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What's the difference between a mobile app vs any other interface other than convenience? Should I be required to talk to a financial advisor before managing m

What's the difference between a mobile app vs any other interface other than convenience? Should I be required to talk to a financial advisor before managing my own freaking money that I earned? While we're at it why don't we make Amazon track user bank accounts so they can decide what you can and can't afford and stop you before you buy that $10,000 TV when you still have credit card debt? Not saying there should be no safety rails, but as an adult you are allowed to ruin your life through bad decisions. Society's obligation is to provide reasonable protection from things outside your control and point out the obvious pitfalls you may not be aware of. Fidelity tried to upsell me on their margin trading system. At the time I had no idea what trading on margin was, so I read some blogs, watched some YouTube videos, did some high school algebra and decided the risk wasn't worth it at the rates they were offering. For people who don't have that kind of time/education, know your limits and maybe don't buy something you don't at least fundamentally understand. At what point are people expected to own their mistakes? Seems like every time a story like this pops up there's a discussion as to how to make systems more paternalistic, bail out individuals for their stupid decisions the same way the government bails out corporate America. The correct social response in both cases IMO is the opposite. Financial failure shouldn't be death, but it should have teeth. This guy likely could have declared bankruptcy and recovered in a few years. That is a reasonable safety net IMO.

runawaybottle 6y ago
I understand the sentiment, and you are right on many fronts, we cannot absolve the reality that people do have agency over their decisions. But, I’ll suggest a testable number. You can buy the 10k TV, no problem. I just don’t think that idea is scaleable indefinitely. Over 250k, I want to force you to make a 5k deposit and agreement with a bankruptcy lawyer so if it goes bad, we automatically bankrupt you. And I want to hire a nice Frontend and product team to make a seamless one-click bankruptcy agreement contract for both sides in a user friendly app. Both the lender and buyer agree to this outcome. Let’s see how that hard limit impacts things. Let’s have you get on the phone with the bankruptcy lawyer to also give verbal consent. These edge cases can be covered. Go try to get a gun license in Japan and see the types of hoops you have to jump through. It is a prohibitive process that probably reduces gun ownership by a lot.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
> What's the difference between a mobile app vs any other interface other than convenience? When dealing with potentially addictive behaviors with their associated dopamine hit, interface and immediacy matters. This is why there are a lot more heavy cigarette users than cigar users and tobacco pipe users. For cigarettes, being able to have 20 cigarettes with you all the time in your shirt pocket makes it easy to indulge whenever the urge hits you. On the other hand, having to prep a pipe for tobacco gives the person time to think. I think this is similar to stock trading. If you are addicted to stock trading, being able to whip out your phone and go to the app with FaceID in a few seconds is going to lead to a lot more impulsive behavior than if you had to go to your desktop/laptop and go to the site.

runawaybottle 6y ago

I understand the sentiment, and you are right on many fronts, we cannot absolve the reality that people do have agency over their decisions. But, I’ll suggest a testable number. You can buy the 10k TV, no problem. I just don’t think that idea is scaleable indefinitely. Over 250k, I want to force you to make a 5k deposit and agreement with a bankruptcy lawyer so if it goes bad, we automatically bankrupt you. And I want to hire a nice Frontend and product team to make a seamless one-click bankruptcy agreement contract for both sides in a user friendly app. Both the lender and buyer agree to this outcome. Let’s see how that hard limit impacts things. Let’s have you get on the phone with the bankruptcy lawyer to also give verbal consent. These edge cases can be covered. Go try to get a gun license in Japan and see the types of hoops you have to jump through. It is a prohibitive process that probably reduces gun ownership by a lot.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago

> What's the difference between a mobile app vs any other interface other than convenience? When dealing with potentially addictive behaviors with their associated dopamine hit, interface and immediacy matters. This is why there are a lot more heavy cigarette users than cigar users and tobacco pipe users. For cigarettes, being able to have 20 cigarettes with you all the time in your shirt pocket makes it easy to indulge whenever the urge hits you. On the other hand, having to prep a pipe for tobacco gives the person time to think. I think this is similar to stock trading. If you are addicted to stock trading, being able to whip out your phone and go to the app with FaceID in a few seconds is going to lead to a lot more impulsive behavior than if you had to go to your desktop/laptop and go to the site.