The team at Crowdentials have been on a creative roll these past two weeks. Perhaps they should add investment crowdfunding advocates to their mission of compliance solutions for equity crowdfunding sites. Crowdentials has now put together a very informative infographic on what will happen if the regulatory Mandarins decide to make it more difficult to invest in certain private placements. “Accredited Investors” are defined today as individuals who earn $200,000 per year or have at least $1 million sitting in their bank account. Not a penny more and no counting of your primary residence please. Have there been complaints about this number being too low? Welcome to the sound of crickets.
Crowdfund Insider has always been of the belief that setting income or wealth hurdles misses the point. Investors should not be discriminated against based on a number in a bank account. Disenfranchising those of us who do not hold down 6 figure jobs is simply wrong. If an individual acknowledges the risk and has the capacity to understand the investment, then they should be able to choose where their hard earned money goes. Today’s rules disallow many in society we presently trust with very important decisions like your family doctor or Congressman. Allowing regulations to exist that prejudice opportunity based on economic class is an approach that should have been tossed out with the rubbish decades ago. Unfortunately the debate continues as there are some high minded folk that believe they are better managers of our own checkbooks. And perhaps I should mention that cutting back on funds available for startups and small companies is a bad idea for our national economy and entrepreneurial sector… This is very important stuff that all too frequently gets shoved underneath our economic rug.
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