At the end of last year the SEC said it was considering making hedge funds available only to those with upwards of $2.5 million in financial investments (up from the current minimum of $1 million) in net worth (including home value). So called mom and pop investors have taken umbrage.

They have a point. It would be nice, however, if investors were as vocal about retail access to structured products. Over the past few years regulators, such as the US National Association of Securities Dealers, have explored derivatives-based investments in the US and, on occasion, have suggested that structured products should only be made available to those with access to options accounts. Again such rules effectively suggest that those with less than a few million in net worth somehow lack brain cells to understand financial products. What role should the regulator/government play? Should investors have the right to invest their hard earned cash as they deem fit, providing they pay the relevant taxes? Is a mortgage any easier to understand than, say, a capital protected five year structured product linked to the rise in an equity index?

Here are some quotes from my favourite response. Stephen R. Adams says on the site that he is “disappointed in the proposed increases." Essentially “the fundamental premise of the...rules is that because I am not yet rich, I must be too stupid to understand these investments and too stupid to seek professional advice,” he adds. “Therefore I must be protected against myself by a rule that serves to give those with the advantage of wealth the additional advantage of broader opportunities for increasing their wealth.”

Adams' full response can be accessed here.

A directory of all the comments can be seen here.