To become a financial advisor in the United States, you need a bachelor’s degree, one or more securities licensing exams passed through FINRA and NASAA, a clean background disclosed on Form U4, and registration with either a broker-dealer, an investment adviser firm, or the SEC or your state as your own registered investment adviser. The specific exams depend on whether you plan to sell securities, give ongoing investment advice for a fee, or both.
Start With a Bachelor’s Degree
A bachelor’s degree is the baseline expectation. Most people entering the field study finance, economics, business administration, or accounting, though no specific major is required to sit for the licensing exams. What matters more than the diploma is comfort with quantitative analysis, tax concepts, and portfolio theory, because those subjects carry heavy weight on the exams that follow.
The degree alone won’t get you licensed, and it won’t get you hired at most firms without a plan for the next steps below.
Decide Which Type of Advisor You Want to Be
Before you register for a single exam, understand that “financial advisor” covers two legally distinct roles, and your licensing path flows from the choice.
Investment advisers registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 owe clients a fiduciary duty. You must act in the client’s best interest, manage conflicts of interest, and provide full disclosure, and that obligation runs continuously through the advisory relationship.
Broker-dealer representatives operate under Regulation Best Interest, which the SEC adopted in 2019. Reg BI requires you to act in the retail customer’s best interest at the point of a recommendation, without placing your own financial interests ahead of the customer’s. It breaks into four obligations: disclosure, care, conflict of interest, and compliance.1U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Regulation Best Interest: The Broker-Dealer Standard of Conduct
If you want to build a practice around long-term relationships and comprehensive planning, the investment adviser path fits. If you’re drawn to transactional securities sales, the broker-dealer route fits. Many advisors end up dual-registered and hold licenses for both.
Pass the Securities Industry Essentials Exam
The Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam is the entry point for anyone in the securities industry. It’s open to anyone 18 or older, needs no firm sponsorship, and tests foundational concepts including investment products, market structure, regulatory agencies, and prohibited practices.2FINRA.org. Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam The sitting fee is $100.3FINRA.org. FINRA Fee Adjustment Schedule
Passing the SIE alone doesn’t let you sell anything or advise anyone. It’s a prerequisite for the “top-off” exams that come next, and a useful signal to employers that you’re serious about the field.
Take the Top-Off Exams for Your Path
Every exam after the SIE requires a FINRA member firm to sponsor you. That means you need a job offer or a firm relationship in place before you register.
If You Want to Sell Securities Products
The Series 7 is the standard license for a general securities representative. Passing it qualifies you to sell stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, and most other securities products.4FINRA.org. Series 7 – General Securities Representative Exam
The Series 6 is a narrower alternative that limits you to mutual funds, variable annuities, variable life insurance, unit investment trusts, and municipal fund securities like 529 plans.5FINRA. Series 6 – Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative Exam If you think you might want to recommend individual stocks or bonds later, skip the Series 6 and go straight for the Series 7.
If You Want to Give Investment Advice for a Fee
To act as an investment adviser representative, you generally take the Series 65. It covers economic factors, investment vehicles, and ethics, and the sitting fee is $187.6NORTH AMERICAN SECURITIES ADMINISTRATORS ASSOCIATION. Exam FAQs
If You Want to Do Both
The Series 66 combines the Series 63 and Series 65 into a single exam, qualifying you as both a securities agent and an investment adviser representative. It requires the Series 7 as a corequisite, meaning you must pass both, though you can take them in either order. The sitting fee is $177.7NORTH AMERICAN SECURITIES ADMINISTRATORS ASSOCIATION. Series 66 Exam Content Outline
If your role at a broker-dealer doesn’t involve advisory work, most states require only the Series 63, which covers state securities law under the Uniform Securities Act. Its sitting fee is $147.8FINRA.org. Series 63 – Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam
The most common package for a full-service advisor is the SIE, Series 7, and Series 66, which together run $672 in sitting fees before study materials or state registration costs.
Consider the CFP or CFA Designations
Neither the CFP nor the CFA is legally required to work as a financial advisor, but both expand what you can do and who will hire you.
The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) credential covers the full scope of personal financial planning, including insurance, tax planning, retirement income, estate planning, and the psychology of financial planning.9CFP Board. Education Requirement Earning it requires completing an approved coursework program, passing the CFP exam, and logging 6,000 hours of professional experience through the standard pathway or 4,000 hours through a supervised apprenticeship pathway.10CFP Board. The Paths to Experience It’s the standard credential for advisors doing comprehensive planning with individual clients.
