In conservative or traditional settings, people chose those instruments and avenues to invest, which could provide assured returns at a low risk, even if it meant lower returns. So, a majority of the people would typically choose time deposits with banks and post offices or invest in Government bonds and savings certificates.
Investments in stock markets, now more popular, are still not preferred by many since they are considered to be high risk, with a high probability of losing money. People get even more jittery at the thought of investing in startups since there is a widely held misconception that startups are an even higher risk than stock markets. It is true that both types of investments, startups and stock markets, involve high risk.
But investing in startups has some advantages worth considering.