What the work actually is

You build cases, not quiz questions. A typical task starts with a client fact pattern you invent — a 58-year-old with $1.4M split across a 401(k), a taxable brokerage account with large embedded gains, and an inherited IRA subject to the 10-year rule — and asks the model to produce a recommendation. You then write the reference answer and the grading rubric: what the model must catch (RMD timing, IRMAA cliffs, NUA eligibility, wash sale interactions), what is defensible either way, and what is outright wrong. The other half of the work is evaluation: reading model output and marking where it is confidently incorrect, where it gives a technically correct answer that no fiduciary would actually recommend, and where it skips the suitability or disclosure step entirely.

The hardest part is calibration. A case that any CFP candidate solves in thirty seconds teaches the model nothing; a case that hinges on an obscure state-specific rule teaches it noise. Reviewers look for problems with a single defensible answer reachable through several steps of reasoning, where a plausible shortcut produces the wrong result.

What the screen looks for

  • Verifiable licensure. Series 7 and 65/66 (or 66 alone with 7), active, with a CRD number that can be checked. This is the gate.
  • Depth under follow-up. Expect the screener to take a tax or retirement answer you give and push one or two levels deeper — thresholds, ordering rules, edge cases — rather than accept a summary.
  • Fiduciary reasoning made explicit. Can you articulate why a recommendation is suitable, not just what it is.
  • Written precision. Rubrics get read by non-advisors and by models. Ambiguity in your wording becomes noise in training data.

Logistics

Fully remote and asynchronous. Contributors typically commit 10–20 hours a week, chosen freely, with throughput expectations rather than fixed hours. Pay has been observed in the $75–120/hr range and generally tracks credentials and task complexity — it is not guaranteed and may be set per project. Work is contractor-based; if you are registered with a broker-dealer or RIA, confirm outside-business-activity approval before you start.