A lot of people have "kinda-sorta" heard about the Securities and Exchange Commission (also known as the SEC) when watching financial industry-related movies such as The Wolf of Wall Street, but their SEC-related knowledge is superficial at best.

When it comes to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (commonly referred to as FINRA), however, you can be pretty much certain that practically nobody outside professional circles knows what it's all about.

While the title of this video is "SEC vs. FINRA" and may suggest some kind of a rivalry between them, that's not exactly the case. In fact, the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority are ultimately here to protect individuals from... let's say less than ethical practices related to the financial sector, which are unfortunately not the least bit uncommon.

As you will be about to find out, while the SEC tends to pack more of a punch, with the them actually overseeing FINRA, both organizations have an extremely important role in the ecosystem.

As an investor, it's quite useful to understand how the financial sector works under the proverbial hood because seemingly insignificant aspects such as knowing what the Securities and Exchange Commission does or what FINRA is all about makes the difference between someone who is operating based on limited information and someone who digs deep.

Needless to say, those who are patient and interested enough to dig deep tend to do better in the long run. As such, the goal of this video is simple enough to understand: explaining what the SEC is, what FINRA is and what the main differences between the two organizations are.

What you do with this information is entirely up to you.