Financial Advisors Are Finding Their Voice on Substack

Laid-off journalists aren’t the only ones finding an audience on Substack. 

With minimal barriers to entry, financial advisors are using the newsletter platform to market their services and reach niche audiences outside of traditional sites like LinkedIn. While conversion rates from subscriber to client can be low, it’s a growing trend and an opportunity for advisors to expand their reach and meet new clients.

“The newsletter is a great place to spark a little interest for people, where they may say: ‘Oh, wow, I’ve seen myself in a similar situation, but I don’t know this or that, let me reach out,’” said Clifford Cornell, a CFP at Bone Fide Wealth. He publishes Yield to Maturity, writing about topics related to Gen Z and finance and after 18 months on Substack, he’s reached 575 followers. That growth he attributes partly to Substack’s referral program, where writers can recommend other newsletters to subscribers. His previous platform took a year to yield 150 subscribers. 

CliffsNotes for Clients

For others, Substack serves existing clients. Matt Poyner, a former emergency medicine doctor turned CFP, writes Med School Money as part of his Canadian practice, serving physicians almost exclusively. He directs existing clients to his Substack when questions exceed meeting capacity. “They can read about it and think about it, then we can talk about it at the next meeting,” Poyner said. “I only have so much capacity to work with people one on one, so it gave me another medium to get good evidence-based information out there.”

Substack itself has grown rapidly since its launch in 2017:

• The platform had more than 20 million monthly active users as of 2025. There are more than 5 million paid subscriptions as of 2026, up from 2 million in 2023, according to the company (though this doesn’t necessarily represent unique subscribers). 
• The top 10 finance newsletters on Substack earn more than the top 10 newsletters in any other category, according to a data analysis from the newsletter Really Good Business Ideas. 

Keeping It Real. Stoy Hall, a CFP at Black Mammoth serving women, minority and LGBTQ business owners, says Substack has more access to this target audience, and lets him write authentically. “In some of my stuff, I cuss, I’m more myself. LinkedIn doesn’t really like that from an algorithm perspective,” Hall said. “You can’t be as vibrant and as bold in those mediums as you can on Substack.”

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