Canada
The Plain Bagel is the YouTube channel of Richard Coffin, a CFA charterholder and CFP professional based in Ottawa, Canada, who built a multi-million subscriber following by translating institutional-grade financial thinking into accessible, evidence-based explainers.
Total Followers +0.8%
1.2M
Across YouTube
Primary Platform
YouTube
1.2M followers · 100% of audience
Engagement
4.4%
vs. 1.5% category median
Sponsorship Tier
Macro
Est. — / IG post
Richard Coffin joined the CFA Institute for a live session on breaking into finance, spotlighting his channel as one of YouTube's largest finance destinations with 1M+ subscribers.
Richard Coffin joined Canada's renowned personal finance educator David Chilton to discuss the rise of financial influencers, the pros and cons of online financial advice, and behavioural biases.
| Platform | Followers | 30d Growth | Engagement | Posts / wk | Last upload |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 1,210,000 | +10K | 4.4% | 0.5 | 3 days ago |
| Window | YouTube | Combined | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 7 days | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +0 |
| Last 30 days | +10K +0.8% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +10K |
| Last 90 days | +31K +2.5% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +31K |
| Last 365 days | +31K +2.5% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +31K |
Daily follower snapshots from CreatorDB's longitudinal index.
| Brand | Type | Platform | Date | Performance vs. baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blinkist Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | May 2026 | — |
| Brilliant Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jan 2026 | — |
| Incogni Inc. Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jul 2025 | — |
| Morning Brew Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | May 2025 | — |
The Plain Bagel is the YouTube channel of Richard Coffin, a CFA charterholder and CFP professional based in Ottawa, Canada, who built a multi-million subscriber following by translating institutional-grade financial thinking into accessible, evidence-based explainers. Working simultaneously as an investment analyst, Coffin approaches the channel as a genuine practitioner rather than a full-time content creator, which gives his videos a measured, credentialed tone uncommon in the personal finance space. His content spans individual investing mechanics, macroeconomic policy, and pointed critiques of financial industry trends — debunking conspiracy narratives around asset managers, scrutinizing IPO structures, and dissecting real estate market stress — reflecting a range well beyond basic budgeting advice.
Despite the channel's Canadian origin, the audience is predominantly American and skews toward adult men in the 25–44 and 45-plus brackets, suggesting an audience that treats the channel as a substantive research supplement rather than casual viewing. Sponsors like Brilliant and Blinkist reinforce this positioning — brands that target intellectually engaged, self-improving professionals rather than mass-market consumers. Morning Brew and Incogni round out a mix consistent with digitally fluent, finance-curious adults. With engagement running well above category norms and a steady publishing cadence, The Plain Bagel occupies a durable position as a credentialed voice in English-language financial education, well suited as the broader audience for independent finance commentary continues to mature.
Theplainbagel reaches an audience concentrated in Canada primarily through YouTube, and is best activated via long-form YouTube integrations. As a finance creator they map naturally to brands targeting that space. Demonstrated partners include Blinkist and Brilliant. Engagement on YouTube runs around 4.4%, which points to an audience better suited to category-relevant, mid-funnel campaigns than to pure-reach buys. Their YouTube-first format lends itself to integrations that sit inside the creator's usual content rather than running as standalone ads. Because the audience follows finance content rather than arriving through untargeted reach, sponsorships that match the channel's subject matter tend to convert more efficiently than broad placements. A consistent, on-topic posting focus gives sponsors a predictable, brand-safe environment, lowering placement risk compared with broad, general-interest channels. Campaigns here are best measured on qualified engagement and consideration within the niche rather than on raw impression volume. For Canada-focused brands in finance and related categories, Theplainbagel offers a defined, creative-fit audience rather than broad, low-intent impressions.
Benchmark estimates for a creator at Theplainbagel's tier (Macro, 1.2M combined followers, Canada). Pulled from CreatorDB's category benchmarks.
The CreatorDB Agency runs end-to-end influencer campaigns globally — shortlisting, outreach, contracting, and performance reporting. Talk to our team about building a campaign around creators in this niche.
The Plain Bagel's real name is Richard Coffin. He chose a channel name that reflects his investing philosophy — plain, no-frills, straightforward — rather than leading with his personal identity.
Yes, Richard holds both the CFA charterholder designation and the CFP (Certified Financial Planner) professional credential, making him genuinely credentialed in a space full of unqualified commentators. He's mentioned both in his channel bio and frequently references his professional background to ground his explanations in industry-standard thinking.
As of his channel bio, Richard works as an analyst at an investment management company in Ottawa, Canada, alongside running his YouTube channel. He presents this dual role as intentional — keeping him embedded in the actual industry rather than just commenting on it from the outside.
The name is a nod to the plain vanilla, keep-it-simple approach to personal finance and investing that Richard advocates — think index funds and boring-but-effective strategies over flashy picks. It signals upfront that the channel isn't about hype or hot takes.
Yes, Richard made a video directly addressing the popular conspiracy theory that BlackRock and Vanguard secretly control global markets and corporations. He uses his background in investment management to walk through why the theory misunderstands how institutional asset managers actually work and where their voting power does and doesn't apply.
Richard released a video arguing that prediction markets are ruining the finance industry, taking a critical stance at a time when platforms like Polymarket were getting mainstream attention. His concern centers on how these markets can distort incentives and be misread as serious financial forecasting tools rather than speculative sentiment gauges.
Richard released a video describing the SpaceX IPO situation as "wild," unpacking the unusual structure and the complications that come with taking a company like SpaceX — with its mix of government contracts, Starlink, and Elon Musk's personal brand — public. His coverage reflects his broader style of breaking down complex market events for a general audience without losing technical accuracy.
In "Canada's Condo Conundrum," Richard examines the structural problems hitting the Canadian condo market — including oversupply in certain cities, rising carrying costs for investors, and what it means for buyers and the broader housing market. It's part of his recurring coverage of Canadian-specific financial and economic issues, which stands out given that most of his audience is actually based in the United States.
Recent confirmed sponsors on his YouTube channel include Brilliant, Blinkist, Morning Brew, and Incogni. These partnerships fit the channel's educated, financially curious audience — learning tools, newsletters, and privacy software rather than trading apps or crypto exchanges.
The Plain Bagel has passed the one-million-subscriber mark on YouTube and sits comfortably in the Macro creator tier, with an engagement rate well above the category median for educational finance content. For a Canadian-based finance educator tackling dry topics like trade policy and asset management, that reach is notably large — with the majority of his audience coming from the United States.
Stats (followers, engagement, audience demographics, growth) are pulled live from the CreatorDB API covering YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Bio and FAQ content is AI-assisted; news items are sourced from cited public press at generation time. Read the full methodology →
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@theplainbagel · YouTube
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