Private Equity doesnt work like that, vc investing is a completely different game. If you want to stay middle class, continue investing like the middle class, i.e. etfs. If you want to move up, invest like those in the class above you do. I think the common knowledge about what kinds of risk the common man should be taking on are in some ways constructed to keep the "prestige" of finance. Its an industry built upon the appearance of competence