I still remember him saying, "Wait until you're rich, and the best investments will come to you first. The rich always get first pick of the best investments. In addition, the rich can buy at very low prices as well as in volume. That is one of the reasons why the rich get richer." My rich dad agreed with the SEC. He thought it a smart idea to protect the average investor from the risks of these types of investments although he had made a lot of money in- vesting as an accredited investor himself. 244 Rich Dad's Guide to Investing However, rich dad cautioned me, "Even if you are an ac- credited investor, you still may not get the opportunity to in- vest in the best investments. To do that requires a completely different type of investor with the right knowl- edge and access to the information about new investment opportunities." The Investor Controls of the Accredited Investor None Rich dad believed that an accredited investor, without fi- nancial education, had none of the ten investor controls. The accredited investor might have a lot of money but usually didn't know what to do with it. The Three E's Possessed by the Accredited Investor Excessive cash-maybe Rich dad would clarify that although you might qualify as an accredited investor, you still needed the education and ex- perience to progress to the qualified, sophisticated, inside, or ultimate investor. In fact, he knew many accredited investors who didn't actually have any excessive cash. They met the in- come thresholds but didn't know how to manage their cash very well. Sharon's Notes , Just about anyone can open a brokerage account to buy and sell stocks of companies that are considered "public companies." The stock of a public company is traded freely as well as bought and sold by the public, usually through an exchange. The stock market is truly a free The Accredited Investor 245 market in action. Without government or outside inter- vention, individuals can decide for themselves whether the price of a stock is fair or not. They can decide to buy it and therefore purchase an ownership interest in the company. In the last decade, mutual funds have become increas- ingly popular. They are professionally managed portfolios in which each share of the mutual fund represents own- ership of partial shares in many different individual secu- rities. Many individuals invest in mutual funds because of the professional management as well as the appeal of owning a small piece of many different securities rather than stock in a single company. If you do not have the time to study investing (so you can make informed in- vestment decisions), choosing a mutual fund or hiring an investment advisor to handle your investments may be wise. One way to true wealth from securities comes from partic- ipating in the initial public offering (IPO) of a company's stock. Typically, the company's founders and initial in- vestors already own blocks of stock.