These are good points and the lottery analogy seems quite accurate. I think, there may be an additional macro-aspect to this: If you are a young person with a f

These are good points and the lottery analogy seems quite accurate. I think, there may be an additional macro-aspect to this: If you are a young person with a four-figure net worth, you should be able to leverage this to buy (non-financial) options that have a much higher expected payoff than hyped stock options. For example, being able to quit a job to apply for others, moving to another town, spending additional time and money on education or similar. These are all options that you haven't got without the four-figure net worth. The real tragedy is that these options seem to be becoming more expensive or scarcer. Many are still better than an iterated lottery, but the (perceived) decline in optionality may be worthy of some sympathy. (Completely agree on Vanguard.)