A Belated 50th MayDay

[jimtoo]

No, not the military goose-stepping version. On May 1 1975, fixed rate brokerage commissions were eliminated (technically, deregulated). The fixed rates had made stock trading very expensive, often dozens, if not hundreds, of dollars per trade. That change and the nearly concurrent implementation of ERISA opened investing to millions of people who had limited access previously. Charles Schwab was a small San Francisco brokerage that today has $10 Trillion under their umbrella today. Fidelity and Vanguard had only a very few mutual funds.

Yes, people today make some strange investment decisions. But, large multiples of that number have better lives than they might otherwise have had.

[Bears54]

@jimtoo

Yes, people today make some strange investment decisions. But, large multiples of that number have better lives than they might otherwise have had.

IMO 401K’s and IRA’s are the number one way average earners can build life changing wealth. Unfortunately too many people don’t take advantage of them. My son and his buddies all opened brokerage accounts while in college, my son started with around $3,000 and it’s now over 10 times that.

[brobbs]

@jimtoo

large multiples of that number have better lives than they might otherwise have had.

It’s a much better bet than relying on a big institution – whether corporate or governmental – to fund your lifestyle forever.

Pensions are subject to abuse (arguably theft) via inadequate inflation adjustment, whereas smart, diversified securities investment protects against inflation.