CEO of Robinhood Considering to Offer Retirement Accounts to the US

Robinhood Markets Inc. is considering launching retirement accounts for the people of the United States. Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder, said in a webcast with the users of its trading app looking up to take part in its early public offering on Saturday, which is set to price within the next week.The online brokerage firm has around 18 million funded investment accounts on the official platform, and most of them are held up by retail traders.

Offering the individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Roth IRAs, which offer advantages on tax to those saving for retirement, would allow Robinhood to tap on a vast market. According to the Investment Company Institute, Americans held around $12.6 trillion in the IRAs at the end of March 2021, which has increased by 2.8% from the end of December 2020 .

Tenev said in response to an investor question that they are interested in building up more and more types of accounts, including the IRAs and Roth IRAs, about which they have heard a lot from their customers. They are looking up to make first-time investors into long-term investors.

Due to the penalties involved in the withdrawal of the money, IRAs tend to attract long-term investments rather than the quick flip in the stocks, options, and even crypto-currencies that some investors turn up to Robinhood. However, in his webcast, Tenev also said that they see evidence that most of their customers are mainly for buying and holding.