Private markets aren’t the problem. Distribution is.

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Retail investors now control over 50% of global wealth. So why are private markets still treated like a members-only club?

This year alone, we’ve seen a wave of moves aimed at “opening the gates.” Hargreaves Lansdown teamed up with Schroders to offer private market exposure through LTAFs. Apollo launched a private credit ETF. BlackRock and KKR are cooking up hybrid funds that blend public equities with private assets. France wants €5 billion a year flowing from retail into decarbonisation via private investments. It’s happening.

And yet… something feels off.

If you’re a self-directed investor, you’ve probably been told to be excited. The pitch is: private markets are finally accessible. But the reality is murkier. These vehicles come wrapped in opaque fee structures, complex liquidity rules, and the kind of brochure-speak that hides more than it reveals.

This isn’t a question of whether private markets are too risky for retail. It’s a question of design. Because access without alignment isn’t empowerment - it’s exposure.

Let’s break down what’s going wrong… and what has to change.

Selling access without alignment

The word “access” gets thrown around like it’s a gift. But in financial markets, access without clarity is often a trap.

Right now, asset managers are racing to repackage private markets for the mass affluent. Long-Term Asset Funds (LTAFs), semi-liquid evergreen funds, hybrid ETFs - it all sounds innovative. But peel back the layers and the incentives start to look suspiciously familiar.

Take evergreen funds. They promise the best of both worlds - exposure to long-term private assets with some liquidity. But that “some” is doing a lot of work. You still need to give notice to withdraw. You might only get access to a slice of your capital. And in a downturn? Good luck finding the exit.

Meanwhile, fees remain high. Disclosures are patchy. And the tools to assess what you're actually buying? Limited, at best.

This isn’t about the underlying assets. Private equity, private credit, and infrastructure can absolutely play a smart role in a modern portfolio. The issue is how they’re being sold. Most of these new retail-friendly wrappers were built by incumbents optimising for distribution - not outcomes.

And it shows.

There’s a reason this feels more like a product launch than a paradigm shift. Because right now, it is.

Private markets are a feature, not a bug

Here’s the part most people miss: private markets aren’t just tolerable despite their quirks - they’re valuable because of them.

Illiquidity? That’s not a flaw. It’s a feature. It forces investors to take a longer view, to stay committed through the messy middle, and to sidestep the panic-selling that kills returns in public markets.

The lack of mark-to-market pricing? It keeps you from obsessing over daily swings and invites you to think in decades, not days.

The asymmetric return potential? That’s the real prize. You risk €1 to make €100. That doesn’t happen in the S&P 500. It happens in venture capital, in growth equity, in long-term real asset plays - where the upside is exponential and your downside is capped.

But to harness that power, investors need more than just access. They need context. Curation. Tools. A strategy that matches the nature of the asset.

And right now, most platforms aren’t offering that. They’re offering complexity wrapped in a promise of democratisation.

It’s like handing someone a parachute with no instructions - and pushing them out of a plane.

What “Good Access” actually looks like

If we’re serious about empowering retail investors in private markets, we need to stop chasing mass distribution and start designing for meaningful participation.

Here’s what that looks like:

1. Clarity over complexity.
   The key investment documents shouldn’t read like a legal thriller. If investors need a finance degree to understand the lock-up period or redemption rules, we’ve already lost. Good access means plain language, clear structures, and no fine print traps.

2. Curation over clutter.
   The public markets are built for scale. The private markets are built for selection. Throwing 100 semi-liquid funds on a platform isn’t choice - it’s noise. Retail investors don’t need more options; they need better ones. Curated, vetted, aligned with their goals.

3. Co-investment over isolation.
   Retail shouldn’t mean second-rate. The best way to build trust is to let individual investors invest alongside institutions - on the same terms, in the same rounds, with the same discipline. That’s not just alignment. It’s confidence.

4. Simplicity in action.
   Private markets come with friction. Good design should remove it. That doesn’t mean dumbing things down - it means removing the cognitive tax. Smart onboarding, intuitive dashboards, clear reporting. If you can order lunch in 3 taps, investing shouldn’t take 30 pages.

Retail investors aren’t asking for miracles. They’re asking for fairness, transparency, and the chance to build long-term wealth on something other than hope and hype.

Build trust, not hype

The platforms that win the next decade won’t be the ones with the slickest product videos or the biggest celebrity campaigns. They’ll be the ones that build trust - slowly, consistently, and transparently.

Because here’s what we know: retail investors aren’t dumb. They’re not unsophisticated. They’re just underserved.

They’ve been told for decades that wealth creation happens in public markets — after the insiders have already taken their cut. And now that they’re finally being invited into private markets, the least we can do is make sure it’s not just a marketing campaign.

This moment isn’t about hype. It’s about responsibility. The infrastructure we build now - how we explain risk, how we price access, how we treat our users - will shape whether private markets become a real tool for wealth creation… or just another asset class that makes the rich richer.

Design it well, and private markets don’t just become accessible. They become transformative.

What we’ve been working on at Shuttle

• Just one week until our first Product Hunt Launch 🚀 

• Reviewing our recent advertising efforts and gearing up for the next campaign. 🔈️ 

• Scott & Rob are finally in the taper for their first ever marathon next week 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️ 

The Unsophisticated Investor is brought to you by Scott & Rob, the founders of Shuttle. We’re both sick of private markets being a playground exclusive to the ultra-wealthy so we started a company to challenge the status-quo. Shuttle’s singular focus is to unlock private markets for Millennial and Gen Z tech professionals and help them build wealth through the highest performing private market opportunities.

Scott & Rob
Shuttle Co-Founders