For most of my life, I’ve been a member of one book club or another. It’s a great excuse to discuss the craft of writing, but just as much, it’s a chance to catch up with friends, debate and discuss current events, and enjoy some good food and drink. In my experience, the best book clubs usually don’t focus on the actual book. They end up becoming a place where you can go to find community or a sense of belonging. The other day when we were supposed to be discussing a book, we actually ended up talking about investing, driven mainly by my job as CMO here at Robinhood.

I was struck by the fact that even though the internet has put a ton of free information at our fingertips, building wealth through investing still isn’t something people discuss casually, partly because there’s a taboo around it, and because the financial world can be complicated and confusing. And when these conversations do take place, it’s usually men driving the conversation.

When it comes to discussing where, when and how to invest, everyone — especially women — should have a support system they can turn to for advice, consultation, and guidance. That’s why I invited the founder of the Stocks & Stilettos Society, Cassandra Cummings, to share how she started this group and to talk about why women should learn how to invest. The group’s self-described mission is “to empower African-American women from all socioeconomic levels to become more educated, comfortable, and proficient in financial investing.”

With tens of thousands of members, Stocks & Stilettos Society is a great example of women supporting each other on their financial journey, whether that means offering informal advice to each other or pooling resources to form an investment network of like-minded people looking to learn more about investing. It’s just like a book club, though the reading material is a little different.

Soon we’ll be able to get together in real life again, but until then, here’s how to start your own group and start talking about investing.

• Robinhood Learn has plenty of material on the ins and outs of investing
• Get a quick digest of the latest investment news every day from Robinhood Snacks
• Find out what Robinhood is up to on our main blog and our blog devoted to engineering
• Learn about portfolio diversification

Investment network refers to an educational forum only. It is not intended to provide investment advice or a recommendation of a strategy, account type, or to buy, hold or sell any security. All investments involve risk and loss of principal is possible.

Robinhood and Medium are separate and unique companies and are not responsible for one another’s views or services. Links are being provided for information purposes only. By clicking a third-party URL or hyperlink, you’ll be accessing a third-party website. No monitoring is being performed of the information contained on the third-party website. Robinhood Markets, Inc. and its affiliates are not responsible for the information contained on the third-party website nor your use of or inability to use such site, and we don’t guarantee its accuracy and completeness. Robinhood is not affiliated with the Stocks & Stilettos Society.

Robinhood Financial, LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer. Robinhood Securities LLC (member SIPC), provides brokerage clearing services. All are subsidiaries of Robinhood Markets, Inc. (‘Robinhood’).

Let’s Talk Stocks: How to Start a Women’s Investing Network was originally published in Robinhood on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

April is a month focused on Financial Literacy and we want to mark the occasion by highlighting Robinhood’s commitment to helping everyday people not only invest, but invest intelligently and deliberately.

In the few short years since our founding, we’ve listened to customers and we’ve dedicated ourselves to changing the industry: making investing less scary, more accessible, personal and super easy to understand.

All of us here at Robinhood are thrilled to dedicate an entire month to spotlighting ways for people to learn and tools to use to understand investing. Education is at the heart of Robinhood’s mission to arm our customers with the tools they need to feel confident in furthering their financial journey, no matter where they are.

The finance industry is just plain complicated. The array of assets, actions and vehicles available to investors is confusing, especially to investors who are dipping their toes in for the first time. The jargon and intricacies can be challenging. Much of this is by design, built up over decades by an exclusive, elitist industry that has mainly served the wealthy.

Robinhood was built to change that. To welcome a new generation of investors, and remind every single person that we are all investors.

What can you expect from us this month? We’ll share new ways to learn with customers in the app, on social media and via email. We’re also going to host conversations about investing with leaders at Robinhood. And we’ll be publishing some research on the financial literacy of Robinhood customers that just might surprise you.

