Wasn't one way to qualify in the the old definition just having an income above $200k for 2 years in a row and a reasonable expectation that you'll make that much this year?
I'd expect anyone at a hedge fund who would want to go solo to easily qualify based on that. Maybe it'd pull in the timeline a bit since you wouldn't have to wait 2 years but that's about it.
Yeah, it wasn't hard for investment or tech employees to be accredited since that's mid-career (or less depending on location) pay. I don't see how this would change the decision of anyone who would want to hang out their own shingle, unless the assumption here by "afford" is that there will be more money available since more people can be accredited?
I'd expect anyone at a hedge fund who would want to go solo to easily qualify based on that. Maybe it'd pull in the timeline a bit since you wouldn't have to wait 2 years but that's about it.