For decades, private markets have been the ultimate members-only club. Pension funds, endowments, and billionaires had exclusive access to private equity, venture capital, and real estate syndications like ours, while everyday investors were left with whatever was available publicly. And while yes, public markets still have amazing investments, the breadth of different investment options and returns pale in comparison.
But that exclusivity is ending fast. We are now seeing private equity firms themselves make that shift visible, taking their brands directly to Main Street. Blue Owl, for instance, has been splashing its logo across player uniforms at the US Open and Wimbledon, spending millions to normalize private-market investing in front of everyday audiences. Apollo Global Management has likewise ramped up consumer-facing brand campaigns to build awareness with retail investors. These are not isolated moves. According to a recent State Street survey, over half of private market managers expect retail investors to account for more than half of all private fundraising within just two years. In other words, the floodgates are opening and the industry is already preparing for it.
President Trump’s recent announcement that 401(k)s will be able to invest in private markets is the clearest regulatory signal yet. Combined with broader bipartisan political pressure and years of regulatory groundwork, we are witnessing the democratization of private investments happening in real time.
And we are more than ok with it. We are seeing an influx of newer players entering our turf, but we view it as a rising tide that lifts all ships. We are the ones with proven track records, we are already innovating in this space, and we are small and nimble enough to pivot and respond to whatever comes our way. More money in private markets means bigger deals and more options for everyone.
Plus, truth be told, we see it as an advantage because we already know how this game works. Millions of people are about to get their first taste of private markets, but we have been in the real estate trenches for years and know it like the back of our hands.
What Makes Private Markets So Appealing in the First Place?
Before we dig into what happens when everyone gets invited to the party, let’s talk about why this party is worth crashing. Private markets have been quietly building wealth for decades while most investors played the public markets guessing game.
The Numbers Game That Public Markets Can’t Win
Over 215,000 companies, from real estate developments and oil wells to car washes and venture-backed companies, receive private equity or venture capital backing, compared to just 8,800 public companies available through traditional brokerages.
Think about that ratio for a second.
That’s 25 times more companies operating outside the public eye, many of them growing faster and generating better returns than anything you can buy on the stock exchange.
McKinsey also found that private equity has consistently outpaced the S&P 500 since 2000. We’re not talking about a few good years here and there. Private equity generated 13% net annualized returns compared to 8% for the Russell 3000 from 2000 to 2023. Investors who committed capital to private equity in 2000 would have generated 19.9x returns versus 6.6x for public markets.
Put simply, they created three times more wealth than their public market counterparts.
Getting Paid to Be Patient: The Illiquidity Premium
One of the key differences with private investments is their illiquidity. In other words, once you commit your money, it’s typically locked up for several years.
While this can be seen as a potential downside, there’s actually a financial benefit called the illiquidity premium. In plain English, this is the extra return you can earn by agreeing to keep your money invested for a few years instead of selling during market volatility or uncertain times.
Research shows this premium ranges from 2-4% annually for buyout funds and 3-5% for early-stage venture capital funds. That might not sound like much until you run the compound interest math. Over a decade, that extra 3% turns into serious wealth creation.
The other factor working in your favor is that these investments are typically 100% passive. While your money is illiquid, you’re not worrying about timing an exit, managing the investment, or making emotional decisions that often destroy returns. You simply can’t check the daily price and impulse-sell during market downturns, which historically has been one of the biggest wealth destroyers for individual investors.
Access to the Hidden Economy
Public markets give you a slice of about 15% of the investable universe. Private markets open the door to the other 85% of not just companies that never went public, but entire asset classes unavailable through traditional brokerages.
We’re talking about early-stage companies with explosive growth potential, commercial real estate, infrastructure projects like toll roads and energy facilities, private credit opportunities, natural resources, and specialized sectors that might take years to hit public exchanges (if they ever do).
The private company universe has grown 46% over the past thirty years, while public companies have shrunk by 24%. Every unicorn startup, every middle-market manufacturing company, every infrastructure project that powers our daily lives – most of these opportunities never make it to your brokerage account. Private markets give you front-row seats to assets and businesses before they become household names, plus access to entire categories of investments that simply don’t exist in public markets.
Building Value Instead of Just Buying It
Public market investing feels like buying a finished house and hoping someone else will pay more for it later. Private market investing is more like buying a fixer-upper and having an experienced contractor renovate it for you while you sit back and collect the returns.
Passive investing at its finest.
Since 2010, 47% of value creation in private equity came from operational improvements, up from just 18% in the 1980s. Private market managers roll up their sleeves, get hands-on, and actively improve businesses through strategic changes, management upgrades, growth initiatives, and technology implementations.
Diversification Becoming Your Insurance Policy
Private markets move to their own beat. When public markets turn volatile, private assets often keep chugging along thanks to their low correlation with traditional stocks and bonds. Infrastructure assets with long-term government contracts provide stable cash flows even when the economy hits rough patches.
During major market meltdowns like the dot-com crash, financial crisis, and 2022 correction, private equity declined less than public equities by at least 1,000 basis points. Private equity’s worst-performing quarter showed gains of 9% while public equities fell 2%. Certain private market assets, especially real estate and infrastructure, also provide natural inflation hedges through contracts and leases that adjust with rising prices.
The Bulldozers Breaking Down the Walls
Now that we’ve covered why private markets have been such a goldmine, let’s talk about the regulatory freight train and catalysts poised to deliver millions of new investors to our doorstep and democratize everything.
Trump Drops the 401(k) Bomb: August 2025
The biggest game changer hit in August when Trump signed an executive order with a title that says it all: “Democratizing Access to Alternative Investments for America’s Workers.”
