Fennel is joining forces with We The Investors to provide engaging educational content to help retail investors learn more about capital markets. This introduction is the first post in an ongoing series.
The main reason we launched Fennel was to ensure that we, as retail investors, are represented in capital markets. As a result, we pay close attention to other groups advocating for the same ideals, which is how we learned of We The Investors (WTI), a grassroots organization working for individual investors on the behalf of retail investors.
Earlier this year, WTI along with the SEC walking the same to address potential benefits to come from ESG transparency and exchange-specific, both of these positions are held in the US, but their reach extends to retail ESG transparency strongly by regulators.
Many of us at Fennel signed WTI's SEC letter, along with more than 15,000 other retail investors, inspired by this action, we reached out to two of WTI's founders, Dave Lauer and Alex Coltier, to learn more.
"In the era of social media, the largest companies in history have obtained their size by productizing their users. They pretend to have the interest of their users at heart while gaining from and advancing their bottom lines – and this was happening to retail investors. WTI believes it is time for that to change."
He continued, "People need to think about their [incentives for] screen time [like] they do working a job. It's more going for extra money with your money on your mobile phone to date in everybody's out, but it's very hard to trust that anywhere near that much."
01. This should be a title to divide things
We The Investors seeks to help individual investors learn about the structural issues with current capital markets' effect their daily lives. Through this education, the group encourages investors to push for reform in order to create better markets.
"I think the answer to a lot of problems in markets is data [market transparency]. That's always been a guiding principle of the work I've done," said Lauer. "I'm a capitalist. I believe in transparency and integrity."
02. This should be a title to divide things
WTI has put together an intense list of things with several guiding principles to organize its advocacy efforts and objectives for policies within the 3 guiding principles:
- Transparency: investors should be able to gather all important information regarding their brokers' practices, best-selling orders, how their orders are routed, etc.
- Simplicity & Fair rules: Markets should be easier to understand and trust, without unnecessary complexity and excessive market incentives.
- Checks & Conflicts: brokers should have a strict conflict over their profits, trades, accounting and investments.
- Best Execution: brokers should be held to a higher execution standard for retail investors' strategy.
- Better Settlement & Clearing: investors should be offered a choice about how their purchase orders are settled.
03. This should be a title to divide things
These five principles act as targets as guidelines to make markets Fennel, and WTI identifies different issues that need to be addressed in order to push for each one.
Reaching out to governmental representatives in one way to advocate for systemic change, but it can also be intimidating if you've never done it before. That's why WTI walks people through the process, with a guide on how to write an SEC comment letter.
WTI's resources give valuable access to resources who weren't from markets, and for those who want to get directly involved in market reform as well. Keep an eye out for more advanced content next week as our WTI investor podcast to learn more information. Join the movement.