Some analysts called it a giant scam.
I called it the democratization of investing.
Last year, the SEC approved what’s known as equity crowdfunding, whereby regular investors — not just the ultra-rich — could finally invest in private companies.
Longtime insiders hated the idea, but just on principle. They didn’t want “regular people” getting access to the same types of private deals that for so long were kept somewhat secret and only available to them.
Now, regulators long argued that by making these opportunities available only to the super wealthy, they were protecting the “little guy,” who likely wouldn’t be able to effectively take on the risk that comes with investing in private companies.
But I never bought that for a moment.
After all, you can easily get screwed out of all your money on some random penny stock — which any regular investor can get in on — just as easily as you can lose all your money on a private company investment.
No, the real reason private company investing was only available to the wealthy elite was because the ultra-rich enjoy the benefits of being part of a special club that keeps the riff-raff out. In other words, they don’t want to share the wealth.
And who could blame them?
The truth is, the richest one percent don’t stay that way by just investing in stocks. No, they get all kinds of sweetheart deals by taking positions in private companies that most folks will never even know about.
But with equity crowdfunding, that all changed.
A Score Worth Half a Billion Dollars
Today, there are dozens of online platforms that allow you to gain access to hundreds of new private deals.
In fact, since equity crowdfunding went live last year, more than $40 million has been committed through these platforms. And there will be plenty more.
Let’s face it: Who doesn’t want to take part in private deals that could turn you into a millionaire, especially after knowing just how much money so many other investors have made in the past by getting in early on private deals?
Take Chris Sacca, for example.
You may not know the name, but Chris is actually very well known amongst the wealthy elite.
You see, back in 2003, Chris was working as a young lawyer in Silicon Valley, where he spent a lot of time networking with some pretty big names in the tech industry. And through his connections, he was invited to take part in some early-stage deals.
One of those deals was Twitter.
Chris managed to scrape up $25,000 to get an early piece of Twitter. He also got some other investors into Twitter early on, too. The result…
According to Forbes, Sacca made his investors more than $4 billion and amassed a position for himself worth about $500 million.
Of course, you’ll never pull off a win like that by investing in one of these equity crowdfunding deals today.
That’s not to say you can’t make a few bucks with equity crowdfunding. You absolutely can. And there are some crowdfunding platforms that allow you to invest in private companies with as little as $100. Some of these deals are even available to non-accredited investors.
You see, in order to take part in most of these equity crowdfunding deals, you still have to be an accredited investor, which means you must have a net worth of at least $1 million or have made at least $200,000 a year for the past two years.
Of course, even if you are an accredited investor and you can take part in these equity crowdfunding opportunities, those opportunities will never be as lucrative as the kind guys like Chris Sacca take part in.
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It’s YOUR Turn!
No matter how you slice it, even with equity crowdfunding opportunities, the best deals are often the ones you never hear about. Because those deals are still kept under the radar.
They’re not shared on equity crowdfunding platforms because the folks doing the capital raises don’t need help getting investors on board.
These are sweetheart deals.
These are deals that are only shared through a close network of high-net-worth individuals.
These are the deals that put you at the table with the world’s wealthiest and most successful investors. And these are the types of deals I can get you in on, because I’m one of the fortunate ones who’s been gifted access to them.
I’ve put together a short white paper on how I do it and how you can take part in these under-the-radar private deals, too. You can read that here.
The bottom line is that if you really want to build wealth, you have to get access to some quality private deals. And this is the easiest way to do it.
To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth…
Jeff Siegel
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Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor’s page.
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