That can include state-mandated pricing, plus licensing, and requirements for a minimum net worth.

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These survey results are based on the 435 men and women who promptly responded to the mail survey and met the minimum net worth requirement.

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Different states have different rules regarding who can invest in such deals such as establishing minimum net-worth requirements, or making investors submit to background checks and those hurdles made it harder to sell IPO shares, he said.

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Moreover, even though the regulations require that anyone investing in the CD be an accredited investor with a minimum income and net worth, several were not.

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Investment decisions should be made on the basis of the most probable compounding of after-tax net worth with minimum risk.

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This essentially calls for a minimum tax on high-net worth individuals, similar to the one Warren Buffett proposed in his op-ed to the Times last weekend, but as Silver correctly points out, the implementation of such a minimum tax would have an unintended consequence.

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Thirty people fell off the list, either because their net worth dropped below the minimum or because their fortunes were reclassified as belonging to families.

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