How to Become a Stock Broker in Canada
Stock brokers provide basically the same services for their clients throughout the world, advise clients and buy and sell stock on their clients' behalf but each country has different rules regarding the operation of it's stock markets and the licensing requirements for stock brokers. To work as a stock broker in Canada, you need to pass a licensing exam that is administered by the province in which you will be doing business.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Take high school and college classes in areas such as business, accounting, finance, and economics. Classes like this will help provide you with a background in skills that you'll need in the business world, like understanding financial paperwork, such as cash flow statements, how the laws of economics can affect how a business operates and general business management. Join clubs that your school offers that are focused in business, such as investment clubs or Students in Free Enterprise. Consider visiting the Learning Academy on the website of TMX, the company that owns the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), for background information on the TSX, workshops that you can attend and other information regarding the Canadian stock markets. Also, practice your skills in stock market trading by playing free online games at a site like How the Market Works.
-
2
Do an internship. Internships can give you valuable insight in to how brokerage firms operate, as well as help pad your resume. An internship can also lead to a job offer, because many companies who run internship programs will hire their interns. Check to see if your school has any internship programs with brokerage houses, or contact individual companies on your own. Many companies require student interns to be in their junior or senior year of college.
-
-
3
Educate yourself by reading business publications and watching business channels such as the Business News Network. Media organizations that focus on business can provide you with information about the business world that the mainstream outlets might not cover, like a company's earnings reports, mergers and buyouts, and other factors that can affect the value of stocks that your clients own. Also keep aware of current events, as they can effect the performance of your clients' investments. For example, if the government was to raise taxes on dividends or capital gains, that would have a negative impact on the value of your clients' portfolios.
-
4
Take the Canadian Securities Course from the Canadian Securities Institute. This online course covers topics like the Canadian securities industry, market and economic events that affect investment performance, how to understand and analyze corporate financial statements, how to set and follow financial goals, taxation and industry standards of conduct and the code of ethics. CSI requires that you take continuing education classes in order to maintain your certification status from them.
-
5
Take your licensing exam from a testing company like Kaplan Financial Education or the province in which you plan to work. If you want to trade options as well as stocks, take the Series 37 exam; if you don't want to trade options, take the Series 38 exam. The Series 37 exam is a 90-question multiple-choice test lasting two and a half hours which covers options, taxation, industry regulations, retirement plans, variable annuities and margins. The Series 38 exam is a 45-question testing lasting an hour and fifteen minutes, and covers federal and state laws, industry regulations, taxation, margins, retirement plans and variable annuities.
-
1
References
Resources
- Photo Credit toronto harbour ferry image by Thilo Kierdorf from Fotolia.com
