[habinero]

What? I think you have some fundamental misunderstandings here.

Buying a stake in a small biz is perfectly legal and people do it all the time.

That's entirely separate from the requirement to be an accredited investor to buy unregistered securities.

[TimJRobinson]

Maybe unregistered securities is what I want to buy. What gives the government the right to say I'm not allowed to enter into a consensual agreement with someone selling them? Why do I have no way of opting out of these protections unless I'm rich already? Sometimes it feels like I'm explaining water to a fish on here.