Presentation: Opening an Investment Account – Where do I Start?

Thursday, 8/6/2026
12:00 - 1:00
Virtual Library

United States

Register

Explore your options and important considerations for opening an investment account.

Technological advances give today’s investors a wide range of choices on how and where to invest. You can go the more traditional route, working with a financial professional to make and execute investment decisions. You can go it totally alone, investing through an app on your couch. Or you can fall somewhere in between. In this presentation, Robert Mascio of FINRA explains investment account options and what to know before getting started.  

Robert Mascio has been with FINRA for over 20 years and is Director of Investor Education Outreach. In this capacity, Mr. Mascio cultivates and manages FINRA Investor Education Foundation programs and partnerships related to investor protection and the prevention of financial fraud and exploitation. He also helps drive research surrounding financial fraud, the victim experience, and scam susceptibility, as well as facilitates FINRA’s Investor Issues Committee. Prior to this role, Mr. Mascio held a variety of management and investigative positions within FINRA, including managing FINRA’s Vulnerable Adults and Seniors Team, which was responsible for conducting specialized reviews and investigations of senior specific concerns, including allegations of fraud, abuse and exploitation of vulnerable adults. Additionally, he serves on the advisory board to the Cybercrime Support Network and participates on Multi-Disciplinary Teams and taskforces related to fraud and senior financial exploitation. Mr. Mascio obtained his MBA from Florida State University, an undergraduate degree from Salisbury University, and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.

FINRA is a self-regulatory organization for member broker-dealers that is responsible under federal law for supervising our member firms. As a not-for-profit, self-regulatory organization (SRO) with an 85-year history, FINRA’s mission is to protect investors and safeguard the integrity of our vibrant capital markets to ensure that everyone can invest with confidence.

Personal Finance

Get expert help in managing your finances and learn how to make well-informed financial decisions about spending, saving, taxes, investing, retirement, estate planning and more.

Spotlight

This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Attending Programs

All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

This program will be conducted in English unless otherwise noted.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

Public Notice and Disclaimer

This program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave SFPL's website and enter a website not operated by SFPL. This service may collect personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, and password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of SFPL’s Privacy Policy describing Links to Other Sites.

The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.