You should consult with your firm before deciding whether you need a license or not. Like all other securities qualification exams, the Series 6 exam is administered by computer at a Prometric testing center. The Series 6 exam topics include mutual funds, variable annuities, securities and tax regulations, retirement plans, and insurance products.
The focus of the exam is the day-to-day activities, responsibilities, and job functions related to selling and purchasing these products.
The exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions, and each question has four answer choices. There are also five additional unidentified and unscored pretest questions that do not contribute to your score that are randomly distributed throughout the exam.
The Series 6 top-off exam expects candidates to be able to apply their knowledge to specific scenarios. The questions are detailed and related to the day-to-day activities, responsibilities, and job functions of limited representatives.
Therefore, candidates should expect it to be challenging but quite passable with dedicated and focused preparation. Because the Series 6 top-off exam just went live in October , a pass rate has not been announced. Candidates who do not pass the top-off exam must wait 30 days before taking it again. However, if you fail it three times in succession, you must wait days. Your firm will also have to sponsor you again for each retake, and you will also have to pay the full fee each time.
The exam lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes. The Series 6 exam only covers two types of securities: mutual funds and variable contract products. The Series 7 exam is a longer exam, covering all securities including stocks, bonds, mutual funds and private placements. It consists of two sections, each with multiple choice questions and each section lasts three hours.
Series 6 license is valid for the entire period you are employed in a firm membership with FINRA or another authorized self-regulatory organization SRO. This license lets you transact business in the state where you are licensed and sell certain securities listed below. Let us get into some interesting details about what is required to take the Series 6 exam and earn the Series 6 license.
Interestingly, the Series 6 exam does not require any educational qualification to be eligible to take the exam. Your sponsoring firm will file a Form U4 Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration on your behalf to be able to take the exam. Also, most firms have the Series 6 licensing incorporated into their training program for new hires. It is a plus if you have a degree in a finance-related field before taking the Series 6 exam; this will help you understand concepts easily.
In addition, this will help you both in short and long term as candidates with a finance-related degree find it easier to get sponsorship from firms. After taking all the necessary actions in becoming a licensed Series 6 holder, let us talk about what work you can do, where you can work, and what services you can render with this license.
There are a variety of jobs you can do as a licensed Series 6 holder. We have listed seven 7 below:. This exam is one of the exams conducted by FINRA for financial professionals in the securities industry. The FINRA Series 7 exam deals on several extensive and in-depth topics in securities products, securities regulations, emphasis on suitability, etc. The scope of the FINRA exam is intentionally designed to be broad so that licensed general securities representatives are equipped to perform crucial functions.
The Series 7 license is essential for most financial professionals as it cuts across many financial designations. Series 7 license is known officially as the general securities representative GS license.
Most financial institutions like banks and Broker-dealers readily recruit Series 7 license holders because they are confident that licensees will bring value to their firm. As a Series 7 licensee, you are a resource person for questions relating to investment company securities, sales of corporate securities, variable annuities, municipal securities, and more. You may wonder why many Financial Advisors take the Series 6 exam first before getting the Series 7 license.
The reason is not far-fetched; many financial advisors do so because they can sell securities with the Series 6 license, such as mutual funds, variable annuities, unit investment trusts UITs , variable life insurance, and municipal fund securities.
Note that they can also sell securities with the Series 7 license; the difference is more securities such as sales of individual stocks and bonds. Financial advisors FAs leverage the Series 6 license to get hands-on industry experience pending when they get the Series 7. These experiences also come in handy when they become licensed Series 7 holders and sell more securities. Another reason why FAs for getting the Series 6 license first is the low cost of the exam compared to Series 7.
That is a huge financial gap. Elementary topics are covered in the SIE exam, such as understanding the regulatory authorities, acceptable ethical practices, and knowledge of products. This elementary nature of the SIE exam makes it ideal for taking the exam before taking the Series 7 exam. In this article, we'll examine the different types of licensing and show you how to determine which license is right for you. This self-regulatory organization administers many of the exams that must be passed to become a licensed financial professional.
It also performs all relevant disciplinary and record-keeping functions. FINRA offers several different types of licenses needed by both representatives and supervisors. Each license corresponds to a specific type of business or investment. While there are several licenses geared toward specific types of securities, there are three general licenses that the majority of representatives and advisors usually obtain:.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority FINRA supervises all securities licensing procedures and requirements and also administers many of the exams necessary to obtain the licenses. The Series 6 license is known as the limited-investment securities license. It allows its holders to sell "packaged" investment products such as mutual funds, variable annuities , and unit investment trusts UITs.
The Series 6 exam is minutes long and covers basic information regarding packaged investments, securities regulations, and ethics.
This license is also required for insurance agents that sell variable products of any kind because securities constitute the underlying investments within those products. Principals who supervise representatives holding a Series 6 license must obtain the Series 26 license in addition to having already obtained the Series 6.
The Series 7 license is known as the general securities representative GS license. It authorizes licensees to sell virtually any type of individual security. This includes common and preferred stocks ; call and put options ; bonds and other individual fixed income investments ; as well as all forms of packaged products except for those that also require a life insurance license to sell.
The only major types of securities or investments that Series 7 licensees are not authorized to sell are commodities futures , real estate , and life insurance.
The Series 7 exam is by far the longest and most difficult of all the securities exams. It lasts for minutes and covers all aspects of stock and bond quotes and trading; put and call options ; spreads and straddles ; ethics; margin , and other account holder requirements; and other pertinent regulations. Those who carry this license are officially listed as "registered representatives" by FINRA, but they are generally referred to as stockbrokers.
Many insurance agents and other types of financial planners and advisors also carry the Series 7 license to facilitate certain types of transactions inherent in their businesses. Principals of general representatives must also obtain the Series 24 license. The Series 3 license authorizes representatives to sell commodity futures contracts , which are generally considered the riskiest publicly traded investments available.
Representatives that carry the Series 3 license tend to specialize in commodities and often do little or no other business of any type. The Series 3 exam is approximately minutes long and covers all forms of commodities transactions, options , hedging , margin requirements, and other regulations. An offshoot of this license is the Series 31 license, which allows representatives to sell managed futures pooled groups of commodities futures similar to mutual funds.
The Series 63 license, known as the Uniform Securities Agent license, is required by each state and authorizes licensees to transact business within the state. All Series 6 and Series 7 licensees must carry this license as well.
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