One Monday morning at our weekly sales meeting, our sales manager told us we were all going to become security licensed to sell variable products. So, I enrolled in the Series 6 license class so I could sell variable products, including (but not really interested in) mutual funds. The series 6 preparation class was a boot camp gauntlet of regulations that made my life insurance training look like my Catholic kindergarten classes, which was no small feat.
I started questioning my resolve to become security licensed. Nevertheless, I mottled through the course and passed the Series 6 exam. I never liked all the life insurance paperwork I had to fill out, but the compensation was so good that I learned to live with it. But security paperwork was filled with so much legalese it was much more mind numbing. Ah, but that was just the beginning of the woes to come. Then I went to my first mandatory compliance meeting. It was like being dressed down by Sister Lucette on the wages of committing a cardinal sin. I sat their speechless, unable to move as our compliance officer instilled the fear of God on a level that challenged any fire and brimstone sermon I’d ever heard.
Interestingly enough, his title compliance officer took on a military motif for me. He was like a Marine Corp drill instructor. He was dotting every “i,” crossing every “t” and punctuating every phrase with a pontificating judgment that gave a phobia for the SEC. It shook me to the core. I was convinced that securities were not worth the hassle. But I learned that being security licensed was a marketing strategy in and of itself. I was holistic adviser that could, if the situation called for it, sell any product to suit the prospect. Today, many insurance professionals are moving towards the Investment Advisor Representative platform to do just the same.
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