Accredited Investor

Becoming an accredited investor has nothing to do with certification or accreditation in the way most people think of those things. It mostly just means “people that the SEC considers sophisticated enough to invest in unregulated private investments, like startups or commercial real estate”.

Ironically, there is no need to demonstrate any particular knowledge in order to qualify as an accredited investor, you just have to meet one of the following criteria:

You earned more than $200,000 (or $300,000 together with a spouse) in each of the past two years, and reasonably expect the same for the current year
You have a net worth of more than $1 million, either alone or together with a spouse (excluding your primary residence)

2020 Accreditation Updates

In August 2020, the SEC announced they are expanding the definition of an accredited investor to include the following additional qualifications:

You have certain professional certifications, such as a FINRA Series 7, 65 or 82 license
You are a “knowledgeable employee” of an investment fund
You have a “spousal equivalent” with whom you can pool income or assets to meet one of the above criteria
Certain categories of entities among LLCs, registered investment advisors, rural business investment companies, and family offices

You can find a great roundup of the changes to the accredited investor definition over at the National Law Review. These updates go into effect in November 2020.

In the context of online crowdfunding investment platforms, there are very few formal restrictions on what kinds of investments accredited investors may participate in, or how much they can invest. (A notable exception is Reg CF investments – the maximum anyone may invest in Reg CF investments in a given year is $100,000.)

Some online crowdfunding investment platforms only accept accredited investors, while others have that have a mix of offerings also “close off” portions, limiting access to those to accredited investors. Depending on the platform and type of offering, you will either “self-certify” your status as an accredited investor (meaning you just check some boxes), or there will be a more formal verification process that may include providing copies of documents like tax returns or W2 statements.

How many accredited investor are there?

According to some helpful analysis done by the folks at DQYDJ, about 8.25% of US households qualify, mostly through their net worth.

Although a big part of the 2012 JOBS Act was about opening up business financing and other alternative and private investment options to non-accredited investors, you’ll still find that most of the platforms still primarily target their offerings to those 10M+ households of accredited investors. Part of that is because Reg A+ and Reg CF offerings took longer to establish following the JOBS Act, but part of it is because while accredited investors are a small portion of the population, they hold a large portion of the wealth.

Want to learn more but aren’t sure where to start? You can explore 168 crowdfunding investment platforms in our database and learn more about the nuts and bolts of crowdfunding and alternative investing on our blog. Did you know you can use a self-directed retirement account to invest in many alternative investments? Rocket Dollar makes it easy, and when you sign up using that link you'll be helping to support YieldTalk.

EquityMultiple

Outstanding

EquityMultiple stands out among real estate crowdfunding investment platforms because their main investors and senior leadership come from institutional real estate finance, rather than being VC-funded. Seed funding for the company was provided by Mission Capital (later acquired by Marcus & Millichap) and their co-founders and board of advisors come from the New York real estate finance and law community. They offer fewer investments than some other platforms, but that’s a deliberate choice to take a more curatorial approach to dealflow. Overall, EquityMultiple is a solid choice for accredited investors looking for a hands-off way to invest in commercial real estate.

"Gain exclusive access to high-yield commercial real estate deals"

First National Realty Partners

Excellent

First National Realty Partners (FNRP) is a commercial real estate private equity firm that focuses on grocery-anchored commercial shopping centers, offering both investments in individual properties and an Opportunity Fund across all of their offerings.

"First National Realty Partners (FNRP) is a rapidly growing commercial real estate private equity firm that owns and operates real estate throughout the United States. FNRP focuses on expanding its portfolio by acquiring market-dominant, well-located commercial assets well below replacement cost. "

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