Boy do I feel worried that my FINRA licenses will lapse before I find another job.

Which licenses do you have and when are they due to expire?

Although I was in IT security, for some reason I wanted to get the Series 7 about 8 years ago but never got around to it (I used to work for a brokerage then)

I obtained the NASD (now FINRA) series 7, 63, 66, 86, and 87 licenses. They all lapse in one year if I do not find another job at a FINRA licensed firm.

While not perfect solutions,

Have you considered an intern-type position to maintain your licenses and possibly get another year's extension?

Can you temporarily incorporate and perform some light-weight day-trading or other functions to maintain them?

I am not deeply familiar with those license types and am throwing out some thoughts to help. 

i tried but the company has to pay about $2k for liability insurance if you get listed.  so they wont do it unless you are full time.

i have one more year, we will see. 

so tell me about you - what is your field - are you trying to get back in?

I was on the technical side of the house and progressed up through several roles over the past seven years including:

Enterprise Midrange Server Architect and Strategist 
Windows Server Architecture Team Manager

Windows Server Engineering Team Manager

Windows Server Operations Team Manager 

Senior Windows Server Engineer

Had a career that was rising with a bullet until one fateful day... 

I am looking for an IT management position in a large corporation or even a CTO/CIO/Director level position in a small to medium sized business. Lately, I have been exploring other management opportunities outside of IT. While IT has been a great career for me, I'm not stuck in that track - I would love the opportunity to expand myself to the business side of the house too. The combination would make me more valuable in the long run. Either way, in this economy, you go where the money is.