Career paths
What do you want to become?
Passing an exam is a step, not the goal. Pick a career and we'll lay out the whole path — what to learn, what to pass, and what to do between studying and a job offer.
Finance & Wealth Management
Financial Advisor
Help people plan, invest and reach financial goals — a licensed, relationship-driven career you can start without industry experience.
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Insurance
Life Insurance Agent
The fastest licensed start in financial services — no degree required, no sponsor needed, and you can be selling within weeks rather than months.
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Securities & Brokerage
Stockbroker (Registered Representative)
Trade and advise on securities for clients — the classic Series 7 career, and the one where your employer sponsors the exams that let you do the job.
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Finance & Wealth Management
Wealth Management Associate
The way into wealth management without building a book from scratch — you support advisors and their clients rather than prospecting for your own.
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Banking & Financial Services
Licensed Banker
Sell investments and insurance to a bank's existing customers — the securities career with the shortest licensing path and a book of clients already walking in the door.
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Finance & Wealth Management
Investment Adviser Representative
Give investment advice for a fee under a fiduciary duty — and it is the one securities license you can earn without a firm sponsoring you.
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Investment Banking & M&A
Investment Banking Analyst
Build the models behind mergers, acquisitions and capital raises — the most competitive entry door in finance, and the feeder for private equity.
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Investment Banking & M&A
Private Equity Associate
Evaluate, buy and improve whole companies. Almost nobody starts here — the standard route runs through two years of investment banking first.
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Corporate Finance
Financial Analyst (Corporate / FP&A)
The workhorse finance career: budgeting, forecasting and analysis inside a company — better hours than banking, hired at far more employers.
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How this works
Guidance you can check
Career advice is easy to write and hard to trust. Here is what we do about that.
Sourced, not asserted
Pay, growth and licensing facts come from BLS, FINRA and NASAA, quoted with the publisher's own framing and a link so you can check us.
It tracks itself
Steps tied to studying and exams tick off as you do the work, so the path never goes stale on you.
One next step
However much is left, your dashboard shows the single most useful thing to do today — not a list of everything.
Build your path
Free account. We track the steps, tell you what's next, and mark off the exam work as you do it.