STUDY FOR THE SECURITIES INDUSTRY ESSENTIALS EXAM (SIE) EXAM

FINRA's Content Outline for the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam lists Annuities under Section 2.1.4, meaning that the SIE Exam covers these packaged product investments and asks questions about them. A few days ago, on the SEC website, I saw that the SEC is paying close attention to the complex structure and details of a particular type of annuity, named Registered Index-Linked Annuity (RILA), in its   SEC OIAD Report on Activities—Fiscal Year 2023 . Here is just one paragraph from this SEC publication in regard to RILA's. I intend to present more segments in future blogs from this SEC Report on RILA's. " REGISTERED INDEX-LINKED ANNUITIES (RILAs)  "What Are RILA's and How Do They Work?  "RILA's are tax-deferred retirement savings vehicles that advertise potentially reduced market risk relative to investing directly in financial markets. Like many other retirement savings vehicles, money is first added to the overall vehicle and then the inve

One thing about the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam, it asks questions about debt securities, specifically about Treasury bills, notes and bonds. Some SIE candidates study only stocks, but that overlooks the importance of becoming familiar with bonds on the SIE exam. How do I know this about the SIE Exam? I know this from FINRA's Content Outline for the SIE Exam. Section 2.1.2 indicates that test candidates should know how debt securities operate, and in particular, a candidate must be able to explain credit spreads and compare characteristics of short-term bonds and long-term bonds. Bob Eder in his Study for the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam presents a full treatment of Treasury securities including coverage of credit spreads. Here is a sample of Bob Eder's treatment: Bond Credit Spreads                                                                             (2.1.2) Bond traders and market analysts consider various bond credit spreads to be indicat