In a letter to investors, BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink (BLK) warned of a potential retirement crisis, writing, "America needs an organized, high-level effort to ensure that future generations can live out their final years with dignity."
Robinhood Markets Co-Founder and CEO Vlad Tenev (HOOD) echoes the sentiment, telling Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi that "People really need to take the initiative to take care of their retirement on their own" adding that "We're kind of past the point where you join a company, you work there for 20 or 30 years or more, and... you can count on the pension plan."
That's why Robinhood is expanding its suite of products. The latest is a new credit card, but it offers savers options to save for retirement too. It's a segment Tenev says is growing: "In the first year, we got up to about $1.4 billion in assets under custody in retirement accounts. And we just announced that yesterday we crossed $4 billion. So it took us about a year to get to $1.5 billion and in the first three months of this year, went from $1.5 billion to $4 billion."
Catch the full interview with Vlad Tenev here. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.
Editor's note: This article was written by Stephanie Mikulich.
Video Transcript
BRIAN SOZZI: You know, I was reading a good note from the Bernstein-- Bernstein team this morning on the product launch. And I came away thinking, Robinhood's not really just a trading platform anymore. How do you want investors to view your company?
VLAD TENEV: Well, I think over the long run, I've been very clear that the goal is for all of your assets to be custodied in Robinhood. All financial assets, investment, retirement. And every time you do a financial transaction, that should go through Robinhood. We should be able to help our customers with that. And that space, the overall space, is gigantic.
I mean, even just one of these new product lines that we've launched, retirement, which we launched a little bit over a year ago. So in the first year, we got up to about $1.4 billion in assets under custody and retirement accounts. And then, we just announced that yesterday, we crossed $4 billion. So it took us about a year to get to $1.5 billion. And then, the first three months of this year went from $1.5 to $4 billion.
So the growth has been really amazing, kind of on the backs of the 3% match that we're giving customers. But you put that in context of the overall IRA industry. So self-directed retirement accounts in the US have $14 trillion in assets, right.
So it's a gigantic market. And we just-- I get excited by the fact that we have what I believe is the best product by far. And there's so much room to run with this. So much more assets we can serve for our customers.
BRIAN SOZZI: Just given the focus on retirement-- and I'm hearing a more mature Robinhood from you, Vlad. I've had-- to do to hear this. Do you agree, you know, with Larry Fink that we are in a retirement crisis, and how do your companies like yourself evolve to address something like that?
VLAD TENEV: Yeah. I mean, I agree. I think people really need to take the initiative to take care of their retirement on their own.
It's-- we're kind of past the point where you join a company, you work there for 20 or 30 years or more, and, you know, you can count on the pension plan. People are working multiple jobs, in some cases. They have multiple sources of income. They go from one job to the next.
And so, when you're in that regime, it's even more important to have an individual retirement account and take control of your own finances. And we just didn't feel like there were great products that made that really easy for customers. I think for a really long time, the retirement account was viewed as, like, this profit center, as a way to kind of squeeze more economics from customers into the bottom lines of these big, you know, bulge bracket brokerages. And so, the way we kind of combat this and help solve the problem is by building these great products. And can your individual retirement account actually compete with an employer sponsored plan?
And I think with things like the match, getting the user experience really good, we're also now offering retirement benefits to gig economy workers, and kind of stepping in to provide that safety net. And I think you will see that continue to resonate. More and more customers, more and more independent contractors, kind of opting for our individual retirement account products.
