The Rich Investor Club Is Getting Crowded

Attention, individual investors: You may be eligible for a status upgrade.

Thanks to recent rising markets—paired with elevated inflation and some very vintage rules—the number of Americans who qualify as “accredited investors” has skyrocketed to an all-time high. Accreditation gives individuals access to riskier, less regulated assets. This includes private markets that have long been the domain of endowments, pension funds and other “smart money” types. It opens doors to the historically exclusive echelons of private equity, credit and real estate placements. But this expansion of access, with its tantalizing promise of greater returns, comes with a key question: Is it worth joining a club that would have you as a member?