How do you get a series 7 license?
Series 7 – General Securities Representative Exam
- Content Outline. The Series 7 Content Outline provides a comprehensive guide to the range of topics covered on the exam, as well as the depth of knowledge required.
- Eligibility. ...
- Permitted Activities. ...
- Key Questions. ...
Can anyone take the series 7 exam?
The Series 7 has been traditionally thought of by finance newbies as a stockbroker exam. In practice, the Series 7 is taken by a far broader group of finance professionals: Anyone tangentially involved in the buying, selling, recommending or dealing of securities may be required to take the Series 7.
Do I need to take the series 7 exam?
Yes. To become a registered representative, you must pass both the SIE and the Series 7 exam. The order in which you pass the exams does not matter as long as you pass both exams. This is the same for the SIE and all other representative-level exams.
When does series 7 expire?
When does series 7 expire? Your Series 7 license is valid for two years after termination. Within those two years, if you do not find employment with a financial company that is a member of FINRA or is a SRO, your Series 7 license expires.
Do you need continuing education for Series 7?
All Series 7 license holders must complete a computer-based continuing education, or CE, program called the Regulatory Element within 120 days from the two year anniversary date of receiving their licenses.
How long does it take for Series 7 to expire?
Your Series 7 license is valid for two years after termination. Within those two years, if you do not find employment with a financial company that is a member of FINRA or is a SRO, your Series 7 license expires. Should you find employment within the two-year period, the new firm notifies FINRA on your behalf.
How do I keep FINRA license active?
Keep your registered representative license by maintaining an affiliation with a broker dealer. The optimal way to do this is to affiliate with a firm that can hold both your investment advisory license and your broker dealer license.
What happens when an RR fails to complete the regulatory element of continuing education?
Unless otherwise determined by FINRA, any covered persons who have not completed the Regulatory Element within the prescribed time frames will have their registrations deemed inactive until such time as the requirements of the program have been satisfied.
How do I renew my Series 7?
To become a Series 7 representative again, you must take both the SIE (expired after four years) and the top-off exam (expired after two years). Assume you hold a Series 24 registration and leave the industry for three years.
Can I renew an expired Series 7 license?
The license must be renewed every two years or it expires. Navigate to the FINRA website found in the Resources section.
How long is FINRA continuing education?
As a registered representative you are required to complete the Regulatory Element CE Program two years from your base date and every three years thereafter for as long as you remain registered in the industry.
How long does FINRA registration last?
How long will my qualification exam(s) be valid after I end my affiliation with a FINRA-registered firm? Your SIE exam is valid up to four years. All other exams will be valid for two years after your registration has been terminated.
How do I check my FINRA CE status?
FINRA CE Online The platform is available by logging into the FinPro (Financial Professional Gateway). Support for FinPro and the CE platform is available during core business hours, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. Notice will be provided on FINRA's Systems Status page when the systems are unavailable.
Does Series 65 expire?
After 120 days from its opening, your Series 65 exam window will expire.
What happens if FINRA exam window expires?
If you miss your scheduled appointment, for any reason, the cost of the test will not be refunded or applied to another appointment. Additionally, if your enrollment expires, FINRA will require your firm to submit a new request, along with applicable fees.
How long is FINRA S101?
The S101 Program is designed to provide ample time to complete the required materials within the 3½ hour timeframe allotted. Failure to complete the Regulatory Element within 120 days of the prescribed anniversary date will result in a person's registration becoming inactive.
What can I do with a Series (#) license?
We provide a brief description of each exam on each series exam page on our website. You can find more information about each series exam by contac...
What does the Series (#) exam cover?
We provide a brief description of each exam on each series exam page on our website.You can find more information about each series exam by contact...
Which series exams do not require a broker/dealer to sponsor them?
Licenses that do not require a sponsor include the Series 3, 30, 31, 32, 34, 63, 65 & 66. The Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam can also be...
