The Canadian Securities Course (CSC®) at Ashton College is the perfect preparation for writing the CSC® examinations and attaining your CSC® designation. The Canadian Securities Course is the industry standard for those entering the financial services and is used by serious investors across Canada. Canadian securities laws require anyone trading securities, or in the business of advising clients on securities, as well as the company they work for to be registered with their provincial or territorial securities commission, unless a registration exemption applies. Back to School. I was talking to Dan Bortolotti of Canadian Couch Potato and Moneysense fame a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned that as part of the new fee-only service he’s a part of, he was taking the CSC course. From what he was saying, and from what I’ve ready online, it sounds like that course is the main obstacle to being able to recommend specific securities to specific people.

Pass an exam. Each licensing board will require you to pass an exam to become registered. For instance, the MFDA requires that you pass the Canadian Investment Funds Course Exam, the Canadian Securities Course Exam, or the Investment Funds in Canada Course Exam. These exams are set by the CSI, with the exception of the first one, which is set by the IFSE Institute.^[24]

Canadian Securities Exam Fee

• You can be exempted from the exams if you have have enough experience. You only need a year of investment management experience if you've earned a CFA charter or 2 years if you haven't.^[25]
• The Canadian Securities Course Exam is preceded by a course. You take it online at your own pace, and then take the exam at the end. The course provides study materials, quizzes, and podcasts to help you learn. The exam is actually broken down into two exams. The first covers the Canadian marketplace and economy, types, pricing and trades of fixed-income securities, equity transactions, reading a corporation's financial statement, and derivatives. The second covers how to analyze, portfolio management, mutual funds, taxation laws, different types of funds (such as mutual funds and hedge funds), and working with different types of clients. You have a year to finish the course and take the exams. You can take the exam on the computer or on paper.^[26]
• The Investment Funds in Canada is also an online course followed by an exam. This course only requires a single exam, which covers the basics of the mutual funds marketplace, communicating with clients, the basics of investment products and portfolios, and other basics of mutual funds, such as how to analyze and manage them.^[27]
• The Canadian Investment Funds Course is another course followed by an exam. You complete the course online, though you take the exam on paper. It has one exam that covers your responsibilities as a registered broker, different types of investments, retirement, the economy, taxation, and how to make recommendations.