Risk correlates with reward, sure. On a very general basis. But there are a ton of specific exceptions to that. There's plenty of reason to think that opportun

Risk correlates with reward, sure. On a very general basis. But there are a ton of specific exceptions to that. There's plenty of reason to think that opportunities to "get really rich" offered to unsophisticated people without a lot of money will be a big exception. Just think of it from a startup's point of view. Would you want to take a lot of small checks from people who don't know what they're doing and for whom it's a major portion of their assets? I wouldn't, because it's always a bad idea for people to gamble what they can't afford to lose. I'd feel bad taking their money for something I know has a small chance of success. And just as a practical matter it's low return on effort. The people who are most eager to take money like that? Idiots, goofs, and fraudsters who cannot get money from serious investors who know better. In any case, the accredited-investor system already has certification-based exceptions: https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins/updated-3 https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-reso...