Which testing centers administer the securities licensing exams?
Prometric (www.prometric.com) and Pearson Vue (www.pearsonvue.com)
Who can sponsor me?
Sponsorship is usually done through a broker/dealer. Contact FINRA® at 800.289.9999 or visit their website at www.finra.org for further information...
How long do you have to be licensed to do Series 7?
3. Those who supervise securities licensees. All licensees have 120 days to complete this portion of their continuing education requirements after they have been licensed for two years. The requirements will then come due every three years for as long as the licensee maintains FINRA registration.
What is continuing education in insurance?
Continuing education is required of professionals in financial planning and insurance fields. Licensed and credentialed financial professionals are required to keep up to date on new regulations and other changes in the industry. Requirements for insurance professionals are different in each state. Below are the continuing education (CE) ...
What is CE in insurance?
Requirements for insurance professionals are different in each state. Below are the continuing education (CE) requirements for financial professionals. They include the regulatory element, the firm element, state-approved education for insurance professionals, and continuing education for professional designations.
Is it easier to complete a CE exam online?
These sites allow you to select and pay for a relevant course and complete the final exam online.
Do insurance agents need continuing education?
There are no uniform federal requirements for insurance continuing education. Each state has its own CE program that agents and brokers must satisfy to maintain licenses to practice in the state. Each state also sets the minimum number of required hours of CE that must be periodically met by licensees.
Can you credit more than one CFP license?
It is important to know that many hours of coursework can be credited toward more than one license or designation. For example, a great deal of the coursework approved by the CFP® Board of Standards for continuing education also counts toward fulfilling insurance or securities CE requirements.
How long do you have to work for a company to get a Series 7 license?
After you’ve worked for them for four months or more, they can file a Form U4 (Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration), which registers you for the exam. Fortunately, most firms that hire or train you will have a mandatory Series 7 licensing program included in their training package.
What is Series 7?
The Series 7 exam topics include Investment risk, taxation, equity and debt instruments, packaged securities, options, retirement plans, and interactions with clients. The focus of the exam is the nature of these securities and financial instruments, and it tests knowledge relevant to the day-to-day activities, responsibilities, ...
How long do you have to wait to take the top off exam?
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 180 days.
What is the pass rate for the series 7?
What are the pass rates and passing scores for the exam? The passing score for the exam is 72%. Because the Series 7 top-off exam just went live in October 2018, a pass rate has not been announced.
Do you have to take the series 7 exam first?
Yes, although the more natural progression is to take the SIE exam first, mainly because you don’t have to be sponsored to take it. The SIE and Series 7 top-off exams are “co-requisites,” which means you can take and pass them in any order. Of course, you have to pass both to earn your Series 7 license.
Why is FINRA required to maintain Series 7?
Because the securities industry is constantly changing, FINRA requires periodic continuing education. There are two mandatory education requirements: the regulatory element and the firm element, both of which must be fulfilled in order to maintain the Series 7 license.
How many questions are asked in the FINRA exam?
In order to sit for the exam, you must be sponsored by a FINRA member firm. You must have been employed by that firm for a minimum of four months. The six-hour test consists of 250 multiple-choice questions covering topics such as municipal and corporate bonds, stocks, options, direct participation programs, investment company products and variable contracts. The test is divided into two three-hour segments of 125 questions each. A score of 72 percent is passing.
How long is the Series 7 exam?
Registration before October 1, 2018, the Series 7 was a beast of an exam: 6 hours long, with 250 multiple choice questions, covering general financial knowledge as well as product-specific knowledge. Registering on or after October 1, 2018, the exam will be significantly shorter: 3 hours and 45 minutes with 125 multiple choice questions.
What is the series 7 exam?
Ben Affleck wants to know if anyone here has passed the Series 7 exam? The Series 7 exam, also called the General Securities Representative Exam, is a regulatory licensing exam administered by FINRA to assess the competency of entry-level finance professionals involved in the selling, trading or dealing of securities.
