| Hi all, Julie here. Teen social media mecca TikTok is largely a repository for dance videos, pranks and direct-to-camera confessionals. But scroll through for a few minutes and there's a good chance you'll come across another kind of content: ads for Robinhood Markets Inc. The under-35 set has been reticent to invest in stocks since the 2008 financial crisis, but a wave of mobile-first fintech companies is making investing more appealing to younger people. As TikTok videos will show you (one user's tutorial has about 66,000 likes), Robinhood's user interface makes it simple to buy individual stocks. On the ByteDance Inc. social network, videos with the hashtag "#invest" have racked up about 76 million views, and #stocks has 32 million. Robinhood was founded in part with a mission to make investing more accessible, particularly for first-time traders. The company has argued that its service allows younger people and the less affluent to take part in the market, potentially a massive wealth generator. The flip side, of course, is that unsophisticated investors and day traders can also lose a lot of money, particularly in a market downturn. As one Reddit post recently put it: "ROBINHOOD ADVERTISING ON TIKTOK, AN APP FOR 14-YEAR-OLDS. THE END IS NEAR." Notably, the app has already been memed. In a post with 218,000 likes, @tik_tok_bhadie says: "That 'awko taco' moment when your mom walks in on you putting 75% of your paycheck into your Robinhood stocks portfolio." In general, teenagers can't trade stocks because the minimum age to set up a brokerage account is 18 in most U.S. states. It's also Robinhood's required age. The company's ads on the teen-heavy app may be partly a way to spread awareness so that it's the online broker of choice when adulthood arrives. Robinhood doesn't break down the demographics of who's buying what on its platform, so it's hard to tell how younger investors are using the app. But the company does list its most popular stocks. Aurora Cannabis Inc. is in the lead, with more than 642,000 people invested. Tech companies are also popular: Almost 300,000 Robinhood users hold Microsoft Corp., more than 194,000 hold Snap Inc. and about 155,000 are invested in Tesla Inc. Tesla, which has been highly volatile, has also won the affection of younger traders on Social Finance Inc., who made the company the top holding on that platform. One reason stock-picking may be becoming particularly appealing for younger investors is that brokerage firms are making it easier to buy expensive stocks. Last summer, SoFi introduced fractional trading, meaning its users can purchase just a piece of Amazon.com Inc., instead of shelling out more than $2,000 for an entire share. Since then, Robinhood, Jack Dorsey's Square Inc., and industry giants Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab Corp. have all announced similar offerings. If the larger market is any guide, so far young investors are probably doing pretty well on their investments. Stocks have followed a mostly skyward trajectory since their 2008 lows. But even if a correction isn't looming, stock-picking itself is an inherently risky proposition, best suited to investors who can diversify their portfolio and walk away, not bet on the latest trends. Young people—a famously fickle demographic, skipping from Snap one day to TikTok the next—will hopefully be able to stick with their investments for longer. —Julie VerHage | 
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