The order tells federal agencies to let retirement plans offer private equity, private credit, real estate, crypto, commodities, and infrastructure projects. Remember, these are the same investments that were entirely off-limits for most retirement accounts until now. Trump’s team is telling the Department of Labor to dump the old rules that scared plan sponsors away from alternatives and create “safe harbors” so they can offer these investments without getting sued.
The order also instructs the SEC to rewrite accredited investor definitions specifically to let 401(k) participants access private funds. We’re talking about a complete reversal of decades of policy that kept alternatives out of workplace retirement plans.
Both Parties in Congress Also Want to Open Up Private Markets
While Trump was building up to this executive order behind the scenes all summer, Congress decided to blow up the accredited investor requirements entirely. The House overwhelmingly passed the Equal Opportunity for All Investors Act on July 22, 2025, a bill that lets individuals earn accredited investor status by passing a rigorous FINRA-administered exam, even without the usual income or net worth thresholds.
Three weeks earlier, the House also voted 397 to 12 to pass the Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act that automatically qualifies anyone with financial licenses or certifications as accredited investors. Your CFP, your mortgage broker, your financial advisor – they all get access regardless of their personal wealth. Both bills are heading to the Senate, where everyone expects them to pass easily.
Knowledge is replacing wealth as the entry ticket.
SEC Leaders Want to Push the Door Wide Open As Well
Even the people running the SEC want to tear down private market barriers. Commissioner Hester Peirce has been saying publicly that the accredited investor rule “keeps retail investors out of the private markets” and should be eliminated. She wants ordinary savers to access private equity and real estate through diversified funds.
New SEC Chairman Paul Atkins also announced they’re reviewing a 23-year-old rule that has blocked retail investors from closed-end funds holding private assets and is looking at ways to make it easier for fund sponsors to verify who qualifies to invest. Industry groups have been pushing for these changes for years, too—especially those like the Investment Company Institute pushing the SEC to get rid of the informal “15% limit” on alternative investments in closed-end funds.
The Foundation Was Already Cracking, Too
All of these 2025 fireworks didn’t happen overnight. The groundwork was laid over a decade ago with the 2012 JOBS Act, which started chipping away at the exclusive nature of private markets one regulation at a time.
The JOBS Act let companies publicly advertise their private deals for the first time through general solicitation rules. It raised the cap for mini-IPO offerings to $75 million and created SEC-regulated crowdfunding platforms.
What seemed like small changes back then were actually the first cracks in the dam. And since then, the SEC has kept expanding the opening. They eased restrictions on how sponsors could market private deals to non-accredited investors and started allowing up to 35 “unsophisticated” purchasers in specific private offerings. New fund structures like interval funds, private ETFs, and retirement-targeted private capital funds began popping up to serve Main Street investors.
The numbers from May 2025 SEC data show just how much water started flowing through those cracks: over 1,400 mini-IPO offerings raised $9.4 billion since 2015. More than 3,800 crowdfunding campaigns pulled in $1.3 billion from small investors. And all the while, thousands of ordinary startups and real estate developments started tapping small investor capital through these new channels.
What This Means for All of You
So now that we’ve covered how the floodgates are opening, let’s talk about what this means for you as our investors. These regulatory changes will impact everything from deal sourcing to investor returns, and the net effect should be significantly positive for anyone involved in our syndication.
- More Capital Means Better Deals: This regulatory shift is a rising tide that lifts all ships in private real estate. We only need to capture a small percentage of this newly available capital to see dramatic growth in our operating capabilities. More capital in our hands means we can move faster on the best opportunities, negotiate better terms with sellers, and access larger, higher-quality properties that were previously out of reach. Less time spent raising capital means more time spent sourcing and operating the best deals for you.
- Your Investment Pool is About to Expand: The accredited investor rule changes mean we can now accept investments from financial professionals, people who pass knowledge tests, and eventually retirement accounts. This expanded investor base allows us to raise funds more efficiently, while reducing our cost of capital and improving returns for everyone in the syndication.
- Higher Standards Benefit Your Investment Security: With more retail money flowing into private markets, regulators will demand better disclosure, more transparent reporting, and stronger oversight. Since we already follow best practices, these higher industry standards will likely push out weaker sponsors while validating our approach and creating a safer investment environment for you.
- Our Experience Advantage Compounds Your Returns: While inexperienced capital scrambles to learn private real estate, our established relationships with brokers, property managers, and contractors become more valuable. This operational expertise translates directly into better acquisition prices, lower operating costs, and higher returns for you as our investors.
- Your Growth Potential Just Expanded: These changes position us to raise larger funds more efficiently and potentially offer you access to institutional-quality deals and diversified portfolios that were previously unavailable. More capital under management means better economies of scale and improved returns across our entire investor base.
The Bottom Line: You Beat the Rush
Private markets are about to get very crowded. Trump’s executive order just invited 90 million 401(k) participants to our party, Congress is rewriting accredited investor rules, and the SEC wants to tear down long-standing barriers that kept everyday investors out.
But here’s what this means for you: more capital flowing into RSN means better deals, less time we spend raising money, and more time we spend finding and operating the best properties. While a sea of new companies will try to cash in on the floodgates opening, we’ll continue doing what we do best and extending our 11-year track record to benefit our investors who got in early.
You didn’t wait for an invitation. You found your way in when most people were still trying to time the stock market. The gates are opening, but you’re already well inside the castle.
Happy Investing!
Reed Goossens is an Australian-born real estate entrepreneur, investor, author, public speaker, and an all-around good bloke. Reed got his start in real estate investing back in 2012 when he moved to the US.
