Well, it depends on how wealthy you are and the jurisdiction you live in. Loans are not taxable income and if you would have to pay some sort of withholding tax

Well, it depends on how wealthy you are and the jurisdiction you live in. Loans are not taxable income and if you would have to pay some sort of withholding tax on a dividend (if you would want to borrow against your illiquid shares for example), then it might make sense to take out a personal loan. A bank might also be more keen to give you a loan personally. But yes, obviously not that common. Random Joe won't be getting these. Random Joe doesn't have $20m in assets either, though.