> Brilliant! So much misery would be avoided if people could be taught that simple rule. Isn't that not being understood by even the wealthy elite a precursor

> Brilliant! So much misery would be avoided if people could be taught that simple rule. Isn't that not being understood by even the wealthy elite a precursor for a Bernie Madoff? I think 'financial literacy' is an unobtainable panacea when most, even supposed economists, don't have much more than of an insight as to what Money actually is and will simply often repeat what was forced fed to them in school about fiat. The truth is the concept of Money has evolved so much in just the last 10 years, that PhDs and Masters thesis written on topics just 5 years ago are some what moot when seen in this light. As for the notion of a 20% risk-free return is concerned, I think the same adage applies: a fool and his money are soon parted. Just because the person selling you these products wear suits and sit in a bank doesn't mean he isn't a predatory con-artist that is so typical on every street corner. They just legitimize their largess with nice decor, lawyers and lobbyists, but that's about the only difference. But just to be clear, as much as I blame bankers for the financial crisis of 2008 that heavily impacted me despite no actual fault other than being born in the 80s, and these instruments that essentially rob innocent people, I'm also entirely unsympathetic to this occurring: > It worked so well—earning him 18% a year in dividends, on average—that he eventually poured $800,000 into the investments, called leveraged exchange-traded notes, or ETNs. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, he lost almost every penny. Why would you wager your entire retirement on a risky bet instead of cashing out your profits, and MAYBE letting your initial investment (essentially house money) ride in this risky instrument to see potential benefits? Maybe I've become immune to the scams and charlatans with ICOs and alt coin pump-dump scams after 9 years in the Cryptocurrency space, but I'm also well adapted enough as Human being to know that common sense has to prevail when it comes to matters of finance. As an experiment to that end, I occasionally go on WSB just to see how infectious vacuous exuberance is still so rampant post-2008 and it often leads to the same predictable outcome.