Quick Answer
Accredited investor, qualified institutional buyer (QIB), and qualified purchaser are three separate legal statuses, each defined under its own rule for its own purpose. They are not stacked tiers, but one bridge runs between them. A QIB acting for its own account is deemed a qualified purchaser.
You have now seen each threshold on its own. The value here is seeing them side by side, because the exam tests whether you can keep three similar-looking dollar figures attached to the right test.
How Do the Three Investor-Status Tests Compare Side by Side?
| Status | Who is tested | Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Accredited investor (natural person, net worth) | Individual investor | Exceeds $1,000,000, excluding the primary residence |
| Accredited investor (natural person, income) | Individual investor | Exceeds $200,000 individual / $300,000 joint, each of the two most recent years, with a current-year expectation |
| Qualified institutional buyer | Institution | At least $100,000,000 in securities |
| Qualified institutional buyer | Registered dealer | At least $10,000,000 in securities |
| Qualified purchaser | Natural person or family-owned company | At least $5,000,000 in investments |
| Qualified purchaser | Institutional buyer | At least $25,000,000 in investments |
Why Aren't These Three Statuses Tiers of One Another?
- The qualified-purchaser test counts investments only, a narrower base than the accredited-investor net-worth test, so its $5,000,000 bar is materially more restrictive than it looks next to the $1,000,000 net-worth figure.
- Real estate counts only when held for investment purposes, so property used personally or as a place of business normally drops out. It can still count toward net worth, but the primary residence cannot: a separate rule excludes it there too. The carve-back is an owner primarily in the business of investing in, trading, or developing real estate.
- A QIB is a resale counterparty defined for the QIB private resale safe harbor. That status alone does not make an entity an accredited investor under a different rule.
- One bridge does exist. A QIB, or an entity a relying fund reasonably believes is a QIB, acting for its own account, for another QIB's account, or for a qualified purchaser's account is deemed a qualified purchaser. QIB status does carry across in that one direction.
- That bridge has two limits. A registered dealer needs at least $25,000,000 in unaffiliated securities to cross it, not the $10,000,000 that makes it a QIB. A benefit plan, or a trust fund holding its assets, is not acting for its own account when the beneficiaries make the investment decisions.
- Each status is defined, and tested, under its own rule for its own purpose: accredited investor gates who can buy into a private offering, QIB gates who can buy restricted securities in a QIB resale, and qualified purchaser gates who a fund relying on the qualified-purchaser fund exclusion can accept without an investor-count cap.
Exam Tip: Gotchas
- A $100,000,000 QIB is deemed a qualified purchaser, but nothing deems it an accredited investor. It will usually clear that test on the numbers anyway. The exam can still ask which status a rule actually requires.
- The $5,000,000 qualified-purchaser bar and the $5,000,000 entity-level accredited-investor bar look identical but measure different things: investments only for qualified purchaser, total assets for most of the entity accredited-investor categories.
What Should You Check on Exam Day?
- Match each dollar figure to its own status and its own purpose before answering; do not assume the highest number always wins.
- Confirm whether a question is asking about total assets or investments only; the same $5,000,000 figure means different things depending on which base applies.
- Treat "qualifies as one status" and "qualifies as all three statuses" as separate claims that need separate support.
- Remember a QIB acting for its own account is deemed a qualified purchaser, but QIB status does not by itself make an entity an accredited investor.