
BlackRock Backs a Startup to Find Out What Young Investors Want - thisisit
https://www.wsj.com/articles/blackrock-backs-a-startup-to-find-out-what-young-investors-want-1525868931
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toomuchtodo
Based on my experience providing financial advice to <100 people under 30:

Copy new hotness roboadviser interfaces (“delight your users”), provide
straightforward index investment advice at the lowest possible expense ratios.

Young investors want to make the best investment decisions with limited
financial knowledge. Enable them to do so while stil acting as their
fiduciary.

Vanguard’s iOS app is getting there in the above regard, but still has room
for improvement.

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jdavis703
As a 27 year old I'll tell you what I want: the ability to invest in REITs.
There's no way I'll ever be able to afford a home, especially with values
going up by $800/day in San Francisco. From my experience the only way I can
do this is via my brokerage account, but I really want to do it from a tax-
protected account like a 401(k).

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throwaway010718
"there's no way I'll ever be able to afford a home".

That's how I felt in 2007 but in 2012 many of those homes were then selling
for 30cents on the dollar.

I am not saying that 2018 feels like 2007 (or maybe...), but your are only 27
so there are likely a few 2007s that will occur in your lifetime.

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gcb0
yeah, no.

in sf, 2008 saw houses back to 2004 prices, just to skyrocket above the record
a year later.

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colemannugent
> _Acorns is a financial-technology firm that allows customers with balances
> as small as $5 to invest in groups of funds based on their risk tolerance.
> Users link their debit- or credit-card accounts to Acorns, and the firm
> rounds up the users’ purchases to the nearest dollar and invests the change
> on their behalf._

So their entire business model is investing change from transactions into
index funds? Why couldn't any major bank or credit card company implement this
and blow them completely out of the water?

> _Two of the seven ETFs that Acorns includes in its portfolios are run by
> BlackRock, while the remainder are run by Vanguard._

I guess I don't get who this service is for. People who want to invest but
don't want to "invest" any of their time? Why not setup a Roth IRA and get the
same thing but tax-free?

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nowarninglabel
This is one of those interesting knee-jerk HN reactions that miss the entire
point. Acorns built a product that people love.

As to "why couldn't any major bank or credit card company implement this and
blow them completely out of the water", why not ask instead why they haven't
successfully done so? They've certainly tried and failed, and for the most
part seems like they are turning to investments/acquisitions of companies in
this space since they can't build something successful on their own.

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charlesdm
Honestly, I don't get this product. Aren't you dealing with minimal amounts?

How much can a customer who adds a few dollars a month to his account be worth
anything to an asset manager? Won't it take years before even the user
acquisition cost is recouped?

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prklmn
I don’t really think it’s an investment in the product itself, but rather a
nice touch point that will be used to market other investment vehicles.

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os7borne
26 year old here. I want a simple interface that automatically invests in tax-
saving schemes and wealth generation schemes.It should do this by
understanding my income, my goals, my risk profile and tax policies. It
shouldn't ask me what I want to invest in or give me jargon about my
portfolio. All I would care about is, how much money is being invested, how
much money I save through tax and how much money I could have for a rainy day.
_If_ I want to know about my investment profile, then hit me with all the
jargon in the world. I asked for it.

Lastly, the most important thing to me, how you (the platform) makes money.
This part should be absolutely transparent. I should know exactly how you make
money, how much money you have made off of me etc.

I'd be more than willing to pay a subscription fee for such a service or a
commission fee for the hard work put in.

Lastly, you may say, well these are readily available. Not really. These
services are fragmented (not as one platform), not available, at least in
India.

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aresant
According to the sub-35 crowd in my office:

1 - Early retirement. Not from the "give it to me" perspective but from the
make it easy to budget, save, use frugality as a mechanism to retire early and
have reliable 4% withdrawals.

2 - Access to Cryptocurrency trading, and intelligence.

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saagarjha
What do you mean by "intelligence"?

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bllguo
I'm quite certain GP meant intel / information / analysis. Slightly abnormal
word choice

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wavefunction
"intel" is of course a shortened version of "intelligence."

~~~
wavefunction
@saagarjha

Ambiguity is unfortunately a 'feature' of English and the main complaint of
those non-native speakers who learn it, though I agree a more focused version
like 'intel' provided the necessary context to non-native speakers or folks
unfamiliar with this usage of 'intelligence.'

Just pointing out that 'intelligence' is accurate in this usage.

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synaesthesisx
Their actual business model is dependent on mining data from your transactions
- by linking your credit card they can track every swipe at Chipotle...

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alehul
Anyone have a non-paywalled link?

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unpwn
[http://archive.is/zFppK](http://archive.is/zFppK)

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JohnJamesRambo
We want crypto and that is all. The sooner you realize this the better.

~~~
elefanten
Translation: like many generations before us, we are irrationally drawn to
get-rich-quick schemes

~~~
AznHisoka
The best investment app is the one where my portfolio goes up a lot.

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xstartup
How hard is it to know? Young investors want to invest their free time. Make a
product, which lets you invest your time and gives you return on that without
doing anything.

For example, if a homeless kid wants to go to Thailand to have fun.
BlackRock's startup should offer ROI for doing this.

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asdsa5325
I have no clue what you are trying to say

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crispyporkbites
I think she/he is trying to say that young investors want to take their free
time and get a strong yield on it with a good ROI. And doing that with a
homeless person in Thailand is the correct approach to resolve this difficult
situation.

