Is the Canadian Securities Course (CSC) enough to get started in the finance industry in Canada?
"Wikipedia says ""The Canadian Securities Course (CSC) offered by the Canadian Securities Institute (CSI) is the initial course required for becoming licensed to work within the Canadian securities industry (outside Quebec) as a securities dealer or securities agent."" Src: Candian Securities Course EfficientMarket Canada adds "" You require it and further courses for other jobs in the investment industry. Generally some work experience is also required. All of this is governed by various self-regulatory agencies. The material in the course is strong on money making products, and fairly weak on material that would actually protect a consumer from harm. Passing the course is very little indication that you understand what's important about investing, for example, you won't be taught much of anything about the theory of investment, or the markets, or things like the efficient market hypothesis."" Src: EfficientMarket.ca on the CSC So it appears that the CSC is necessary to work as certain types of financial agencies. That being said, I doubt it will be enough to get your foot in the door. This seems more like a prerequisite rather than a true qualification, so you'll be competing with MBAs/Finance students and other people who either have experience or training in the financial industry. I'd recommend you look into the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification as that will provide you with a rigorous knowledge of financial theory as well as asset management, which seems more appropriate for what you'd like to do. From there you'll have to network like crazy and leverage your experience to get in at a Canadian financial firm and eventually wealth management. So yes, I suppose a CSC is a good first step but more will certainly be required and I doubt it will be enough to land you a full time position.  Another important factor is age - nobody expects undergrads to have extensive certifications or experience, but it's harder for a 35 year old to enter a new industry, especially finance."
Actually it seems you are not quite correct about the number of different banks in Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_and_credit_unions_in_Canada According to this link there are 82-86 banks in Canada plus credit unions. This may still be lower than what would correspond to the number of banks in the US, scaled for canadian population. One further reason not mentioned before could be that the population density in Canada outside of the metropolitan areas could be lower than in the US, leaving to few small towns large enough (10,000+ (a guess corrected due to comment)) to support a bank. "Federal taxes are generally lower in Canada.  Canada's top federal income tax rate is 29%; the US rate is 35% and will go to 39.6% when Bush tax cuts expire.  The healthcare surcharge will kick in in a few years, pushing the top bracket by a few more points and over 40%. State/provincial taxes are lower in the US.  You may end up in the 12% bracket in New York City or around 10% in California or other ""bad"" income-tax states.  But Alberta is considered a tax haven in Canada and has a 10% flat tax.  Ontario's top rate is about 11%, but there are surtaxes that can push the effective rate to about 17%. Investment income taxes: Canada wins, narrowly.  Income from capital gains counts as half, so if you're very rich and live in Ontario, your rate is about 23% and less than that in Alberta.  The only way to match or beat this deal in the US in the long term is to live in a no-income-tax state.  Dividends are taxed at rates somewhere between capital gains and ordinary income - not as good a deal as Bush's 15% rate on preferred dividends, but that 15% rate will probably expire soon. Sales taxes: US wins, but the gap is closing.  Canada has a national VAT-like tax, called GST and its rate came down from 7% to 5% when Harper became the Prime Minister.  Provinces have sales taxes on top of that, in the range of 7-8% (but Alberta has no sales tax).  Some provinces ""harmonized"" their sales taxes with the GST and charge a single rate, e.g. Ontario has a harmonized sales tax (HST) of 13% (5+8).  13% is of course a worse rate than the 6-8% charged by most states, but then some states and counties already charge 10% and the rates have been going up in each recession. Payroll taxes: much lower in Canada.  Canadian employees' CPP and EI deductions have a low threshold and top out at about $3,000.  Americans' 7.65% FICA rate applies to even $100K, resulting in a tax of $7,650. Property taxes: too dependent on the location, hard to tell. Tax benefits for retirement savings: Canada.  If you work in the US and don't have a 401(k), you get a really bad deal: your retirement is underfunded and you're stuck with a higher tax bill, because you can't get the deduction.  In Canada, if you don't have an RRSP at work, you take the money to the financial company of your choice, invest it there, and take the deduction on your taxes.  If you don't like the investment options in your 401(k), you're stuck with them.  