The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation

Re:The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday July 10, 2013 @02:00PM (#6021633)

My instinct is to lash out against this move. General solicitation lowers the amount of social vetting a manager must go through before being able to raise funds. It also makes un-accredited investors more aware of the investment barriers around them, which could loosen resolve for maintaining those walls.

But 2013 isn't 1933. The average sophisticated investor is more versed in finance, more wary of solicitation if they are not, or closer to one of the former.

What this is, is a boost to non-conventional assets and managers. The ones too young or crazy to have made it through the traditional vetting process. There's already plenty of noise if some idiot broker put you on a mailing list...

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Re:The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation by wwweston on Wednesday July 10, 2013 @02:41PM (#6021898)

> But 2013 isn't 1933. The average sophisticated investor is more versed in finance, more wary of solicitation if they are not, or closer to one of the former.

"This time, it's different."

http://www.reinhartandrogoff.com/

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Re:The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation by clavalle on Wednesday July 10, 2013 @05:02PM (#6022803)

I think things are fundamentally different now than in the early 30's. Not pie in the sky 'well people are more sophisticated now' different.

There are a ton of tools that people can use to gather information on a potential investment and the people involved.

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Re:The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation by mortehu on Thursday July 11, 2013 @12:24AM (#6024452)

While it's easier to be smart about investing, it's also very easy to not be smart. I'm pretty sure most retail investors invest with zero or negative[1] information advantage, but don't lose a lot of money because the median expected value of investment opportunities open to the public is positive.

1. Due to cognitive biases.

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Re:The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation by pessimizer on Wednesday July 10, 2013 @03:38PM (#6022269)

>average sophisticated investor

I'm not sure what this means. Are you saying that the average investor is now more sophisticated, or that the average sophisticated investor now is more sophisticated than the average sophisticated investor then?

If the former, if the average invested amount drops to $1-2K and the number of investors booms, wouldn't that have an effect on the average sophistication?

IMO the average investor is only investing in the house that they live in, and judging by the last 10 years doesn't seem to have the math skills to defend against a charming salesman.

edit: just noticed that this doesn't open up investment to unaccredited investors, it's just about solicitation. "Average sophisticated" makes sense now:)

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Re:The SEC Just Voted To Lift The Ban On General Solicitation by JabavuAdams on Wednesday July 10, 2013 @06:25PM (#6023211)

Tough call. As someone who doesn't quite meet the accredited investor thresholds, this is good for me, but I can see it being used to scam lots of people.

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