“Accredited Investor”, as defined in Rule 501 of Regulation D under the Securiites Act of 1933:

1. Any natural person that: (i) has an individual net worth, or joint net worth with his or her spouse, of more than $1,000,000; (ii) has individual income in excess of $200,000, or joint income with his or her spouse or spousal equivalent (defined as a cohabitant occupying a relationship generally equivalent to that of a spouse) in excess of $300,000, in each of the two most recent years and has a reasonable expectation of reaching the same income level in the current year; (iii) is a Licensed General Securities Representative (Series 7), Licensed Investment Adviser Representative (Series 65) and Licensed Private Securities Offerings Representative (Series 82); (iv) is a “knowledgeable employee” of a private fund, including, but not limited to, trustees and advisory board members of a private fund or an affiliated person of the private fund that oversees the private fund’s investments, as well as employees of the private fund or the affiliated person of the private fund who, in connection with the employees’ regular functions or duties, have participated in the investment activities of such private fund for at least 12 months; and (v) has a professional certification, designation or credential from an accredited educational institution that the SEC designates as qualifying for Accredited Investor status;
2. Any entity that owns investments in excess of $5,000,000 and that was not formed for the specific purpose of investing in the securities offered;
3. Any investment adviser registered under federal or state law (and Exempt Reporting Advisers relying on Section 203(m) or 203(l) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended);
4. any rural business investment company (defined as entities who are approved by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and have entered into a participation agreement with the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture);
5. Any family office with at least $5,000,000 in assets under management and that was not formed for the specific purpose of acquiring the securities offered, and whose investment is directed by a person capable of evaluating the merits and risks of the prospective investment;
6. Any bank as defined in Section 3(a)(2) of the Securities Act, any savings and loan association or other institution as defined in Section 3(a)(5)(A) of the Securities Act whether acting in its individual or fiduciary capacity;
7. Any broker-dealer registered under Section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended;
8. Any insurance company as defined in Section 2(13) of the Securities Act;
9. Any investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder (the “Investment Company Act of 1940”) or a business development company (as defined in Section 2(a)(48) of that Act);
10. Any small business investment company licensed by the U.S. Small Business Administration under Section 301(c) or (d) or the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, as amended;
11. Any plan established and maintained by a state, its political subdivisions or any agency or instrumentality of a state or its political subdivisions, for the benefit of its employees, if such plan has total assets of more than $5,000,000;
12. Any private business development company (as defined in Section 202(a)(22) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended);
13. Any corporation, Massachusetts or similar business trust, partnership or organization described in Code Section 501(c)(3) that has total assets over $5,000,000 and was not formed for the specific purpose of acquiring the Interests;

“Qualified Client”

A qualified client is an investor that is exempt from the provision of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. This act prohibits private investment funds from charging performance-based fees. A "qualified client" meets at least one of the following parameters:

• An individual with at least $1 million in assets under management with the advisor immediately after entering into an investment advisory contract with the advisor.
• An individual with a net worth of $2.1 million or more, either individually or jointly with a spouse, immediately before entering into an advisory contract, not including the value of their primary residence. This is significantly more than the minimum required for accredited investors.
• An individual who matches the definition of a qualified purchaser at the time an advisory contract is enacted — including ownership of at least $5 million in investments.
• An individual with the position of executive officer, director, trustee, general partner, a person serving in a similar role, or the advisor.
• An employee of the advisor who is involved in the investment activities, and has been so for at least one year.

“Qualified Eligible Participant (QEP)”

A qualified eligible participant (QEP) is an individual who meets the requirements to trade in sophisticated investment funds such as futures and hedge funds. These requirements are defined by Rule 4.7 of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).

• A qualified eligible participant is an individual who meets the requirements to trade in different investment funds, such as futures and hedge funds.
• A QEP must own at least $2,000,000 of securities and other investments, have an open account with a FCM for at least six months, and have a portfolio that has at least $200,000 of initial margin and option premiums for commodity interest transactions.
• QEPs are similar to, but not the same as, accredited investors in that they are assumed to have a sophisticated understanding of the complexities of trading risky assets such as futures and hedge funds.

“Qualified Purchaser”

A “qualified purchaser” is an individual or a family-owned business that owns $5 million or more in investments. The term “investments” shouldn’t include a primary residence or any property used for business.

Notice the benchmark for a qualified purchaser is investments rather than net assets, which is a standard you may be used to seeing for investor accreditation.

The term “investments” is fairly broad here and includes stocks, bonds, futures contracts, cash and cash equivalents, commodity futures contract, real estate, financial contracts and other alternative assets held for investment purposes.

Other qualified purchaser categories include:

• an individual or entity (for example, a fund manager) that invests at least $25 million in private capital, on its own account or behalf of other qualified purchasers;
• a trust sponsored and managed by qualified purchasers; or
• an entity owned entirely by qualified purchasers.

Note - there is a key exception to these rules:
To meet the qualified purchaser criteria, the relevant entity or family-owned business cannot be formed solely to invest in a fund.