Options and other potentially complex investments represent one of the only ways that those without means may change their lives. Blocking everyday people from such channels is tantamount to constraining them to lives of poverty and lack. Why should only well-off people, often those who were merely lucky enough to 'win the birth lottery', be allowed to better their lives? Why should everyday folks be burdened with more risks and less opportunities to hedge than those who can afford to lose the most? How does that advance your mandate? There is a wealth of information available to those who might wish to invest. If FINRA wants to help, by all means give them more information. But means and knowledge tests reek of poll taxes and voting tests, which harken back to many of the most profoundly destructive and shameful aspects of our shared past. Broader access to investing absolutely changes lives for the better and gives people incredibly necessary flexibility regarding what they view as best for themselves and their specific circumstances. It is imperative that you do not take this away. To do so would go profoundly against what we stand for as a country and would irrevocably damage everything we've worked so hard for since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
A B Comment On Regulatory Notice 22-08
Options and other potentially complex investments represent one of the only ways that those without means may change their lives. Blocking everyday people from such channels is tantamount to constraining them to lives of poverty and lack. Why should only well-off people, often those who were merely lucky enough to 'win the birth lottery', be allowed to better their lives? Why should everyday folks be burdened with more risks and less opportunities to hedge than those who can afford to lose the most? How does that advance your mandate? There is a wealth of information available to those who might wish to invest. If FINRA wants to help, by all means give them more information. But means and knowledge tests reek of poll taxes and voting tests, which harken back to many of the most profoundly destructive and shameful aspects of our shared past. Broader access to investing absolutely changes lives for the better and gives people incredibly necessary flexibility regarding what they view as best for themselves and their specific circumstances. It is imperative that you do not take this away. To do so would go profoundly against what we stand for as a country and would irrevocably damage everything we've worked so hard for since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.