The Trials and Tribulations of the not-so-New Bear Icon

I'm standing on the 11 books and various notes I've used to pass the various licensing exams I've taken over the past year. I finally passed the last one, the Series 63, earlier this week finally ending all this crap. All of these books will now collect dust somewhere.

Over the last ten years I've sat for five different exams. My first two licenses have lapsed, one being supplanted by the Series 7 last year (the test with six separate books), and the management license wasn't carried over by my last employer. I currently hold the 7, the 63 and a Texas Insurance License. Over the next few months I have to get an Insurance license for the other 50 states (49 + DC). Luckily I don't have to take another test for those.

Otherwise, the job is going well. It's super busy with tax season in full swing, and people's statements just going out. I love the calls where people wonder why they've lost money in stock based investments this year. Still, even better are the calls from people who didn't know that they even had a retirement account. The moment they hear there's more money out there, they want to know if they can cash out, not thinking about the future. Ahh, the final triumph of a consumer-based economy.

Despite weeks of training, there are many ways that customers can throw you. there have been questions here that I've never had at previous jobs., partially because there's many more types of investments here than I've worked with before. Still, someone can come along trying to log on our company website and get an error that no one in the office has ever seen before.


Now that all of the tests are done (for now) I need to get to some home based projects and cleaning. Believe me, Chris would really like me to do more of the cleaning.


In other news, our little neighborhood suffered some damage, torn up garage doors and fallen trees, but other areas of town suffered much more in the storm. I had to go through a detour yesterday coming home where a huge metal power line tower had been blown over and many newly built homes had been stripped of their rooves. The small neighborhood next to us, the one I call tiny town, had their entire fence blow over. Still, the city of Dallas has already replaced the traffic light poles at the nearby intersection.

Hello LJ Land! Long time no see.

I guess I should just get this off of my chest first, since it seems to be the most important thing that's happened lately. Today, somewhere around 5:30 pm, I became a licensed general securities representative. I still can't sell you anything, because there's a state sales license that I would need, but hey, I'm one step closer.

I'm just going to re-phrase it all and put it into bigger letters: I Passed the NASD Series 7 Exam!

It's a really big relief. Although my current job wouldn't have changed had I failed, many more jobs open up to me now, and that's a good thing...the other good thing is that I shouldn't ever have to take this whole damned thing again. No, it won't be the last license exam I'll ever have to take if I keep going forward, but it is one of the biggest hurdles.

Now I know someone who remembers back to my last post might be saying, "Weren't you supposed to take this test two weeks ago?" The answer is yes, but when I actually got a mentor to teach me most of what I didn't know/understand about options, she looked at me and asked me if I was really ready for this test. I honestly said that i wasn't, and she asked if I still had time in the testing window. The test is scheduled, you have to take it in a certain period of time, or you have to pay to set up another time window. I said I'll look to see if I could postpone. Luckily there was one date left at not the original testing site, but the one off in Ft. Worth. So that's when I moved it.

Since rescheduling, I really finally learned what I was supposed to know. Seriously, two weeks ago I had some knowledge, but I really would have bombed the test. No, I didn't get more mentorship, or help from the company, but I did get to borrow a book that made sense (not the one the company provides) and I got busy with the online trial tests that really did give me the information I needed. Apparently much of the reading I did in the other books was a waste of time, and I plan to tell our training department that.

I feel really good about this, because I did it mostly by myself. I could have done more to look for help, and probably should have, but in the end, I scored a 75, which is two points higher than the national average. You need a 70 or higher to pass. Think about that folks, most of the financial advisors of the world passed with a C- average. Makes you think about your money.

The whole thing is something I've done before when I took the Series 6 eight years ago, you sit in a little cubicle with a monitor and a mouse, and choose the best answer of the four choices given. The difference is that you get a lunch break because the test is just that long. The testing center was next to a Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3) and normally i'd get a trivia box and play, but after punching answers 1-4 for a few hours, I wanted to get away from answering more questions.

The waitress at BW3 asked me if I was taking the Series 7. I said yes, and she said that they get several people for lunch who are taking it. Apparently it's the most common test with a lunch break. She asked why I wasn't huddled over books and papers, trying to cram for the second half. Apparently many of the afternoon patrons are looking for the littlest edge, but I said to her, "I either know it or I don't. A few more minutes of trying to dredge up trivia isn't going to help me much."

I'll admit that the last month or so has really gotten me off my stride as I retreated from the online world a bit, trying to use that time for a better cause, but I didn't stay a total hermit. I have watched the bigger season finale episodes of shows and Chris and I have been out to see Spiderman 3 and Shrek the Third (I could have waited for both - doesn't bode well for Pirates 3), and we saw Better than Ezra at the Wildflower! Festival (click for a blurry photo).

Still, my workout schedule is all screwed up, and my work ours have gotten jostled as I tried to pick up overtime hours and still study, and sleep. I look forward to getting back to normal, and perhaps cooking a little more because our eating out budget has gotten out of hand, and dang it if gas didn't finally hit $3.00 a gallon this past week.

Chris took me out to Texas Land and Cattle tonight to celebrate. I was quite happy to be celebrating, and quite happy to see what comes next. Right now I'm more excited to be able to read a normal book, one that's fiction, and has nothing to do with my job, investments, or anything dealing with the number 7.