Stock options weren't available to most medieval thegns, sokesmen, villeins, cottars or bordars. In fact, there was just a lot less coinage back then overall. Hence why most taxes were renders of kind rather than coin.

There's also different concepts of weath. A medieval villein or sokesman might own 120 acres of land. A knight might own a whole 1-5 square miles of land (600 - 3,200 acres). Even a cottar might have 30-40 acres of land.

So what percentage of us are "land poor" these days in comparison? Almost all of us. Most land lots are about 0.2 acres in size in the U.S. "Not even big enough for a garden croft" a medieval bordar would have scoffed.

Meanwhile, there were urban burghers who did invest in various ventures increasingly over time. Yet "coin" was, admittedly, a tiny percentage of medieval wealth.

Sadly, today only about 3/4 of Americans even have a retirement account, and the median value is only $87,000 as of 2022. None of us are living like barons.