[Poohbah]

It's the same mentality that leads people to go to Vegas every year, certain that, THIS time, they'll beat the house and walk home a millionaire.

[spetznaz]

So true. If high-yield investments were a sure bet then there would be no need for investment portfolios to include conservative buffers. And anyways, the only time for riskier-type investments are when a person is young and has sufficient time to absorb any loses. After a certain age the portfolio needs to be heavily weighted towards the conservatives.

However i think that the 'high yield investments' this couple invested in are not your normal hi-yield/hi-risk investments. A Ponzi scheme-esque type of 'investment' can be termed as a high-yield investment by some (and these are either fools or swindlers), but anyone with their wits about them would not even look at it as an investment (unless, ofcourse, the person is a swindler and will use it to get money from those who would willingly part with it).