What is the minimum pass rate for series 7?
The minimum passing score is 72% , and the pass rate is around 65%. Do yourself a favor: Pass the Series 7 on the first try. If you fail, your employer and colleagues will know you couldn’t hack it and while your fellow new hires begin their jobs in earnest, you’ll have to retake the exam alone. But hey, no pressure.
Do you have to be sponsored to take Series 7?
You do not, however, have to be sponsored to take FINRA’s new SIE exam.
Is Series 7 required by FINRA?
As a result, they mandate the Series 7 even to professionals not directly involved in the selling or trading of securities.
Who takes the Series 7?
In practice, the Series 7 is taken by a far broader group of finance professionals: Anyone tangentially involved in the buying, selling, recommending or dealing of securities may be required to take the Series 7. That’s because many financial institutions have a better-safe-than-sorry policy around regulatory exams.
Is the series 7 exam shorter?
Going forward (after October 1, 2018), the Series 7 will be shorter, but will need to be taken along with the SIE ( unless you take the SIE on your own before you’re hired). We expect that the combined study time required to pass both exams will be comparable to the current study regimen.
How long does it take to pass the Series 7 exam?
The exam consists of 125 multiple-choice questions, and you have 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete it.
What is a Series 7 broker?
The Series 7 is generally preferred by banks and broker dealers for new recruits coming directly into the financial services industry. Those who get this license are officially listed as registered representatives by FINRA, but are more commonly referred to as stockbrokers. Here are the steps to follow to earn your license.
What is the SIE exam?
The SIE exam tests common topics such as fundamentals, regulatory agencies and their functions, product knowledge, and acceptable and unacceptable practices. You can take the SIE exam before being sponsored by a firm and even while you are still in school. You have a four-year window in which to take and pass any of the representative level ...
Do you have to take the SIE and Series 7 exam at the same time?
Note that FINRA says that the SIE and Series 7 exams are "corequisites," which does not mean you have to take them at the same time. What FINRA means is that you have to pass both to get your license, but you can take them in any order.

CE Requirements
The Regulatory Element
- The FINRA-approved regulatory element is divided into subsections for three groups of professionals: 1. Series 6 licensees 2. Series 7 licensees 3. Those who supervise securities licensees. All licensees have 120 days to complete this portion of their continuing education requirements after they have been licensed for two years. The requirements wi...
The Firm Element
- Firm element CE applies to a financial professional considered by FINRA to be a covered person.2 That includes anyone involved in the sales or trading of securities in virtually any capacity. Firm element training is created either by the company or obtained from outside sources and is implemented at the broker-dealerlevel yearly. The course focuses on changes within the i…
State-Approved Education For Insurance Licensees
- There are no uniform federal requirements for insurance continuing education. Each state has its own CE program that agents and brokers must satisfy to maintain licenses to practice in the state. Each state also sets the minimum number of required hours of CE that must be periodically met by licensees. It is the responsibility of the licensee to know what the CE requirements are in …
Continuing Education For Professional Designations
- Financial planners who have earned professional credentials such as the CFP®, chartered life underwriter (CLU), or chartered financial consultant(ChFC) designations will have additional continuing education requirements that go beyond what is needed to maintain their licensure. For example, certified financial planner® practitioners must complete at least 30 hours of continuin…
Complete The Courses Online
- Continuing education requirements are much easier to complete than they were in the pre-internet days. There are a number of excellent providers of approved CE materials online, including WebCE.com and AI Insight. These sites allow you to select and pay for a relevant course and complete the final exam online. Some sites even report the results directly to the required state…
Getting Credits Across Multiple Designations
- It is important to know that many hours of coursework can be credited toward more than one license or designation. For example, a great deal of the coursework approved by the CFP® Board of Standards for continuing education also counts toward fulfilling insurance or securities CE requirements. These hours may also count for other designations, such as the CLU or ChFC. Th…