The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) credential focuses on investment analysis and portfolio management. It has three levels of exams, and successful candidates report spending over 300 hours preparing for each level.11CFA Institute. CFA Program Level I Exam It’s more common among advisors in institutional asset management or equity research.
Clear the Background Check
Before your registration is approved, you’ll disclose your history in detail on Form U4, the industry’s standard application. You must provide your complete employment history for the past ten years, including gaps and reasons for leaving, and your residential addresses for the past five years.12FINRA.org. Form U4 The form asks whether you’ve ever been convicted of or charged with any felony, or any misdemeanor involving investments, fraud, false statements, forgery, bribery, or extortion.13FINRA. Form U4
Financial disclosures are equally detailed. You must report personal bankruptcies, unpaid judgments, outstanding liens, civil litigation involving investment-related claims or fraud allegations, and any regulatory sanction or investigation. Fingerprinting runs your identity through federal criminal databases.
Some events trigger automatic disqualification. FINRA treats all felony convictions and certain investment-related misdemeanor convictions as disqualifying for ten years from the date of conviction. Permanent injunctions involving unlawful securities activity, bars or expulsions from any self-regulatory organization, and SEC or CFTC bars are disqualifying regardless of how long ago they occurred.14FINRA.org. General Information on Statutory Disqualification and FINRA Eligibility Proceedings FINRA runs an eligibility proceeding that allows disqualified individuals to apply for re-entry, but approval is not guaranteed. If anything in your history might disqualify you, talk to a compliance attorney before investing time and money in exam prep.
File Your Registration
The final step depends on whether you’re joining an existing firm or launching your own practice.
Joining a Broker-Dealer or Advisory Firm
Your sponsoring firm files Form U4 on your behalf through FINRA’s Central Registration Depository (CRD). The CRD tracks your exam results, employment history, and any disciplinary actions throughout your career.12FINRA.org. Form U4 FINRA charges a $125 initial registration fee per Form U4 filing.15FINRA.org. Schedule of Registration and Exam Fees Each state where you register charges its own licensing fee on top.
Starting Your Own Registered Investment Adviser Firm
To operate your own registered investment advisory (RIA) firm, you file Form ADV through the Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD). Form ADV collects information about your firm’s business practices, fee structures, types of clients, and disciplinary history.16eCFR. 17 CFR Part 275 – Rules and Regulations, Investment Advisers Act of 1940
Where you file depends on how much money you manage. Advisers with $100 million or more in assets under management generally must register with the SEC. Below that threshold, you register with your state securities regulator. A middle band applies to advisers with between $25 million and $100 million, who may register with the SEC if their home state doesn’t require registration or wouldn’t examine them.16eCFR. 17 CFR Part 275 – Rules and Regulations, Investment Advisers Act of 1940 Annual IARD filing fees scale with your assets under management.
Keep Your License Active
Passing exams is the beginning, not the end. FINRA’s continuing education program has two parts. The Regulatory Element requires every registered person to complete an annual online training module by December 31 for each registration they hold. The Firm Element requires your broker-dealer to maintain a formal internal training program based on an annual needs analysis, covering topics relevant to your role.17FINRA.org. Continuing Education (CE)
If you hold the CFP designation, you must complete 30 hours of continuing education each reporting period, including 2 hours of CFP Board-approved ethics education. The remaining 28 hours must cover one or more of the board’s principal financial planning topics, and hours don’t carry over between reporting periods.18CFP Board. Continuing Education Requirements
You also carry ongoing reporting duties. Any material change in your personal or professional status, including new criminal charges, bankruptcies, unsatisfied judgments, customer complaints, or a change of employer, must be reported by amending your Form U4 through CRD. Late or missing amendments can bring fines or suspension.19FINRA.org. FINRA Rule 1010 – Electronic Filing Requirements for Uniform Forms RIA firms must file an annual updating amendment to Form ADV within 90 days after the close of the fiscal year.20U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Electronic Filing for Investment Advisers on IARD
How long the whole path takes varies. With a degree and a sponsoring firm already lined up, you can be licensed in a few months. Adding the CFP or CFA on top pushes the timeline into several years, because both require substantial study and, in the CFP’s case, thousands of hours of qualifying work experience.