You are definitely right about the "License Parking." Thank you for that... I was headed for trouble. http://www.pepperlaw.com/publicatio...-comply-with-nasd-regulation-1031-2005-08-18/ My immediate goal is to get smarter; gain a better understanding of market basics, and what a Finance student would be taught in school There's so many sources of information whirling around; it's a bit overwhelming. YouTube vids, DVDs, College courses, Bloomberg TV, blogs, articles, charts, algorithms, news, theory, quant formulas, books, and (of course) forums--like EliteTrader--just to name a few. I'm soaking up information from all of these sources, but sometimes its hard to separate the good from the bad, the ads, and the lies. I'm still in my first year of trading, and I'm doing fairly well--up about 8% in 2 months of active trading--but I lack the fundamentals that I would (presumably) get from a 4-year degree in Finance. I thought that studying for the Series 7 would provide a good, structured way to approach and increase my understanding of the market(s).
Your intentions are good but Series 7 is not a trader license, it is a broker's license so has more to do with being a fiduciary over people's account. If you want sound fundamental knowledge, best place to start is the book store in the business/investment section (or library to not buy) and read up on fundamental analysis as well as some technical analysis (solely on chart reading, dont get bogged down in indicators). you may be be up 8% because you are long stocks in a market that is floating up the past 2 months non-stop so it might be simply that than actually picking winners. See what happens when market is choppy or market is falling fast. Right now the old dart thrown at the newspaper technique would work since everything keeps rising. With respect to Finance student that is a little broad. An undergraduate degree and MBA degree might touch very little on financial markets so you could actually do better with practical education from some of the books many people here could recommend. (I have a Master's in Finance and had the Series 7 for a brief time so just providing my experience). Good luck
I reccomend http://www.thegreatcourses.com/category/economics-finance.html?CFM=mega_menu Get them on audible.com for cheaper