point.
6. Accounting Stuff
James Hearle remembered what confused him starting out and built content fixing those exact problems. Accounting Stuff strips complexity from core concepts like debits, credits, accrual accounting. Animations and friendly voice make technical stuff approachable. Doesn’t assume you know jargon. Builds from absolute zero. Perfect for beginners and small business owners hitting accounting the first time. What he nails: analogies. Business accounts compared to personal bank accounts. Journal entries through real-world transactions. Makes accounting feel less like memorizing random rules and more like understanding a language that actually makes sense. For people entering the field, this builds foundations that make everything else easier.
7. Edspira
Dr. Michael McLaughlin’s Edspira works as complete accounting education. Over 1,000 videos from intro through advanced. Financial analysis, business ethics, managerial accounting, breadth that resembles an actual degree. Academic background shows in teaching. Concepts build logically. Emphasizes understanding “why” before “how,” developing critical thinking instead of memorization. For students supplementing school or pros needing refreshers, Edspira offers depth shorter channels can’t. Comprehensive enough to learn entire subjects, not just grab quick answers. Content’s thorough, not flashy. Think textbook alternative that’s better paced, explained clearer, designed for how people actually learn.
Why Finance YouTubers Exploded This Year
Three things smashed together making 2025 huge for finance content.
First: thirty states now require financial education before graduation. Created millions of students hunting resources beyond mandatory courses. Teachers got handed curricula they weren’t trained for. Students found YouTube filled gaps better anyway.
Second: economic chaos. Inflation staying high, crypto swinging wild, job markets shifting, people wanted context fast. YouTube delivers both way faster than traditional media writing articles, printing them, publishing weeks later.
Third: creator economy validation. Platform generated $55+ billion in U.S. GDP contribution in 2024. That’s education money, not entertainment. Legitimized YouTube as real learning infrastructure.
Finance channels specifically benefit from a trust problem in traditional education. Universities cost a fortune and lag markets. Financial advisors face conflicts. They profit when you buy their recommendations. YouTubers fill gaps by publishing faster, talking like humans, building communities around shared money confusion.
Finding More Voices Worth Following
These creators are prominent, but hundreds more produce valuable specialized stuff. Some focus exclusively on CPA exams. Others dive deep into tax strategy, crypto analysis, real estate niches. Finding right voices means exploring beyond subscriber counts. Look for creators matching your learning style, data-heavy, storytelling, technical instruction, whatever clicks. Platforms like FeedSpot curate lists of CPA podcasts, chartered accountant blogs, CFA resources. These directories surface creators across formats, helping you find trusted voices whether you prefer video, audio, written stuff. Financial education extends beyond individual YouTubers like newsletters, podcasts, interactive courses, forums all matter.