If you don't like them in your RRSP, contribute the minimum to get the match and put the rest of the money into your individual RRSP; you still get the same deduction.  Annual 401(k) contribution limits are use-it-or-lose-it, while unused RRSP limits and deductions can be carried forward and used when you need to jump tax brackets.  Canada used to lack an answer to Roth IRAs, but the introduction of TFSAs took care of that. Mortgage interest deduction: US wins here as mortgage interest is not deductible in Canada. Marriage penalty: US wins.  Canadian tax returns are of single or married-filing-separately type.  So if you have one working spouse in the family or a big disparity between spouses' incomes, you can save money by filing a joint return.  But such option is not available in Canada (there are ways to transfer some income between spouses and fund spousal retirement accounts, but if the income disparity is big, that won't be enough). Higher education: cheaper in Canada. This is not a tax item, but it's a big expense for many families and something the government can do about with your tax dollars. To sum it up, you may face higher or lower or about the same taxes after moving from US to Canada, depending on your circumstances.  Another message here is that the high-tax, socialist, investment-unfriendly Canada is mostly a convenient myth." TaxTips.ca's Federal Tax Rates page has basic information about income tax in Canada, and it states: Canadian federal income tax is   calculated based on taxable income,   then non-refundable tax credits are   deducted to determine the net amount   payable.  For 2009, every taxpayer can   earn taxable income of $10,320 ($9,600   in 2008) before paying any federal   tax. [...] (emphasis mine) Of course there are also provincial taxes to consider, but generally each province has a basic personal exemption amount.  TaxTips.ca's page for Ontario rates lists $8,881 as the basic personal exemption in Ontario, for 2009.  Find other provinces here. "Each company has X shares valued at $Y/share. When deals like ""Dragon's Den"" in Canada and Britain or ""Shark Tank"" in the US are done, this is where the company is issuing shares valued at $z total to the investor so that the company has the funds to do whatever it was that they came to the show to get funding to do, though some deals may be loans or royalties instead of equity in the company. The total value of the shares may include intangible assets of course but part of the point is that the company is doing an ""equity financing"" where the company continues to operate. The shareholders of the company have their stake which may be rewarded when the company is acquired or starts paying dividends but that is a call for the management of the company to make. While there is a cash infusion into the company, usually there is more being done as the Dragon or Shark can also bring contacts and expertise to the company to help it grow. If the investor provides the entrepreneur with introductions or offers suggestions on corporate strategy this is more than just buying shares in the company. If you look at the updates that exist on ""Dragon's Den"" or ""Shark Tank"" at least in North America I've seen, you will see how there are more than a few non-monetary contributions that the Dragon or Shark can provide." "Went to a top tier business school in Canada and applied to corporate finance positions in the oil and gas industry while everyone else sucked cock to get in capital markets. Not only did half of them drop out trying, but I'm getting paid one of the highest intern rates in the country while working 8 hour 4 day work weeks because I combine my vacation and ""flex"" days to take every Friday off while they work 12 to 14 hrs daily for 75% of my take home." Most programming for financial engineering will be in C++, Python, R, or MATLAB; some books written by Mark Joshi or Daniel Duffy may be a good place to look for how C++ is used in FE (Duffy also has an online C++ course that's quite good).   If you have a physics/math background then you likely have 90% of the required maths, such as calculus, linear algebra, probability and statistics. I would recommend taking a course/reading a book on advanced probability, real analysis, and stochastic calculus, but these are not trivial subjects. If you are more interested in learning specifically about how math is applied to FE you can take a look at a book such as [a primer for the mathematics of FE](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979757622/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_2KumzbMN6ZPE5).  Also, check out online forums that discuss this such as [quantent](quantnet.com). The question is not whether CFA charterholders are better investment managers but rather whether starting (or having completed) your CFA will land you a better job. It's been my experience that it does, which is why so many people pursue it wow thanks for the info. So if i wanted a masters in finance, should i take  math electives to get them out of the way earlier? I'm a senior in high school and I'm very interested in finance, but I'll admit not the best at math..