In the US, you normally have to be an accredited investor to invest in private companies like startups. In practice, this has meant that you've needed to earn $200K a year for the last two years running, or have a net worth of at least a million dollars excluding the value of your home. It's not quite as simple as this: some crowdfunding has been allowed for a while, and if a startup is raising under a million dollars, it could include non-accredited investors under some circumstances. Nonetheless, the effective rule has been: only rich people can buy into startups.

The SEC announced an expansion to that definition today. As an alternative to being rich, you can also be considered to be accredited if you've achieved Series 7, 65, or 82 certification. These exam-based certifications respectively qualify you to sell securities, provide general investment advice, or transact securities on behalf of clients.

Taking a Series 65 exam costs $175. It wouldn't surprise me if investment platforms started subsidizing that price in order to make it easier for individuals to invest in startups, making back the total from a cut in investment proceeds.

Of course, investing in startups is eye-wateringly risky, and nobody should ever invest more money than they can comfortably lose. Nonetheless, for many investors from less high net worth backgrounds, the barrier to getting into the market has been lowered. Particularly for women founders and founders from communities of color, this may be a good thing. (Increased speculation, on the other hand, may not be.)