Prior to the securities Act of 1933, the measure of viability of a particular investment vehicle was on a state-by-state basis where they wouldn't allow investment vehicles that were unlikely to return a positive return to most investors (see Blue Sky Laws). The Act required all securities to be traded to be registered (in a nutshell), but allowed a loophole that effectively said "if the investor can afford to lose all of their investment, you don't need to go through the trouble of registering it, and you can rely on the investor to judge the value of the investment."

Who am I? I have no intent to judge, however, as the act was prompted not by fantasy, but by watching many, many investors get sold on bad deals via poor information. In fact, the event which led to this was considered one of the greatest financial disasters in the history of America.

So, you may be smart - and you may in fact be smarter than all of the swindlers who may try to take your money. I'd wager most who don't invest as a primary exercise aren't that smart (I only need to look back a couple of years), and I can't imagine how you'd propose to change a -means- test with an -abilities- test. Before you can invest in an oil well, should you be required to prove that you are above average in knowledge about the business of running oil wells?