Manager access

Manager access — the ability to get money into the best private-market funds, which are oversubscribed and choose their investors. It was the actual Yale edge: in illiquid markets the dispersion between median and top-quartile managers is enormous, and Yale never had to buy the median. Access is earned through scale, reputation, and decades of relationships — not purchasable at retail, which is precisely why the endowment model fails to replicate and why any product selling “access” should meet your 0.4 filters first.

First used in: 5.4 · The endowment model, honestly