A Safer Way

Retail investors are gaining unprecedented access to private markets as regulatory barriers fall and new semi-liquid vehicles continue to launch. Recent actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including easing accredited investor requirements for certain interval funds, underscore that this shift is accelerating—not reversing. Yet embedding illiquid assets inside vehicles that offer regular liquidity introduces a fundamental risk: liquidity mismatch. This article examines why that mismatch may be the greatest structural threat in the evolving retail alternatives landscape, and how advisors can help investors benefit from private market exposure by setting realistic expectations around returns, diversification, manager dispersion, and time horizon—without confusing institutional endowment models, such as those tracked by NACUBO, with what is appropriate for individual portfolios.