Anthropic's trillion-dollar IPO is coming, but retail investors could have owned AI stock much earlier

Anthropic is set to go public next week, with a potential date of Nov. 19 for an initial public offering that could value the AI giant on a fully diluted basis at over $1.4 trillion. For many retail investors, the IPO may be the first chance they have to own Anthropic and even that ownership event will be out of reach with limited shares allocated to retail brokerage firms. But there were ways for retail investors to own Anthropic shares at a much earlier date. Investors may also be able to get in on the next hot IPO well before listing day. There are several ways to do this, though it can depend on whether you're an accredited investor under SEC guidelines when investing directly in a private company versus accessing a privately held stock through a diversified fund. Generally, this means being able to prove you have $200,000 in individual income, or $300,000 jointly, or $1 million in net worth, not counting an investor's home. The SEC has proposed expanding accredited investor eligibility beyond traditional income and net worth thresholds, through an exam-based route, but that's not currently an option.Here's what investors looking for some pre-IPO action need to know:Mutual fund...