The Series 7 licenses a person to sell securities for a commission, while the Series 65 licenses a person to advise clients for a fee.
Take the Series 7 if you want to work at a broker-dealer and earn commissions on the stocks, bonds, options, and funds you place for clients. Take the Series 65 if you want to work at a registered investment adviser, charge fees for your advice, and owe a fiduciary duty to the people you serve.
The investment fraud lawyer team at the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. has spent 45 years representing investors in claims involving both, and we see how often the license behind a recommendation shapes the claim that follows it.
In this guide, we explain the key differences between the Series 65 and Series 7. We’ll cover what each exam authorizes, how hard each one is to pass, the other FINRA and NASAA exams you may see on a registration record, what happens when someone holds both, and how to check any of it yourself.
What Is the Difference Between the Series 65 and the Series 7?
The Series 65 and the Series 7 are securities licensing exams that authorize separate jobs. Your financial professional’s license affects the fees and the legal standard they follow when giving you advice.
The Series 65, known as the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam, qualifies a person to register as an investment adviser representative, or IAR, and charge clients a fee for ongoing advice.
The Series 7, or the General Securities Representative Qualification Examination, allows a person to work as a registered representative of a broker-dealer and earn commissions on the securities they sell. One person is paid for advice while the other is paid for transactions.
You may also see the Series 65 referred to as a FINRA exam, but that’s not technically correct. The Series 65 belongs to the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), and FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, only administers it on NASAA’s behalf, while the Series 7 is FINRA’s own exam.
What Can Each License Holder Do?
A Series 7 holder recommends and executes securities transactions for a commission, and a Series 65 holder gives continuing investment advice for a fee. Each license permits different activities.
With a Series 7, a registered representative can sell you stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other investment company products. The firm earns a commission each time you transact.
The recommendations provided are governed by Regulation Best Interest, the SEC rule requiring a broker to act in your best interest at the time a recommendation is made.
A Series 65 holder registers as an IAR of a registered investment adviser, or RIA, and is paid a flat fee, an hourly rate, or a percentage of the assets under management for portfolio management and ongoing investment advice. That person owes you a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which is an ongoing obligation.
Note on Investment Fraud: If something goes wrong, this distinction might affect your claim. A broker who put you into an unsuitable product is answering for a specific recommendation, while an adviser who let a portfolio drift against your stated goals is answering for an entire relationship.
How Hard is Each Exam?
Each exam focuses on different responsibilities, but both require serious preparation. The Series 7 runs 125 scored questions over 225 minutes, requires 90 correct answers to pass, and costs $395 as of 2026 after FINRA raised the fee from $300.
A candidate also needs the Securities Industry Essentials exam as a co-requisite and a FINRA member firm to file a Form U4 opening the testing window, which in practice means no job offer, no Series 7.
The Series 65 runs 130 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest items over 180 minutes, requires 92 correct answers, and costs $187. No sponsor is needed, so anyone can open an enrollment window through FINRA and sit for it, which is why career changers often take it first.
In some cases, someone holding an active CFP, CFA, ChFC, PFS, or CIC designation can request a waiver of the Series 65 in most states. So, your adviser may be registered as an IAR without ever having sat the exam at all.
Other FINRA or NASAA Exams
Two exam numbers rarely describe a securities professional’s full registration history. Most people who sell or advise on investments hold a stack of qualifications, and the other numbers on that stack tell you what else the person is permitted to do.
Each one covers a narrower slice of activity, and either FINRA or NASAA owns each. When you pull a registration record and see a column of exam codes, these are the four you are most likely to find sitting alongside the Series 65 and the Series 7.
SIE
The Securities Industry Essentials exam is the entry-level FINRA exam covering products, markets, regulators, and prohibited practices.
It carries 75 scored questions, costs $100, and requires 70 percent to pass. Anyone can take it without sponsorship, but on its own it authorizes nothing at all. It is a co-requisite for the Series 6 and the Series 7, and passing it does not permit anyone to sell you a security.
Series 6
The Series 6 is a limited FINRA representative license covering investment company and variable contract products. A holder can sell mutual funds, variable annuities, variable life insurance, and unit investment trusts, and nothing beyond them.
It’s common among bank and insurance channel representatives, and it pairs with the SIE the same way the Series 7 does. But a representative with only a Series 6 license is not authorized to sell individual stocks.
Series 63
The Series 63 is NASAA’s Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, and it registers a person as a securities agent within a state. It runs 60 scored questions, requires 43 correct answers, and costs $147.
The content is state law, prohibited practices, and the authority of state securities regulators rather than product mechanics. Most states require it alongside the Series 7 before a representative can transact with residents.
Series 66
The Series 66 combines Series 63 state law content with Series 65 advisory content into one exam. It includes 100 scored questions, with 73 correct answers needed to pass, and the exam fee is $177.
There is no prerequisite for the Series 66 exam, although the Series 7 is a co-requisite. Passing it grants separate Series 63 and Series 65 credits. Plus, a representative holding a Series 7 and a Series 66 is registered on both the brokerage and the advisory side.
Can Someone Hold Both Licenses?
Yes, and dual-registration is common enough that you should assume it until you confirm otherwise. A person holding a Series 7 alongside either a Series 65 or a Series 66 is registered as a broker on one side and an investment adviser representative on the other.
The complication is that the standard applying to any given recommendation follows the account, not the person. The same individual can be a fiduciary during a morning conversation about your advisory account and a broker under Regulation Best Interest during an afternoon conversation about a commission trade.
Firms must give you a Form CRS, a short relationship summary disclosing which capacity applies and what you are being charged. Very few investors read it closely, and dual-registered representatives are rarely asked to state on the record which hat they were wearing when a recommendation was made.
If your losses came out of one of those conversations, the capacity question is usually where a claim begins.
How Do You Check Which License an Adviser Holds?
You can verify any registration yourself in a few minutes using two free public databases. FINRA’s BrokerCheck shows brokerage registrations, and the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure system, known as IAPD, shows advisory registrations.
Search the person by name and open the registrations section of the report, which lists every exam passed and every firm affiliation, current and former.
The same report carries the disclosure history, including customer complaints, arbitration awards, regulatory actions, and terminations.
While BrokerCheck is helpful, checking the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) database is also a good idea. IAPD provides information about investment adviser registrations, and reviewing the firm’s Form ADV Part 2 can help you understand its fee structure and potential conflicts of interest.
Contact The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., For More Information on Investment Fraud
Here at the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A., we handle investment fraud and broker misconduct claims, and in 45 years of practice, we have recovered more than $185 million for investors.
If you are unsure what your adviser was licensed to do, or what they actually did, call us at (866) 860-7447, and we will look at it with you.
