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Financial advisor · 15 min

Who lets you give advice?

Before your first client, someone has to say yes: your state or the SEC. You'll pass an exam, file a form anyone can read online, and promise to put clients first. Here's the paperwork, in order, and what it costs.

Ticket 01 · The guess

Your state, or the SEC?

Below how much of clients' money does a firm register with its state instead of the SEC? (The law spells it "adviser"; you'll see both spellings here: an investment adviser firm, and the advisors in it.)

$300M
$0$500M
Words to know

Spot something wrong?

Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

We'll also send this page, the lesson, ticket 1, so we can find it. Nothing else. Privacy

·
Sources and every number (4)

Sources

  • 17 CFR 275.203A-1: Eligibility for SEC registration; switching to or from SEC registration · Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (the Code of Federal Regulations as published), 2026
  • NASAA Releases Annual Report on State-Registered Investment Advisers (press release on the Investment Adviser Section's 2025 report, September 8, 2025) · North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), 2025
  • Investment Adviser Registration: Filing with the IARD · Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division, 2026
  • 17 CFR 275.203A-2: Exemptions from prohibition on SEC registration (the multi-state adviser exemption is paragraph (d)) · Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (the Code of Federal Regulations as published), 2026

Every number

  • $100Mcornell.edu ·2026 · The general line: an adviser managing at least this much of its clients' money may register with the SEC; below it, an adviser is generally registered with its state instead. There are exceptions.
  • $110Mcornell.edu ·2026 · From this much of clients' money managed, an adviser generally has to register with the SEC.
  • $90Mcornell.edu ·2026 · An adviser registered with the SEC need not leave it unless what it manages falls below this.
  • 16,575 advisersnasaa.org ·2025 · Investment advisers with assets under management of a hundred million dollars or less that state securities regulators oversee, in NASAA's 2025 report.
  • $160wa.gov ·2026 · Washington's state registration fee for an investment adviser firm registering only in Washington.
  • $50wa.gov ·2026 · Washington's state registration fee for each investment adviser representative registering only in Washington.
  • 15 statescornell.edu ·2026 · An adviser that would have to register in this many states or more may register with the SEC instead.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Industries›
  3. Financial advisor
  • ·Before this: How a financial advisor makes money
  • ·Next: Where do your first clients come from?
  • ·Free guide: How financial advisors make money
Skip to the lesson
Back to the home page and map, from TryOwning · Financial advisor · Lesson 2
Part 1 of 3Part 1 of 3, 0 done

Financial advisor · 15 min

Who lets you give advice?

Before your first client, someone has to say yes: your state or the SEC. You'll pass an exam, file a form anyone can read online, and promise to put clients first. Here's the paperwork, in order, and what it costs.

Ticket 01 · The guess

Your state, or the SEC?

Below how much of clients' money does a firm register with its state instead of the SEC? (The law spells it "adviser"; you'll see both spellings here: an investment adviser firm, and the advisors in it.)

$300M
$0$500M
Words to know

Spot something wrong?

Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

We'll also send this page, the lesson, ticket 1, so we can find it. Nothing else. Privacy

·
Sources and every number (4)

Sources

  • 17 CFR 275.203A-1: Eligibility for SEC registration; switching to or from SEC registration · Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (the Code of Federal Regulations as published), 2026
  • NASAA Releases Annual Report on State-Registered Investment Advisers (press release on the Investment Adviser Section's 2025 report, September 8, 2025) · North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), 2025
  • Investment Adviser Registration: Filing with the IARD · Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division, 2026
  • 17 CFR 275.203A-2: Exemptions from prohibition on SEC registration (the multi-state adviser exemption is paragraph (d)) · Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (the Code of Federal Regulations as published), 2026

Every number

  • $100Mcornell.edu ·2026 · The general line: an adviser managing at least this much of its clients' money may register with the SEC; below it, an adviser is generally registered with its state instead. There are exceptions.
  • $110Mcornell.edu ·2026 · From this much of clients' money managed, an adviser generally has to register with the SEC.
  • $90Mcornell.edu ·2026 · An adviser registered with the SEC need not leave it unless what it manages falls below this.
  • 16,575 advisersnasaa.org ·2025 · Investment advisers with assets under management of a hundred million dollars or less that state securities regulators oversee, in NASAA's 2025 report.
  • $160wa.gov ·2026 · Washington's state registration fee for an investment adviser firm registering only in Washington.
  • $50wa.gov ·2026 · Washington's state registration fee for each investment adviser representative registering only in Washington.
  • 15 statescornell.edu ·2026 · An adviser that would have to register in this many states or more may register with the SEC instead.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Industries›
  3. Financial advisor
  • ·Before this: How a financial advisor makes money
  • ·Next: Where do your first clients come from?
  • ·Free guide: How financial advisors make money