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What a crappy framing. From a publicly traded company that benefits from the stock market, no less. The stock market is soaring, despite millions being out of
by gkoberger 6y ago
What a crappy framing. From a publicly traded company that benefits from the stock market, no less.
The stock market is soaring, despite millions being out of work in the US. The US has two different economies, and I'm all for anything that gives the latter group the same tools the former group has.
Why should only rich people who know how to navigate beige clunky 1990s websites, or whose parents give them the number to their investment guy, be the only ones who get to trade?
And the frustrating part of this article is that they aren't saying trading is inherently risky, but rather that a certain group shouldn't be allowed to? It's a cliche that stock traders were jumping out of windows in 1929, but nobody said "we should shut down the stock market".
Everything can be overdone... gambling, sugar, video games. Why focus on the few people who take it too far, rather than the millions who now have the same access to wealth building that rich old people do?
- alexandercrohde 6y agoI hate this framing too. I don't understand all the hand-wringing over people losing money in the stock market. If you want to be mad about people losing money, be mad about the ones where it's rigged against them -- lotto/casinos. Not the ones where they average positive. Hard for me to take this even remotely seriously.
- ImprobableTruth 6y agoOptions/futures (which I'd wager most of Robinhood's customers use) are zero sum games.
- TheCoelacanth 6y agoAn index fund from Vanguard takes advantage of the market soaring just as well as anything Robinhood provides. Robinhood encourages active trading, which is almost always a bad bet for small traders. Robinhood also provides access to much riskier things like trading on margin.
- kjksf 6y agoYou can invest in Vanguard ETFs on Robinhood. Except, you know, easier and faster than via vanguard.com Literally every brokerage allows trading on margin because they all make more money that way (via interest fees). Banks flood people with credit card offers (instant, unsecured $10k loan) and allow you to irresponsibly borrow against your mortgage. How are those other companies any different than Robinhood?
- zajd 6y ago> Banks flood people with credit card offers (instant, unsecured $10k loan) and allow you to irresponsibly borrow against your mortgage. This is also unethical and not ok
- logicslave 6y agoIt really doesnt, and wish people would stop saying this. Vanguard ETFs include all sorts of companies that are basically zombie companies. Buy buying their products, you are subsidizing terrible companies.
- loco5niner 6y agoIf I knew how to pick the good companies from the zombies, I'd already be retired.
- dlp211 6y ago> Everything can be overdone... gambling, sugar, video games. Why focus on the few people who take it too far, rather than the millions who now have the same access to wealth building that rich old people do? Robinhood did not do this. Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab have all existed for a long time now.
- gkoberger 6y agoSure. I can also go get licensed as a trader and join a firm. Any barriers to entry are still barriers, even if it's as dumb as "the website isn't mobile friendly". For lower-income people, they might only have a phone. It sounds dumb, but... when you go to those, a lower income 20-something feels like they don’t belong and would leave. "Charles Schwab" feels like it's for people who look like Charles Schwab.
- dlp211 6y agoSo letting them gamble it away on options and individual stocks is the answer? Like I get your point, but Robinhood isn't helping these people make good financial decisions.