alt Hacker News> Right, just like all of those people who put their money into Brewdog and then got nothing for it
Just like anyone who puts their money into an investment that fails... Stocks go up, stocks go down. I don't recall the exact details of the Brewdog investment scheme but some people losing their hat here is just a normal thing that happens in capital markets, otherwise investing wouldn't work. There's a reason that the predominant advice is to just set it and forget it with S&P 500 funds or total market (US or global) funds. It's up to you as an independent person to identify good opportunities for yourself or to consume and understand advice.
> You do not have access to the investments or financial instruments that the ultrawealthy do. Your investments are not like their investments, your returns are not their returns, the rules and regulations you face are not the ones they face. They are playing a different game than you, even when they're doing it with your money.
This is directionally true and angsty but it's beside the point. What's the alternative? Nobody gets to invest in anything?
While "the wealthy" have access to other opportunities that you don't have access to, you still have access to enough opportunities to make money.
Neither George Carlin nor I am saying that the average person cannot invest in companies, nor that they should not be able to (well, I'm not, at least).
We are both saying that the rules and conditions under which you and I invest in companies and the market are substantially different than those in which the ultrawealthy invest in the market, and ours carry both higher risks and more onerous terms. You can argue whatever you want about why that is or whether it should be, but we're not all on a level playing field, and that's relevant especially in an era when all of the answers to "how do I make myself secure against the vicissitudes of fate" involve "investing" in the market.