Feminist financial genius investor

In the show Sticks (which I thought overall was pretty good) one of the characters, Elena, unexpectedly gains 100 000 dollars. Her plan is to invest this entire sum in helium, and the show makes it clear that men are discriminating against her because she's a woman, when they don't agree with her.

At the bank

In episode 2 she goes to a bank, and the man there suggests some "automatic investment plans" supposedly yielding 5-8%, which we can assume is a diverse combination of stocks and bonds. This is actually good advice to someone you don't know, and such a plan is a good investment, although he should've asked if she wants to use the money in the near future, or plans to leave it alone for longer.

She says she wants to be more aggressive (perfectly fine) but the man says that financial markets are very complicated (which is both true and false, there are many types of investments). I think his comment is a little weird, but they just started talking and it's very common for people to want to invest in things they don't understand because they believe they'll make completely unrealistic returns.

Now she reveals that she wants to invest in helium. However, instead of simply saying "I want to invest in helium because I think there's a shortage" like a normal person, she first speaks very indirectly about finding a "hole in the market" and then mentions helium as if it's a secret that she doesn't want anyone to overhear, and the whole time she's making so many weird facial expressions and hand-movements that it makes her sound absolutely bat-shit insane. Additionally, she explicitly says that she has insider information, which the man points out would make the trading illegal (which is true).

The man advises her to not take a big risk like that, and she says "I don't have a penis.", because apparently that's why he's "talking to [her] in that tone". Only now does she mention that the offer has hidden fees and is below market returns, and then continues with a bit which explicitly references Pretty Woman and leaves as if she's superior, while the man is simply bewildered by the whole exchange (and rightly so).

The bank man simply recommended the banks medium risk option, which is in fact good advise. There can certainly be better options on the market, but it's literally his job to first recommend the banks own solution. He would've said the exact same thing to a man. If you already know what you want to invest in you can simply say "Great, but I want to invest in X.". If that investment seems risky (which her investment really is), then again it is in fact good that the bank man questions it, and he would've done the same thing with a male customer. Note that he never refused her, he just recommended against it. She could've just said "I understand the risks but this is what I want." and he would've absolutely done it, rather than losing her (he does work on commission after all). But she walks away claiming discrimination simply because he didn't instantly agree with her.

At the campsite

Now it's episode 6 and Elena has conversations with Mitts, a man. She says that she's going all in on helium. He strongly questions going all in on one thing. They're conversation is cut short but is later resumed by her and he again makes the point that it is risky to go all in on one idea. She claims to understand about diversification (except she wants to do the literally most opposite thing), and he again says it's risky, and that if it was him he'd go with mutual funds or bonds, "something smart". She interjects "How do you know helium isn't smart?", and he clarifies that he doesn't think that she isn't smart, but their conversation is cut short again.

Now Elena is apparently angry with Mitts because she's been questioned by assholes like him her entire life. She says she went to business school and was top of her class, but didn't finish because her boyfriend told her to drop out when she got pregnant, and then later her father told her she couldn't go back to finish because she had to be a "good mother". These points, while important and valid for her life, have nothing to do with Mitts and do not give her justification for being angry with him for pointing out that putting everything in helium is risky. But she storms off before he can say anything.

He catcher up with her and then she rambles about what a good idea helium is. She noticed the price skyrocketed because she's been working in a store that sells balloons, but it's also used in a lot of other sectors for serious reasons. And apparently there might be a "regime change in Tanzania" which will severely limit helium production. This, she claims, means it will give greater returns than other more traditional investments.

The conversation is cut short. But then later he says he's not against the idea, just that he doesn't want her to make a mistake. She says it's not a mistake but a calculated risk. There's some romantic development happening and we cut again. Later, he says "I think your helium idea is amazing", it's not clear if he thought that before and was just cautious, or if he warmed up to the idea.

This is fucking crazy. Apparently he's being sexists simply because he doesn't immediately agree with everything she says. And all he's saying is that putting everything in helium is risky. But since she's a woman, and he's a man, that means he thinks she's an idiot for wanting to invest in helium. And to make it worse, the show makes her "win" the argument in the end.

Don't go all in on helium

First of all, I don't care how smart you think you are, what education you supposedly have or what gender you identify with. Putting all your money in one thing is, in fact, supremely stupid regardless of what the idea is. There's absolutely no reason to listen to an investment idea from a person who is so financially illiterate that despite "having gone to business school" and supposedly "knowing what diversification is", they genuinely believe that putting all your eggs in one basket is the way to go. Even if helium was a good, even great, investment the men in this story disagree with Elena because of factual basic economic reasons. That's it.

When it comes to helium though, I'm not gonna say that the investment is bad, but I don't see why it would be good either. First of all, she doesn't actually have insider information - the price of helium is public, and so is potential regime changes that would affect production. Simply because the price has been going up does not mean that it will do so in the future, that's a very poor basis for investing. Diminishing future supply is a good reason to bet the price will go up, but the price has already gone up, probably because all other investors also know about the supply/demand considerations. This is a classic mistake for amateur investors, not realizing that the market has already taken this information about the future into account - it's already "priced in" as we say.

Don't pull the sexism card

It must be nice to be a woman. It seems very convenient to be able to call sexism on any man who disagrees with you. You don't have to prove your point with tedious things like reasonable arguments. Hey, why even listen to what the man has to say!? If he doesn't immediately agree with every single thing you say, then obviously it's because he doesn't respect women - simple as that. It's quite a privilege, isn't it? That's the kind of feminism we have these days.