Accredited Investor Rules

Accredited Investor Rules are the most classist regulation on this list because they lock 94% of U.S. households out of high-growth private markets. The SEC restricts private investments—venture capital, hedge funds, private equity—to individuals earning $200,000+ annually or holding $1 million net worth, excluding the primary equity of a home. This rule costs the median family roughly $48,000 in missed returns over a decade, based on average private-equity outperformance of 4.2% annually over public markets. That financial penalty is 30% harsher than the Carried Interest Loophole’s (rank #3) impact on tax fairness: the carried-interest benefit saves the top 0.1% about $18 billion yearly, but the accredited rule actively prevents middle-class wealth creation. Worse, it entrenches a feedback loop where only the rich can become richer.