(with apologies to Tennessee Ernie Ford on the title… my Grandpa met him when “Eighteen Wheels” was hot.)
One thing I never thought I’d have to do in life is become a broker. (My mom, my first teacher in investments, always gave me negative impressions of brokers, calling them “order-takers.”) Yes, I am studying for the Series 7 exam. Today a 14-pound box showed up at my door, with six books inside it — study materials for the series 7 exam. Four inches thick in all. Ouch.
Then again, I have passed the actuarial (in 5 years) and CFA exams (in 3 years). Funny story: when I was taking the first CFA exam, for some reason, I was 10 years older than everyone else in the room. During a break, one of the young guys with an attitude said to me, “Hey old-timer, what are you doing here?”
I blinked and said that as an actuary, I was trying to round out my skills. He said, “But what advantage does that give you in taking these exams; you’re out of your field.”
I was a little annoyed, so I said, “I guess you’re right. I am relatively old here. But I have passed a battery of exams far tougher than these, and have expertise in test-taking, compound interest math, statistics, economics, investments, accounting, and we have our own ethics code. If you think you can run rings around me because of your youth, go ahead and try.” Now he blinked, and turned away.
As I look at the pile of books, there is a summary book and a book of practice tests, in addition to more comprehensive volumes. I’m 10% through the summary book, and once I am done there, I will take a practice test. If I score better than 85% (pass rate is 70%), I will just go and take the exam. On practice tests on the web, without study, I am at the 70% level now. But if I can’t do the 85%, I will sit down and study, learning obscure bits of the securities markets. Being the nerd that I am, that could be fun, but it wouldn’t be the best use of my time if I can avoid it.
I’ll keep you posted on how I do. 
David,
Kudos to you, great answer! I always found the CFA exams were more nervewracking than difficult, and I passed them in 3 tries also. I would have thought that the Actuarial test was much tougher, and anyone who could handle that, could handle the CFA test, no trouble.
The problem with the securities exams is that it’s always that trivial rule that you don’t study that some client ends up personifying LOL.
Good luck with your studying, and the exam!
Steve
I also took the CFA years before the 7. Do yourself a favor, study the margin rules and take the practice tests, and toss the books. I got in the low-mid 70′s on all the practice tests, but was told to add about 10 points to come to what your actual score will be, which turned out to be accurate.
David — You have a good plan. I studied too long and therefore scored “too high.” There was a question in the options section where there was no correct answer. I had to guess what mistake the question developer had made, and apparently guessed wrong.
Good luck
Ahhh, the good ol’ “grade-to-study ratio.”
My old boss at PJC told me “If you get a 71 then you studied too hard”.
Fun. Good luck David!
The farthest I have gotten in my formal studies is about 3 years of college. The 7 should be pretty easy for you. All I did was get a book at Borders by Arco that came with a practice CD. I did practice tests on the CD a gazillion times for the week leading up to my test and passed it fine.