[wesleyy]

> While stocks may have some intrinsic value, it is commonly acknowledged that their value as assets is substantially lower than their stock market price. Moreover companies continue to buy their own stocks further reducing the value of stocks as assets.

This is not really relevant. Companies have larger market caps than their intrinsic assets because people trade on discounted cash flow.

> Any small players (yes that means you and me) can easily lose their shirt in a down turn as we do not have reserve assets or other means (hedge funds) and are not able to participate in the next hand.

1. There's no mechanism that forces you to "call" a bet in investing. It's not winner takes all. 2. Why can't you allocate your bond/equity split such that you do have reserve assets?