[almost_usual]

It's everyone's right to shoot themselves in the foot with dumb financial decisions. Robinhood isn't doing anything egregious here, they're only reducing friction and fees.

I've used the app sparingly in the past with "fun money" but haven't done serious investing with it.

[elliekelly]

> It's everyone's right to shoot themselves in the foot with dumb financial decisions.

The industry regulations would indicate otherwise. Generally, the “dumber” the money, the more regulatory protections that will apply. At their core, financial regulators are consumer protection entities.

[bduerst]

Not really - the regulations are more or less in place to try to soften the impact of the dumb decisions (when they do happen), not to remove the freedom to make said dumb decisions.

[almost_usual]

Nothing is stopping anyone from putting their life savings into a legal dumb investment. Regulators and the government sure won't stop you from liquidating your 401k early. At some point common sense comes into play and you need to be smart with your money.

[mywittyname]

The US SEC has accredited investor requirements specifically to keep people from being fooled into making "dumb" investments.

[almost_usual]

>US SEC has accredited investor requirements specifically to keep people from being fooled into making "dumb" investments

What stops me from liquidating my 401k and investing all of my money into a company that misses their earning goals this week? Where does the US SEC come into play here?

[LanceH]

How is robinhood any different than all the other online brokers, except that they charge less?

[jazzyjackson]

Do other brokers let you trade on margin?

[tick_tock_tick]

Absolutely

[alrehn]

Yes

[webninja]

You can still legally bet your whole life savings on one spin of the roulette wheel. Here’s a guy that did just that:

https://youtu.be/zGCdBsOIKYA

Doesn’t mean you should though. Also Vegas doesn’t have the reputation for capital preservation and growth that brokerages have.