The Future of Finance is More of the Same?
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreesen got a lot of attention with a Q&A in Bloomberg Markets magazine where he suggested the entire realm of finance was ripe for disruption. He speaks optimistically about the future of crypto-currencies like Bitcoin, decentralized monetary and payment systems, and suggests computers are better than people at determining the creditworthiness of an individual. Cullen Roche, who blogs at Pragmatic Capitalism, has a thoughtful rejoinder: Banking and monetary systems are too entrenched to be truly threatened by Silicon Valley technologists, he says. More likely, deep-pocketed banks will “gobble up” the technology it finds useful, banking will become more efficient, but it won’t be reinvented. “You’re talking about disrupting the oldest oligopoly on Earth. And while it’s a nice thought I doubt the banks are going to rollover and just let a bunch of tech nerds take their piece of the pie.”
India’s Leaders Need Financial Help, says Planner
Quartz India ran the publicly disclosed personal financial holdings of India’s new prime minister and the union council of ministers (equivalent to cabinet secretaries in the U.S.) by Indian-based financial planner Suresh Sadagopan, founder of Ladder7 Financial Advisory, who found them lacking. “The asset portfolios of ministers are heavily loaded with property and jewelry. Neither are very good stores of value,” Sadagopan said. Additionally, India’s newest prime minister, Narendra Modi, has only $162,000 in real estate and $28,000 in “fixed deposit.” “If this is all he has, he will find it very difficult to sustain himself,” the financial planner concluded.
Trust No One
Fidelity’s first ever report on the millennial generation’s attitudes towards money and financial services found that 23 percent said they “trust no one” when it comes to advice about their money. Only 33 percent said they trust their parents. Still, 43 percent have started saving in a 401(k) and 23 percent said they have an IRA. Fidelity put together a video for the report interviewing millennials (those born between 1980 and 1989) on their views about money.