4 ms·
>Enticing millenials to "trade" individual stocks is quite possibly the most anti-Robinhood thing I can think of. Listen, I understand that this is widespread,
by dsacco 10y ago
>Enticing millenials to "trade" individual stocks is quite possibly the most anti-Robinhood thing I can think of.
Listen, I understand that this is widespread, so I'm not targeting you specifically. But could we try not to use generalizations like "millenial", especially when they refer to vaguely defined generational boundaries?
Your point is very strong, and stands on its own without making what I interpret as an implicitly ageist assumption about a large swath of the population. Millenials are adults. Young adults, sure, but they have agency. It is no more predatory or clearly unethical to lend to them versus lending to baby boomers or gen X.
I take issue with this because you have implicitly robbed them of their agency as a group by phrasing your criticism as "Enticing millenials...". There's no reason to single them out. They may have less money as a group, yes, but there's nothing about trading on margin that makes it inherently more dangerous for millenials over any other generation.
You didn't mean to intentionally portray them this way, but you singled out a particular group because, like I said, it's ubiquitous. We should really try to curb that, in my opinion.
- pembrook 10y agoI used the term as it was originally intended, to describe an age group in the context of marketing a product. Robinhood's massive growth is being driven largely by their target of "millennials" (ie. young adults) coming to the platform without any allegiances to legacy brokers. The millennial customer base is one of the reasons cited for their valuation, since legacy brokers have had trouble gaining younger customers. Any negative assumptions being read into the phrase "enticing millennials" are created by the reader's own bias. I think because so many articles are published complaining about "those damn millennials" we automatically assume anyone using the word is doing so in a negative way. I wasn't (I am a millennial myself). Robinhood's strategy would be predatory in the context of any target market. If they were going after boomers, I would have said "enticing boomers."
- squeaky-clean 10y ago> Robinhood's massive growth is being driven largely by their target of "millennials" (ie. young adults) coming to the platform without any allegiances to legacy brokers. Are you sure about that? I'm the only person I know in my age group using Robinhood. But it's gotten popular with my parents and their friends for example. My mom tried to sign up for Gold before I stopped her. I don't think they're enticing millennials, just anyone who doesn't understand finance or trading very well, which it seems is most people.
- flukus 10y agoYou do know that the oldest millennials are turning 37 this year?
- pembrook 10y agoAnd a lot of the oldest boomers are now dead. If your point is that time only moves in one direction, yes I agree ;) FYI, in the context of traditional brokerage houses (and in most places outside the valley) a 37-yr old is still a "young" customer.
- flukus 10y agoThat may be true, but you're comment wasn't written in the context of a traditional brokerage firm was it?