The accredited investor requirements in 2026 come down to a single sentence: you are accredited if you meet any one of the SEC's tests: income over $200,000 a year on your own ($300,000 with a spouse), a net worth over $1,000,000 excluding your home, a qualifying securities license, or one of a handful of entity routes. You do not need all of them. You need one. The thresholds are unchanged in 2026, and none of them is indexed to inflation.

That status (a legal designation, not a certification you take a test for) is what unlocks private, pre-IPO investments that are closed to the general public. Below is exactly what qualifies you, what counts toward each test, and what is (and is not) actually changing this year.

The SEC defines an accredited investor through Rule 501 of Regulation D. An individual qualifies by satisfying one of the following. Each is a standalone door. Walk through any of them and you are accredited.

The income route is the most literal. You need earned income above the threshold in both of the two most recent years (not an average, but each year clearing the bar), and a reasonable basis to expect the same in the current year. The individual line is $200,000; the joint line with a spouse or spousal equivalent is $300,000. If you qualify jointly one year, you generally need to keep using the joint standard.

Net worth is assets minus liabilities, with one critical carve-out: your primary residence does not count. Its equity is excluded, and the mortgage is generally excluded too, unless you are underwater or borrowed against the home in the run-up to investing, in which case the excess debt counts against you. Everything else (brokerage accounts, cash, retirement savings, other real estate, business equity) counts toward the $1,000,000 line, alone or with a spouse or spousal equivalent.

Since 2020 the SEC has recognized knowledge as a qualifier, not just money. Hold an active Series 7, 65, or 82 in good standing and you are accredited regardless of income or net worth. The Series 65 is notable because you can sit for it without employer sponsorship, which makes it the one door a motivated individual can deliberately walk through.

Entities have their own paths. A business, trust, or family office with more than $5,000,000 in assets qualifies. So does any entity (an LLC, partnership, or fund) in which every equity owner is individually accredited. This is how investment vehicles and holding structures participate on behalf of their members.

The logic is that the SEC wants to measure investable financial resilience, not the paper value of the house you live in.

For the thresholds themselves: nothing. The $200,000 / $300,000 income lines and the $1,000,000 net worth line are unchanged in 2026 and are still not indexed to inflation. In real terms, that means the bar has quietly lowered over the decades as incomes and asset prices rose. Two things people frequently mix up are worth separating cleanly.

A separate SEC rule, the "qualified client" standard under Rule 205-3 (which governs when an adviser can charge performance fees), saw a threshold update take effect in April 2026. That is a different test for a different purpose. Being accredited does not make you a qualified client, and the April change does not touch the accreditation thresholds above.

The INVEST Act (H.R. 3383) would broaden accreditation by adding pathways based on licensing, education, and demonstrated experience, and by indexing the dollar thresholds going forward. It passed the U.S. House in December 2025 and now sits with the Senate. It is not law. Until it is enacted, the requirements described here are the ones that govern. Treat headlines about "expanded" accreditation as a proposal, not a rule.

Legion Equity is a platform where accredited investors back pre-IPO private companies. The average company now takes around fourteen years to reach an IPO, so much of the value creation happens in the private window, the window accreditation exists to open.

Each deal is structured as a single-purpose vehicle (SPV), and on Legion each SPV is a Delaware limited partnership (LP). You come in as a limited partner; you can fund by wire, ACH, or USDC; and your position is issued as a tokenized SPV interest. If you want the mechanics of the container itself, our explainer on what an SPV is and the help article on understanding SPVs walk through it.

Legion operates under Rule 506(b), and accreditation is self-certified: you attest that you meet one of the tests above, identity is confirmed through Persona, and an individual deal may request supporting documentation. Hard third-party verification is not mandatory across the board. We are an early-stage platform and some steps remain manual; we would rather state that plainly than dress it up. For the process side (turning "I qualify" into an active account), see accreditation explained and how to become accredited.

No. You need to satisfy any single test: income, net worth, license, or entity. Meeting one is enough.

No. The $1,000,000 net worth figure excludes the equity in your primary residence. Nearly everything else you own counts.

No. The income and net worth thresholds are unchanged in 2026 and not indexed to inflation. The April 2026 update applied to the separate "qualified client" rule, and the INVEST Act that would expand accreditation is not yet law.

Yes, by holding a Series 7, 65, or 82 license in good standing. The Series 65 can be taken without employer sponsorship, making it the most self-directed route.

Legion operates under Rule 506(b) with self-certified accreditation and identity verification via Persona. A specific deal may ask for documentation, but blanket third-party verification is not required.

Think you meet one of the tests above? Check if you qualify and join the waitlist.

This article is for education only and is not legal, tax, or investment advice. See uselegion.com/disclosures.