In trust: peers are the new institutions

Peers are quietly replacing institutions as the source of truth.

This year, Edelman’s “Trust Barometer” showed that trust in institutions has fallen to record lows.

The 25-year-old survey found the group with the highest level of trust – on par with scientists – were peers.

We see this same trend – the distrust of institutions –  playing out in the investment landscape.

Our members have become increasingly skeptical of banks and RIAs that profit from providing them investment advice.

This was the core insight to launch 3i Members, a membership-based investment network created by Mark Gerson, Billy Libby and myself.

The core pillars of 3i revolve around alignment of interests: members cannot solicit each other for business, or pitch each other investment products.

Members invest together into peer-sourced and peer-vetted opportunities, where everyone is investing on the same terms.

To date, we have invested over $450M into a wide range of private investments.

I was struck by the Edelman research, which was under-reported and under-appreciated because it's such a profound change to the status-quo.

This shift to peer authority is a truth I see happening in the world. Small, intimate communities are replacing large, faceless authorities.

And it’s a good thing.

No one illustrates the underlying reason for loss of trust in financial institutions better than Matthew McConaughey's character in the film, Wolf of Wall Street:

“The name of the game: moving the money from the client's pocket to your pocket.”