Content Standards
Chapters in this video
- 0:00 How content standards differ from classification rules
- 1:38 General standards and the audience-scaling trap
- 3:00 Omission violations: when true statements still break rules
- 4:46 Projections, forecasts, and the two safe harbors
- 6:15 Testimonial disclosures and the $100 compensation bright line
- 7:24 Adopted content: hyperlinks and third-party entanglement
- 8:35 Public appearances and conflict-of-interest verbal disclosure
- 9:30 Rapid-fire exam recap
What this video covers
- The four general content standards (fair dealing and good faith, fair and balanced, sound basis for evaluation, and nature of the audience) and how each scales to the reader
- Why a perfectly true statement can still violate content standards through omission of material facts, and how cherry-picked returns illustrate this trap
- The strict prohibition on performance projections and forecasts, plus the two narrow safe harbors: investment-analysis-tool outputs and target return ranges with stated criteria, assumptions, and prominent risk disclosures
- The three mandatory testimonial disclosures (typicality, past-performance disclaimer, and compensation over $100) and why the exam will bait you with only two of the three
- How comparisons to competitors become violations when material differences in services or fees are omitted
- The difference between a safe factual reference to third-party content and adopted content through endorsement, entanglement, or presentation as the firm's own views
- Why public-appearance recommendations trigger the same disclosure duties as written communications, including verbal disclosure of ownership or market-making interest
Read the full lesson, free
This video's complete written lesson is free to read in the CertFuel app, no signup wall. The complete Series 24 course also includes adaptive practice questions and spaced-repetition flashcards, free through the end of 2026.