Will stock markets close down by the end of the year?
When I mention Strateer to people I meet, I often get a surprised look. Starting a company that provides a better way to invest into the stock market seems to be completely insane to people given the current state of the financial markets. People behave as by the end of year there will be nobody left that owns stock. So let’s close the stock market - the last one please switch off the light.
I have a contrarian point of view: There will be still a stock market next year, and as well the year after that. And there will be investors buying and selling stock. There will be even individual investors. And they will have the same problems that they have now: They want to improve their performance and they are still too busy to follow the markets constantly. Furthermore they are non-systematic, emotional and in general should not invest. But they do, some to well and many more could do well.
I would conclude that therefore there will be retail brokerage firms in the years to come that service these people. And these firms will have the same problem they have today: 90% of their revenue is generated by 10% of their accounts - because all the other account holders are too busy to log into their account every day/week.
If we had a company with a high burn rate, I would be concerned. But given our size and stage the timing is all right (okay, I could do with a little bit less negativity around me). We will need 24 months to launch and establish our service. By then people will realize that the stock market is still open and alive.