The real tragedy is that the lack of early financial education is what creates the risk faced by average middle-class people. The reason they have to play it safe is because their financial positions are tenuous at best. Their balance sheets are not balanced. Instead, they are loaded with liabilities and have no real assets that generate income. Typically, their only source of income is their paycheck. Their livelihood becomes entirely dependent on their employer. So when genuine “deals of a lifetime” come along, these people can’t take advantage of them because they are working so hard, are taxed to the max, and are loaded with debt.