Yes, they've gotten a lot of flak. But could there be something more to the "meme-stock mania" crowd?

In this week's Investor Hour episode, host Dan Ferris welcomes WallStreetBets founder Jaime Rogozinski back to the show.

WallStreetBets is an infamous forum on social media site Reddit. The online community came to public attention in early 2021 when its denizens – often viewed as young, uneducated, and risk-hungry investors – crippled hedge funds by pumping up undeserving "dead stocks" like AMC Entertainment (AMC) and GameStop (GME).

In this week's interview, Jaime gives his eye-opening perspective on the 2021 mania, saying there's more to the story than the negative picture painted by the media...

It's a sophisticated way of doing risk awareness. But it's a conduit for people that start off in a risk-hungry environment and eventually move into a more responsible, traditional approach – but with a tremendous knowledge, I would say, even more so than the average person that starts off with lower-risk approaches.

Jaime also shares what he has learned about investor behavior from watching the action play out across the Reddit board...

When people go into the market and start off with a bunch of wins, it is very dangerous. It's much more dangerous than if they start off by losing money. And the reason why is because it kind of speeds up the learning curve. Somebody that loses money right away is forced to take a step back, slow things down, understand a little bit better, and not be so impulsive. Somebody that makes money without knowing what they're doing goes through these, kind of like, Dunning-Kruger effects... which basically is a way of saying people don't have the ability to measure their own abilities.

He assuages Dan's curiosity on whether anyone from WallStreetBets has ever blamed him for their losses. And he shares stories of even meeting some of the members. Plus, Jaime's simple but sage answer to Dan's Investor Hour-standard "Final Question" will resound in your investing... and in your life.

Stupidity... or Risk Awareness?