Absolutely. This phenomenon is known as the Matthew effect and there are many examples.
Some easily understood examples:
1. It's better to own property than to rent - otherwise nobody would be a landlord. But only richer people can buy a property due to the down payment and higher monthly payments.
2. Education is better in rich school districts. Rich people can afford better colleges too, and the prep services to ensure entry. A better education makes you richer.
3. Crime is higher in poor neighborhoods. Being a crime victim makes you poorer.
4. Because crime is higher, the police spend more time in poor neighborhoods, and as a result poor people are more likely to be caught for petty crimes.
5. Because of that, poor people are more likely to have a criminal record, and therefore have a harder time finding work.
6. A poor person can't afford the traffic fine for a minor infraction. Their license gets suspended. They get pulled over again, go to jail for driving with a suspended license and lose their job.
7. A poor person can't afford health insurance. When they get so sick they have to go to the doctor, they pay an inflated rate since they have no bargaining power. Or worse, they go to the emergency room, can't afford to pay the bill, and the hospital sends it to collections. Collections takes every future dollar they make, so they have none to invest in education, preventative care or anything else.
8. Poor people can't always afford healthy fresh food. As a result, they get sick more often.
9. Richer people can afford to buy in bulk and get a discount.
10. Being poor harms mental health - it's depressing to have no money. Poor mental health makes it hard to work.
When you're investing a multi-million dollar portfolio, you can invest much of it in high risk, high reward stocks that earn a higher return on average. A smaller stock portfolio risks going bankrupt if it takes too much risk.
