1974 marked two systems. Only one got guardrails.

Last week, I mentioned that it wasn't until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 that women were legally protected from being denied credit simply because they were women. That's barely more than 50 years.

After I wrote that, I thought to myself, wait, the 1970s were also when venture capital began taking the institutional shape we recognize today. Looking at these events unfold side by side, they tell a story I hadn't appreciated before.

In the fall of 1974, two federal laws were signed eight weeks apart.

On September 2, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, became law. It sets the rules for how companies manage their workers' retirement money.

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