Is it legal to use other people's money to invest in stock and keep some for yourself without a license?

Basically, I invest in the stock market with my own capital, but I was wondering what the legalities would be for me, if someone wanted me to invest their money for them. First of all, can I legally do it without a "brokers" license? If it is legal, can I keep a comission or a percentage of their profits?

plain and simple....it is perfectly legal. beyond that if you are doing it informally i.e. friend, family, etc. no paperwork need be file beyond ordinary tax docs. if setting up a limited partnership it must have less than 32 investors/limited partners. there are many small partnerships and hedge funds currently active that are privately held and unregistered. most all hedge funds are 'unlicensed' and they do not want to make public disclosures on their P&L, investments and investors on such docs as focus reports that are required by those trhat maintain broker/dealer licenses.

Yes it is illegal. You must be licensed.

Yes and No

You can do it for them, but if you are keeping commisions you need a business license and a brokers license.

yes its illegal

Brokers only sell stocks for a commission. They cant take a share of the profits, and for the most part neither can investment advisors. They charge a fee based on the balance of the account or an hourly rate usually. The only way you could share in the profits probably is to start an investment partnership. Then you could charge a fee for investing the partners money, about 1.5 percent, and 20 percent of the profits. The IRS is a good place to start to find out about forming a partnership and a lawyer.

Another way you might be able to do this is to have your investors sign over a Limited Power of Attorney to you.

without a license, you can keep all of the proceeds.

Not sure about legality. However, when has that ever stopped brokers?

I know HYIP's get around this by listing all transactions as private. So essentially whoever invested with you would have to just give you the money, then it becomes yours and you can do with it what you like. If you happen to hook them up with a little here and there (the results from your investing), that's completely up to you.