These are good steps, but abolishing all wealth-tests entirely would still be better.
There's no wealth-test that prevents a person from losing all their money in highly-leveraged investments - from real-estate to fancy public-market securities. (Over-leveraging into real estate is practically encouraged by public policy.)
There's no wealth test against putting all one's cash into gambling, which can be arbitrarily worse than even the riskiest non-fraudulent startup investment, depending on your choice of wagers. (Official state lotteries are among the worst games, with the most manipulative marketing - to a level of deception that would generate lawsuits & legislation if attempted by private actors.)
There's no wealth test before purchasing legal but addictive & judgement-impairing substances like alcohol & marijuana.
But if you want to put $5-$20K into a friend's business, or a business you know well, the SEC makes it hard unless you're already a millionaire. It's insanely paternalistic & economically destructive - a ghostly holdout from some bad experiences in another era, the 1930s, when the ranges of available information, experience, and alternative temptations were all tiny & quaint compared to the 2020s.
There's no wealth-test that prevents a person from losing all their money in highly-leveraged investments - from real-estate to fancy public-market securities. (Over-leveraging into real estate is practically encouraged by public policy.)
There's no wealth test against putting all one's cash into gambling, which can be arbitrarily worse than even the riskiest non-fraudulent startup investment, depending on your choice of wagers. (Official state lotteries are among the worst games, with the most manipulative marketing - to a level of deception that would generate lawsuits & legislation if attempted by private actors.)
There's no wealth test before purchasing legal but addictive & judgement-impairing substances like alcohol & marijuana.
But if you want to put $5-$20K into a friend's business, or a business you know well, the SEC makes it hard unless you're already a millionaire. It's insanely paternalistic & economically destructive - a ghostly holdout from some bad experiences in another era, the 1930s, when the ranges of available information, experience, and alternative temptations were all tiny & quaint compared to the 2020s.