I'm an accredited investor by the old metric but I really can't stand handing over personal financial info every time I consider doing a crowdfunded deal. I've taken and passed the series 65 exam so I can provide proof of accreditation easily.
Problem is - now I need to firm where I can hang my license. Anyone have any ideas on what kind of firm would want a financial advisor that doesn't actually need a job? I'm in Arizona.
Financial Advisor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2018 · 294 posts · 165 votes
5y
@Dan Blaylock
There’s no such firm. It’s rather expensive to be registered. More importantly that firm would be obligated to monitor your outside business activities. In this case that would be a large undertaking it seems.
Also most RIAs have investment monitoring policies that would prevent you from investing on your own and potentially from even doing crowdfunding.
Let us know if you find some firm though. You are not the only one I know of going down that rabbit hole.
Rental Property Investor · RVA · Member since 2016 · 5k+ posts · 4k+ votes
5y
Could you not have your CPA provide a letter stating that you are accredited in order to satisfy the requirement? That would be a lot less costly than joining up with a firm.
Yeah, I could do that and from the looks of it, that's probably what I'll have to do (though I'd probably have my attorney do it, because I handle my own taxes).
But it just seems cleaner and easier to have a license, plus I just think it's silly to have to run to my attorney and pay him every time I enter into a deal... but it looks like I've underestimated the trouble in finding an IA firm to hang my license. Oh well - live and learn.
I was hoping maybe there was a firm that existed specifically to deal with cases like mine but if there is, I haven't found it.
Financial Advisor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2018 · 294 posts · 165 votes
5y
@Dan Blaylock
There’s no such firm. It’s rather expensive to be registered. More importantly that firm would be obligated to monitor your outside business activities. In this case that would be a large undertaking it seems.
Also most RIAs have investment monitoring policies that would prevent you from investing on your own and potentially from even doing crowdfunding.
Let us know if you find some firm though. You are not the only one I know of going down that rabbit hole.
Well, that's not the answer I was hoping for but it is an answer. Thank you. It's the impression I've come away with after a good deal of research.
I could create my own IA firm, I believe, but it's not worth the attorney's fees and headaches associated with starting a firm that'll do no business. I also don't have enough familiarity with the exact compliance issues to ensure I stay in the good graces of the state administrator. I'd need to retain an attorney on an ongoing basis, I suspect. Way more hassle than it's worth.
I've got a couple emails out to a few firms just to give it a shot but if, as you say, the costs of retaining a licensed IAR are anything but very low, my odds are low.
For the benefit of those reading in the future, I'll give a bit of background: I confused not needing a sponsor to take the test with not needing an RIA to hang my license under to be officially licensed. You can't be independent just because you passed the test.
So it looks like I wasted time and a few hundred bucks with the series 65 exam. Oh well.
Military overseas · Member since 2017 · 8 posts · 5 votes
4y
Hi Dan,
I'm currently researching the Series 65 license process, and want to have a plan for either starting my own firm or having one lined up that I can hang my license under before I register for the test. I can definitely see that finding/starting a firm will be way harder than passing a test. Thanks for contributing to my research :)