Why Financial Leaders' Worldview On Investing Needs To Change
Anmol Verma is a founding team member at Finvest, an AI Wealth Advisory Platform, a former institutional investor and a Wharton MBA.
Financial tools today often fall into two extremes. They either bombard users with complicated data and charts or oversimplify investing into one-size-fits-all nudges. Neither helps people invest with real clarity or confidence.
And when finance feels overly complex, it doesn’t empower; it gatekeeps, reinforcing the belief that only professionals should manage money. The result is an erosion of individual agency and a system that guards access rather than broadens it.
I believe that if we want more people to build wealth, we need a system that’s more transparent, more empowering and built for real people. It’s time to rethink the rules and reimagine what investing can be.
1. Meme Stock Mania And The New Face Of Market Power
The GameStop saga in early 2021 may have kicked off the meme stock era, but it wasn’t a one-off. In recent months, stocks like Kohl’s, GoPro, Opendoor and Krispy Kreme have surged not on fundamentals, but because retail traders decided together that prices should rise. And they made it happen.
For example, Kohl’s doubled in pre-market trading before ending the day up 27%, while GoPro spiked 41%, the largest single-day gain in its history, CNN reported. This seems to be the new retail playbook: Target heavily shorted stocks, build momentum online and force institutions to follow.
The data confirms it. Twenty-six percent of this year’s trading volume so far has come from stocks under $5, and 70% of options activity skews toward call buying. Retail traders aren’t just reacting; they’re shaping the market.
But this is also cultural. Terms like “HODL” (hold on for dear life) and “YOLO” (you only live once) aren’t just memes. I see them as expressions of generational frustration with institutions and a belief that the game has long been rigged. What’s unfolding is part protest, part game, part theater.
2. Why Retail Investors Don’t Trust The Game
The relationship between Wall Street and Main Street has always been uneasy. Today, it’s openly skeptical. To many, especially younger investors, the market feels like a casino where institutions usually win. A 2021 Bankrate survey (via CNBC) found that 56% of investors believe the market is rigged against them, and a more recent poll shows that nearly a third of Gen Z finds the stock market intimidating. How can we blame them when the incentives of the system aren’t built for them?
Take payment for order flow, or PFOF, for example. This is where brokers sell their customers’ trades to market makers for a rebate. On the surface, it enables “free” trading. In practice, it creates a misalignment: The broker’s true customer isn’t the investor placing the trade; it’s the firm buying that order flow. Just as social media platforms monetize attention, zero-fee brokers monetize trades. And in both cases, the user becomes the product.
The GameStop frenzy in 2021 made this dynamic clear: Order-flow deals gave trading firms advance visibility into retail trades, raising questions about whether brokers prioritized best execution. The issue isn’t just price, but power; institutions see what retail never can, tilting the game and deepening mistrust.
Add to that the difference in access: Institutions can get fast data and exclusive deals, while retail often gets gamified apps and stock tips from influencers. Intuit Credit Karma found that 77% of Gen Z and 61% of millennials are turning to social media for financial advice. Some commission-free platforms push frequent trading but provide little real guidance, profiting when users act on impulse. Their most active users often end up being their least experienced and most financially vulnerable. When retail loses money, it’s often dismissed as inexperience. When institutions lose, it becomes a “systemic issue.”
The imbalance isn’t just in tools; I believe it’s in agency. These platforms deserve credit for lowering the gate to investing, but they’ve failed to build a better path beyond it.
3. Social Media, Collective Action And The Rise Of Attention-Driven Investing
Today’s markets increasingly move on memes and momentum. Narrative power has been democratized; a viral Reddit post can move a stock faster than an analyst upgrade. This mirrors the broader attention economy. The reward isn’t accuracy; it’s engagement. When someone posts “DNUT YOLO,” they’re not just pitching a stock; they’re rallying a crowd.
Previously, power brought attention. Now, attention brings power. This inversion has financialized attention itself, a dynamic visible not only in politics and culture but also in capital markets. The rise of prediction markets (paywall), where contracts are literally tied to cultural or political outcomes, underscores how attention is no longer just sentiment, but a tradable asset in its own right.
This broader trend is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s empowering. For decades, individuals were passive investors. Now, they are vocal and coordinated. However, as investing becomes performative, bubbles can form. Hype eclipses cash flows, and momentum overtakes fundamentals, leaving individual investors exposed to costly swings.
A Better Way: Financial Agency Over Financial Chaos
Investors don’t just need access. They need systems they can trust, with tools that promote understanding. We need a shift from entertainment to empowerment.
Best practice investing principles aren’t secrets: Start early, stay long-term, diversify, know what you’re buying and use the tax code to your advantage. But they’re frequently drowned out by noise.
If you’re building for the next generation of investors, education alone won’t be enough. You should embed decision-making support and tools into the investing experience. Platforms should help investors implement strategies, adapt to their goals and navigate complexity with clear, actionable guidance. Personally, what excites me most is how platforms can use AI to make this possible at scale.
The wealth management firms that win the future will be the ones that shift from gamification to thoughtful advice, from access to agency. Tools should be designed not just to open the door to markets, but to help people walk through with confidence.
Because the real shift isn’t about beating the system. It’s about understanding it and using it, deliberately, to build the life you want.
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