Robinhood Plays the Long Game by Betting on the Kids
The young brokerage positions for a big chunk of the coming generational wealth transfer.
Vlad Tenev, chief executive officer of Robinhood Markets Inc.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergA well-known pundit once said of English football, “you can’t win anything with kids.” He turned out to be wrong: In 1996, Manchester United won two trophies with six players under the age of 23. But for a period, it was deemed accepted wisdom.
The same is said of financial services. Firms have historically shunned younger customers, focusing their marketing on older prospects who are typically more affluent and offer greater revenue potential. Wealth-management firms in particular have long taken the view that it’s better to attract new customers once they’ve made money rather than sink too much cost into going too early.