Even if a person starts out with what seems to be a large amount to start out his/her investment, the amount may well end up becoming dwarfed by ongoing adding to the investment portfolio, and many times it is not easy to start out with a lump sum amount, even though surely there are circumstances in which guys do end up coming across lump sum amounts of money that provide them with way more choices than they would normally have.  

It is similar when many young people first leave the home of their parents, they usually are starting out without very many resources, and it can take a while for them to start to feel that they have built some of their resources and maybe they are not even able to invest anything in the beginning because they are struggling to make sure that their income covers their expenses, and that they might also be building their emergency fund (that they might not have felt that they needed during the time that they were living with their parents).

Also young people are faced with dilemmas regarding whether or not to go to college or maybe to participate in some kind of vocational training that may well cost money and time in the start, but may have the potential to increase their income at later points down the road.

Sometimes people will come across lump sum amounts of money, and they won't be sure what to do with it, but then they might become tempted by going on vacation or buying some consumer good that had earlier been out of their financial reach.  It takes quite a bit of discipline and focus to identify an investment rather than to consume.. or even to budget out various places to put the money, and then the lump sum does not seem to be as much if it ends up getting divided into various categories to try to fulfill several wants at the same time.