[Zikes]

Who says I have to invest anything even close to my last dime? What if I just want to invest my first dime? Does the SEC also want to step in and tell me what I can or can't eat for lunch today, because I might overspend?

There are no guarantees of return on publicly traded stocks, either, and that same allure of high payout can still exist. The SEC did a bang-up job protecting everyone when they let Facebook IPO at a grossly overinflated value.