FINRA Foundation Fellowship

The FINRA Foundation Fellowship is a unique opportunity for qualifying military spouses to earn the AFC® at no cost to them, thanks to the generous funding provided by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

Applications Open: March 1st, 2025

Eligibility

To be eligible for the FINRA Foundation Fellowship, applicants must be:

  • Current, surviving spouses and spouses of retirees of a Uniformed Service member; Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Space Force, National Guard, Reserves, Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
  • Spouses must be enrolled in DEERS.

Applicant must not be:

  • Current Federal Employees including Active-Duty personnel
  • Current employees of contractors serving the United States government
  • Current employees of companies that provide investment advice or investment trading services, including registered investment advisers and broker-dealer firms
  • Active Duty or Reserve Component members of the Armed Forces
  • Holders of active securities licenses
  • Those already enrolled in the AFCPE® Certification program
  • Those who previously accepted the Fellowship but did not complete the program

Requirements

The fellowship is available only through an annual application process. The application period opens in March of every year, lasting approximately six weeks, then our team of reviewers select the fellows. The fellowship allows up to three years to complete the requirements for certification:

  • Educational component – 8 live webinars
  • Exam- passing a proctored certification exam
  • Experience- completing 1000 hours of experience with a look-back period
  • Ethics- signing and adhering to AFCPE’s Code of Ethics

The FINRA Foundation Fellowship was created in 2006 to address several identified needs:

  • To provide a portable certification allowing spouses to PCS and still acquire meaningful employment
  • To provide personal financial education and counseling support to their peers, already possessing the knowledge of the military lifestyle

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