Mar. 17, 2020
Comment on SEC Proposed Rule #S7-24-15: Free markets is a core basis for a healthy financial system, and I don't want a third party evaluating my abilities before I get to buy some funds. This could easily turn into a gate keeping system where we now pick and choose who gets to participate. I am very capable of understanding leveraged and inverse funds, and being an investor that look for high risk / high growth opportunities the ability to trade these is important to me. Granted that investing is a field where ignorance could have serious implications I don't believe that adding more hoops to jump through is the way to go. More overhead and more burden on administrative processes everywhere will not prevent people from investing in high risk instruments. Applying this logic in a reasonable and more general way implies that we eventually add the same qualification process to every Forex trader, share buyer, option buyer, IRA and 401k investor. I don't consider myself a highly trained investor but I don't want another process that would take away my right to make poor decisions with my investing. We also want more people to invest - more people saving up. We want people to make smarted financial decisions, not because we don't allow them to make mistakes, but because we provide them with opportunities to learn. Granted there could be effective administrative hurdles, but let's be honest here - this will turn into a massive amount of paperwork and a 200 page document that no-one will read but still sign off on. The people that cared would already have done the research, and the rest would not care. You are obviously well intended, but adding more regulations never turn out the way you want. Take our convoluted legal system as example. It's a complicated position - trying to protect people from themselves, but perhaps providing an effective financial education system for people without getting in the way or removing their opportunities and freedoms would be the way to go. Regards, Fred Keet