being an accredited investor allows you to legally participate in private securities like investing in startups
there are a couple ways to obtain accredited investor status
have a net worth over $1 million, excluding primary residence (individually or with spouse or partner)
have an income over $200,000 (individually) or $300,000 (with spouse or
partner) in each of the prior two years, and reasonably expects the same for the current year
these two above thresholds are set by the SEC & allow people who have the ability to bear some loss to invest in “riskier” private assets that do not have as much disclosure or audited & published financials as publicly traded assets
you can also obtain accredited investor status by passing a test to prove that you understand how investing works. the most common one is called the investment adviser representative license
it seems like some people lie about having accredited investor status since the space is unregulated