Holiday cards for financial advisors
If you are registered with a FINRA member firm, Rule 2210 treats a holiday card mailed to more than 25 retail investors within any 30-day period as a retail communication, and one sent to 25 or fewer as correspondence. Check your firm's review process before you mail, and keep investment talk off the card.
Correspondence or retail communication
FINRA Rule 2210 sorts written communications by how many retail investors receive them. A written or electronic communication sent to 25 or fewer retail investors within any 30 calendar days is correspondence. One sent to more than 25 in that time is a retail communication.
We'd treat a card to your whole client list as a retail communication and ask your compliance team how your firm reviews those before use. If your firm isn't a FINRA member, Rule 2210 doesn't apply, so ask your compliance team which rules do. A card with no recommendation and no product promotion doesn't need a principal's approval under Rule 2210, but your firm still reviews it like correspondence.
Correspondence is subject to the supervision and review requirements of FINRA Rules 3110(b) and 3110.06 through .09.
Firms must keep correspondence under the record-keeping rules in 3110.09 and 4511.
Messages with no investment talk
- "Thank you for your trust this year. Wishing you and your family a peaceful holiday season and a healthy New Year." (113 characters)
- "It has been a pleasure working with you this year. Season's greetings and best wishes for the year ahead." (105 characters)
Leave out market comments, performance, product names and predictions. A plain greeting is the quickest kind of card to review.
Need a proof for your compliance file? We print each card with "Dear" and your client's first name, your note and your name, and mail it First-Class for $2.99 a card, postage included (as of November 2026). You see a proof of every card before you pay and can open every proof as one PDF for review. We delete proofs 45 days after a paid order.
Make your cardsThis is a summary of FINRA Rule 2210, not compliance advice. Rule 2210 sets the minimum, and your firm's written procedures say how it applies to a card.
Questions
Do financial advisor holiday cards need compliance approval?
Under FINRA Rule 2210, a principal must approve a retail communication before use. A card with no financial or investment recommendation and no product promotion is an exception, and your firm supervises and reviews it the same way as correspondence. Ask your compliance team which applies.
What should a financial advisor write in a holiday card?
A thank-you and a wish for the season, with no market comments, performance or product names.
Do I need to keep a copy of the holiday cards I send?
FINRA Rule 2210 says firms must keep correspondence under the record-keeping rules in 3110.09 and 4511. Retail communications are kept for the period set by SEA Rule 17a-4(b). We'd keep a copy of the card and the mailing list, and ask your compliance team how your firm files them.
Sources
The pages we read for this guide.