POSITIVITY & PRODUCTIVITY
Crypto & Robinhood, Productivity & Positivity
Use money as a form of communicating personal values
I have a friend who hates crypto with a passion. Bring it up and he’s liable to go on a rant why it’s absolutely worthless and folks who are not investing but gambling in it will feel the crush when it ultimately crashes. And I have another friend who’s heavily invested in it and has done his research to understand his risk posture.
Is chasing wealth distracting us from our North Star? In other words, the purpose of life isn’t about just getting rich, it should be about pursuing your passion and making our community better in the process. How does all this crypto fit into our purposeful life?
According to Robinhood, a popular broker whose average user is 31 and makes trades 9x more often than users of other brokerages, their mission is:
“… to democratize finance for all. We believe that everyone should have access to the financial markets, so we’ve built Robinhood from the ground up to make investing friendly, approachable, and understandable for newcomers and experts alike.” [2]
And yet, Robinhood charges a membership fee in order to gain news insights and analysis. Furthermore, Robinhood uses the transaction method PFOF, which…
“SEC Chairman… has been highly critical of PFOF. He and other critics of PFOF believe the practice creates a conflict of interest for brokerages because it incentivizes them to send customer orders to the highest bidder as opposed to the market maker that offers the best prices or fastest execution. The SEC’s plan to review PFOF has led to speculation that the practice could be banned. Robinhood noted… that the banning of PFOF is a risk to its business model and would have a substantial impact on its operations.” [4]
In order for society to aspire to be positive and productive, their basic needs need to be satisfied, which includes financial security. Crypto and Robinhood’s stated purpose is to help by giving the power to the people. There are significant issues with both, yet these are the options we currently have at our disposal. We can either take advantage of what’s available or wait until something better comes along.
My personal TAKEAWAY, put your hard earned money in something that you can sleep easy at night about, and maybe that means stuffing your money under your mattress, Scrooge McDuck style
References
- Robinhood Review 2021: Pros, Cons and How It Compares By Chris Davis
- Robinhood Our Mission
- Robinhood Review 2021: An Investing App to Avoid By Jackie Lam
- How Robinhood Makes Money By Matthew Johnston
