Robinhood CEO Says Gen Z Is Making This Traditional Savings Option ‘Cool Again’
Gen Z is showing financial seriousness early in life, according to Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.
Key Takeaways
- Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says younger generations are embracing more stable investments, like retirement accounts.
- Meanwhile, older investors are chasing disruption on the Robinhood app.
- This generational inversion has caused Robinhood to rethink messaging as it strives to attract customers across age groups.
When Robinhood released its app in 2014, its pitch to customers was that it was a disruptive alternative to traditional Wall Street institutions. The app made stock trading accessible and commission-free for first-time investors, eventually adding on more features like retirement plans and cryptocurrency.
Now Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said an “opposite thing” is happening, where younger generations are embracing more stable investments while older investors are chasing disruption. For example, retirement investing increasingly attracts Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012).
“Now I think Gen Z and Gen Alpha, there’s almost this opposite thing happening where the old big storied incumbents are kind of cool again,” Tenev said in an interview earlier this week on Jack Altman’s Uncapped podcast. “Now Gen Zs are opening retirement accounts at 19 years old.”
A recent Vanguard study found that Gen Z is the generation most likely to be on track to retire successfully. Nearly half of Gen Z workers (47%) are on track to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement, per the study.
Related: Robinhood Is Writing More Code with AI than Google or Microsoft
Tenev says that retro technologies like vinyl and cassette tapes are booming. That trend translates to old-school methods of investment, like retirement accounts.
“I think the same way, financially, the younger generation is interested in retirement,” Tenev said on the podcast. The younger generation wants stability, he said. It’s the same concept that made older investment institutions like Vanguard and Fidelity so popular.
At the same time, older investors are turning to Robinhood for innovative ideas for investment, Tenev said. The company emphasizes how stable it is and how long it has been around to young investors, not older ones.
“Older people want to be plugged into the cool new thing,” Tenev said. “It’s innovative, easy to use, we have all these features.”
Related: Robinhood Is Offering a Credit Card for the First Time — and It’s Available in 10-Karat Gold
Robinhood has rethought messaging in response to this generational inversion. Stability appeals to the young, while novelty and innovation attract older clients.
“What we try very hard to do is always pay attention to the next generation while also moving up market in the sense of being able to serve older customers,” Tenev said on the podcast.
Robinhood went public in July 2021. Its stock was up over 170% year-to-date, and its market capitalization was $96.7 billion at the time of writing.
Key Takeaways
- Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says younger generations are embracing more stable investments, like retirement accounts.
- Meanwhile, older investors are chasing disruption on the Robinhood app.
- This generational inversion has caused Robinhood to rethink messaging as it strives to attract customers across age groups.
When Robinhood released its app in 2014, its pitch to customers was that it was a disruptive alternative to traditional Wall Street institutions. The app made stock trading accessible and commission-free for first-time investors, eventually adding on more features like retirement plans and cryptocurrency.
Now Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said an “opposite thing” is happening, where younger generations are embracing more stable investments while older investors are chasing disruption. For example, retirement investing increasingly attracts Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012).
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