Have we entered a new era of retail interest in the stock market?

[+61] u/4airplanes: It's the only way to have a shot at a somewhat comfortable retirement these days, so people are forced into it. [+17] u/harbison215: Remember when everyone was talking about bitcoin? You don’t hear them mentioning it much anymore, do you? When everything is up and on a tear, suddenly everyone is interested. The same goes for real estate investing. But when the opposite happens, everyone goes silent. NOBODY wanted real estate from 2009-2012. People lost their fucking shirts with real estate. And prices plummeted. Now you hear people saying “oh I should have bought back then.” The human psyche doesn’t work that way. Everyone wants in when it’s high and scatters when it’s low. People also generally believe that the way things are right now will remain the same forever. And that’s almost never true. [+17] u/YourChildhood5762: \>> It seems like everywhere I go, the stock market is talked about. When your cashier gives you a hot stock tip, then you know the bubble is real. [+12] u/erov: It's literally all the leader of the country talks about. Even the attorney general under questioning about a pedophile investigation exclaimed that the Dow was over $50,000. Look at the leaders. [+9] u/_galaga_: 401ks and such have pumped up participation in the stock market since the ‘80s. Now most households are in the market (>50%) when it used to be <10% of households 50 years ago. Not necessarily direct investing in stocks but interest in investing has certainly been driven in part by retirement account exposure. The barrier of entry has also been lowered since the ‘90s when trades were 20 bucks a pop, mutual fund fees were higher, ETFs hadn’t gained as much traction, etc. [+6] u/subpar321: Sorta, but not really.. it’s more accessible than ever before but there’s still a good amount of people that don’t contribute much or at all to brokerage accounts or 401k’s.. it does seem the era of gambling has really been picking up steam though