7 ms·

I think the target market is the problem; older people have the money, and they're not moving from the places they know and trust.

harryh 7y ago
Give it time. Millennials are now the largest generation in the country. Soon enough, they will have the most money.
- nico_h 7y ago
  Isn’t that the problem? That the millennials are not accumulating wealth at the rate of the boomers?
  - jedberg 7y ago
    They're not, but when the boomers start to die (we'll they've already started but as the pace picks up), they'll be leaving a lot of wealth to the millennials.
    - scurvy 7y ago
      I think most of the boomer money will pass down to GenX and the xennials. Millennials are another 15 years out.
- malandrew 7y ago
  Every generation will eventually "have the most money". The question that matters is "when?". Will they get the most money because they've earned it or because all prior generations have died off enough for them to inherit it. I can't think of any mechanism by which wealth owned by the rich (i.e. old) can skip a generation. The only way this proves to be false is if we eventually discover the secret to healthful immortality and end up with a generation that never dies, and therefore never bequeaths its wealth to younger generations. The longer people live, the longer it will take younger generations to inherit the wealth of older generations. The only other way this proves false is if there is a massive wealth destroying event such as war, revolution, ecological collapse, etc. such that there isn't much wealth to inherit.
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    "I can't think of any mechanism by which wealth owned by the rich (i.e. old) can skip a generation." The IRS can! See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation-skipping_transfer_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation-skipping_transfer_t...
    - malandrew 7y ago
      Fascinating. Thanks for the link. That said, I was talking about a generation collectively across all of society, not a specific family.
- cheriot 7y ago
  VCs don't have a 30 year time horizon. The way compounding interest works means assets are heavily skewed toward older workers.
jwagenet 7y ago
If Robinhood is playing the long game they are looking to capture the young market now so they are the first stop when the money comes pouring in.
- jgalt212 7y ago
  Yes, the long game. It's very hard to prove that someone is doing the wrong thing when you invoke the term "the long game".
adamnemecek 7y ago
Company valuations are based on the next 10 years rather than now.
SwellJoe 7y ago
Young people get old and accrue wealth. I still have my Ameritrade account from 25 years ago (then Datek, which was, at the time, revolutionary), so I'm not even the obvious consumer of Robinhood services since there was friction for me to stop using Ameritrade and start using Robinhood, but I switched all of my investment activity over to Robinhood a year or so ago (still have some stock at Ameritrade, but I don't actively trade there).
dragonwriter 7y ago
> older people have the money, and they're not moving from the places they know and trust. Their money is moving, because old people—at a higher rate than young people—become dead people, whose former money is then controlled by someone else, often younger.

harryh 7y ago

Give it time. Millennials are now the largest generation in the country. Soon enough, they will have the most money.

nico_h 7y ago
Isn’t that the problem? That the millennials are not accumulating wealth at the rate of the boomers?
- jedberg 7y ago
  They're not, but when the boomers start to die (we'll they've already started but as the pace picks up), they'll be leaving a lot of wealth to the millennials.
  - scurvy 7y ago
    I think most of the boomer money will pass down to GenX and the xennials. Millennials are another 15 years out.
malandrew 7y ago
Every generation will eventually "have the most money". The question that matters is "when?". Will they get the most money because they've earned it or because all prior generations have died off enough for them to inherit it. I can't think of any mechanism by which wealth owned by the rich (i.e. old) can skip a generation. The only way this proves to be false is if we eventually discover the secret to healthful immortality and end up with a generation that never dies, and therefore never bequeaths its wealth to younger generations. The longer people live, the longer it will take younger generations to inherit the wealth of older generations. The only other way this proves false is if there is a massive wealth destroying event such as war, revolution, ecological collapse, etc. such that there isn't much wealth to inherit.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  "I can't think of any mechanism by which wealth owned by the rich (i.e. old) can skip a generation." The IRS can! See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation-skipping_transfer_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation-skipping_transfer_t...
  - malandrew 7y ago
    Fascinating. Thanks for the link. That said, I was talking about a generation collectively across all of society, not a specific family.
cheriot 7y ago
VCs don't have a 30 year time horizon. The way compounding interest works means assets are heavily skewed toward older workers.

jwagenet 7y ago

If Robinhood is playing the long game they are looking to capture the young market now so they are the first stop when the money comes pouring in.

jgalt212 7y ago
Yes, the long game. It's very hard to prove that someone is doing the wrong thing when you invoke the term "the long game".

adamnemecek 7y ago

Company valuations are based on the next 10 years rather than now.

SwellJoe 7y ago

Young people get old and accrue wealth. I still have my Ameritrade account from 25 years ago (then Datek, which was, at the time, revolutionary), so I'm not even the obvious consumer of Robinhood services since there was friction for me to stop using Ameritrade and start using Robinhood, but I switched all of my investment activity over to Robinhood a year or so ago (still have some stock at Ameritrade, but I don't actively trade there).

dragonwriter 7y ago

> older people have the money, and they're not moving from the places they know and trust. Their money is moving, because old people—at a higher rate than young people—become dead people, whose former money is then controlled by someone else, often younger.