What I was trying to get at is that the value of money is both absolutely consistent (unit of account) but also completely situational ($10 can save a life). At the same time, the IRR of investing on public markets, like an index fund tracking the S&P 500, is exactly the same for everyone, and anyone can invest 10% of their net worth, whether that is $1,000 or $10,000,000.

The original comment was that holding money generates nothing, you have to risk it, and I completely agree. You can risk 20% of your net worth and you're not risking your livelihood, and odds are in ~8 years your investment will have doubled, and your net worth increased by 20%. For some people that's a thousand dollars, others it's ten million. If you want to double your net worth in less than 30 years, you're going to have to risk a lot more. Everyone has access to the same returns on the public market (and we restrict access to private markets for very good reasons).

So it's a literal definition of risk, and as a percentage of net worth it works well. The problem of massive wealth inequality to me is completely adjacent to risking capital in return for investment returns.

In truth my original comment was to point out that the holding money comment was misunderstood to mean keeping money under a pillow when I took it as it takes money to make money, and those that have money risk little in terms of their physical welfare.