Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by WalterBright 1953 days ago
Robinhood has conclusively shown in the last month that ordinary Americans, even poor ones, have access to investing in stocks. This includes access to margin and sophisticated options trading.
2 comments

... access that they used to YOLO some savings on some GME trade, which pretty quickly went to nearly worthless.

I'm not arguing that access in itself is bad. I'm arguing that new money speculating in the equities market often doesn't go well.

I didn't say they should invest in GME. I said it was proved they could invest in stocks.

> new money speculating in the equities market often doesn't go well.

It goes better than lottery tickets, which target the poor and the mathematically challenged. Stocks at least have an upward bias, while lottery tickets have a strong downward bias.

BTW, wealthy people lose money in the stock market, too. Stocks do not come with guarantees for anybody.

Access does not mean they have $10k to invest.
If you can buy video games, beer, pot, lottery tickets, you can invest in stocks.

On the TV news a couple weeks ago was a 6 year old kid whose mom gave him $60 worth of Gamestock stock. He cashed it in for $3,000.

Besides, the article wasn't about some people. It was about the majority of people.