All this is assuming you have liquid funds to invest or have some other access to credit. The only realistic shot your "average joe" has at any sort of reasonab

All this is assuming you have liquid funds to invest or have some other access to credit. The only realistic shot your "average joe" has at any sort of reasonable leverage is getting a mortgage and buying some property. Obviously if you're already rich then you have lots of better options to become even richer (like the ones you've mentioned), but they're not really open to your "average joe", if for no other reason than that most of them require you to be an accredited investor or require a high minimum investment.