We want to remove every barrier to investing. If you’re eager to start your investment journey immediately, we encourage you to check out the wealth of information at our education resource hub, Learn, a singular destination filled with articles to make finance a little more understandable 😉. When it comes to getting started, there are no stupid questions. In 2020, we saw that more than 3.2 million people read our educational articles through Learn.

We want our customers to invest with confidence. We’re going to equip our customers with the educational and informational tools so they feel empowered in their financial journey. More to come soon!

No April Fools For Us was originally published in Robinhood on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

While upward mobility for women is increasing, with women moving into the C-suite and reaching executive positions at an increasing pace, many things remain unchanged. Women often miss out on opportunities for challenging assignments, lack executive sponsorship to propel them into leadership positions, and are still paid less than their male counterparts. And when it comes to financial engagement, we found that women did not feel empowered to invest. Robinhood is committed to changing that.

We recently hired our first Chief Product Officer, Aparna Chennapragada. Aparna is a powerful figure in the tech industry (who just happens to be a woman), and her leadership will help us continue to grow the number of women investors. At Robinhood, we ensure diversity and inclusion in everything we do; particularly in our marketing and communications. Personally, I talk to customers every week to hear what they are thinking about.

In the creative and marketing teams, our process often begins by involving various Robinhood employee resource groups to gain different insights about different communities. We also conduct listening tours with creatives and innovators from across the company, like the Curious Cats team, which is made up of employees who represent every department, every orientation, and every racial and ethnic background. We always talk to customers live about our campaigns, as their unique perspectives inform our marketing efforts and help us build the tools and resources for people who might not otherwise feel empowered to invest.

A few months ago, we launched a Women’s Initiative group that regularly provides information and resources geared towards female investors, highlighting their stories as well as data that shows the amazing growth in women investing in crypto and how women are challenging stereotypes about the everyday investor. In addition, our Sisterhood Employee Resource Group holds events highlighting women leaders at the company, with a focus on their career growth and challenges. One recent session, “She’s Not Strategic: A Conversation on Bias in Career Growth,” discussed how bias manifests in the workplace and presented practical solutions for it.

Earlier this month a group of my colleagues came up with a few simple ways we can invest in women at work. They’re easy things to keep in mind, and it struck us that they also apply to our communications and marketing too!

• Listen
• Promote
• Amplify
• Invest

At Robinhood we believe women can have more than just a seat at the table. We believe women should have the opportunity and tools to own the table, and we’re committed to creating communications and marketing experiences that demonstrate just that.

Investing In Women was originally published in Robinhood on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When we stop and think about the term investor, what typically comes to mind? A white, wealthy man in a suit, right? We see it in movies. We read about it in the news. The idea of investing, or the term investor, has become synonymous with men. But Robinhood customers are changing that, and women are a key group driving this change.

This International Women’s Day, we are celebrating this change and doubling down on Robinhood’s mission to democratize finance for all.

The number of women Robinhood customers nearly quadrupled between February 2020 and February 2021. In other words, that is a 369 percent year-over-year increase in women using the Robinhood platform, and now women make up nearly 30 percent of active Robinhood customers.

While this change is good to see, there remains much to be done. Systemic barriers still exist for women (and other underserved groups) and our research tells us they feel less empowered to invest. Fewer than one in five women have a brokerage account and most have never invested at all. These stats are even worse when we focus solely on people and women of color.

At Robinhood, we’re building a new generation of investors, and we’re committed to finding ways to help reduce these barriers. We strive to create more opportunity for more people to invest. To close the gender gap by breaking down barriers. And to change the perception of who everyday investors are. From fractional shares to recurring investments, we offer tools to help women, and everyone, start their investing journeys.

We know an investor can look like anyone, and the identity of an investor is not linear nor binary. Telling these stories is a core part of living up to our mission. We’re celebrating everyone, highlighting who our customers are and recognizing everyone’s lives or circumstances are different. After all, we are all investors.

Let’s talk about women and investing was originally published in Robinhood on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.