The research says the excess return came from access to private assets, not from the asset class itself. What is being retailed — through the DOL's 401(k) proposal, evergreen funds, interval funds, non-traded BDCs — is fee-bearing exposure, arriving at the exact moment institutions hold 33,575 unsold portfolio companies and retail credit funds are meeting redemption caps. Exposure is not access. The OFR named the risks in March: liquidity mismatch, valuation opacity, covenant erosion.