Go for CFA or not?

Quote from a5519:

It depends essentially what carrier path do you see for yourself.
If you want to be an employee in a bank, best of all in an investment bank, then definitely, YES. Spend your money, waste your time, and may be you will be rewarded in the future (no guarantee though).
If you want to pursue a career of independent trader, this certification is almost worthless. Spend your valuable time and study the fundamental things: quantitative finance, computer science, data analysis methods and tools.
Think about this. The curriculum of CFA contains something about 20% of ethics. What does it mean? It means that this field of activity is heavily related to manipulation of public opinion and strong emphasis to ethics means - we have done what we could, but still it can happen. You will come to big money with CFA only if one day you will be able speak on behalf of a big institution and to present its opinion.
If you feel this is what you want and this is your field of excellence – go for it.
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I see what you are saying. I think I want the CFA to justify the end means of perhaps one day being an independent trader, but it will be hard to get to that point without a large financial backing, which I can see coming from obtaining the CFA, then literally being someone's bitch for 10-20 years where hopefully I can save some cash.

I would like to just get some job on the floor of CME or NYMEX, but I am unsure as to how to pursue that specific job without previously living in the area of NYC or Chicago. I figure that getting a foot into the industry was my best chance going forward. I was thinking perhaps the CFA would give me that chance eventually.
 
Quote from doublet83:

With a finance and accounting major, I passed level 1 with only about 10 hours of studying, as most of the material was basic accounting and financial statement analysis.

I was able to barely pass level 2 and 3 with about 100 to 150 good hours of studying each, although most people would need more I think. I almost did not touch the provided materials at all. I much prefer the study guides and doing sample exams.

I have yet to hear someone with a CFA getting a big tangible boost in their career from the title. I would be curious as well to hear of such stories if anyone has them to share. Most people just say its something that is nice to have and will help rather than hurt. Of course this statement is true of many things, including having a nice haircut and showering.

In terms of the material, I work in equity research and consider the the equity investment section of the CFA to be largely useless.
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Gah, you must just have a super good long-term memory or something, because I have forgotten like half of the economic stuff that was covered during fresh-soph year of college. There is much more on the first level of CFA than I thought there would be.

Did the CFA open the door to your equity research? Meaning, do you think without it, you would be where you are today?
 
Quote from nazzdack:

1) You need hardcore job experience in order for the credential to have "value". The same applies if you were to consider getting an MBA degree. :cool:
2) The CFA has more "prestige" compared to other credentials but it won't be of any use in trading natural gas futures. :)
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True. I have some experience with algo trading with a firm, but I just basically worked for 2 years for free, then the firm shut down like 2 months after offering me a contract. So, basically just got fucked there. Other than that, I basically have no experience but life experience outside of a firm.

I agree, nothing you read in a book will help you with trading in the future. It just so happens in order to get "firm money" to trade on, you have to do something that gets you noticed or gets your foot in the door to get that opportunity.
 
""""Cool, no doubt.

What study materials did you use for Level 1? I guess you don't find out how many you missed, just Pass of Fail, right?""""


I just used the books they provided with practice exams and questions. You can also purchase other practice questions from the CFA institute...$40 bucks a time I think.

You get a break down of your score but only 3 categories below 50, 50-70 or above 70...

All of this is on the CFA website---you should check it out

lots of people fail level 1 --prob cuz they dont realize the commitment it takes.. i didnt really drink for 4-5 months.

Depends what you really want to do with the designation, there are other routes as well but CFA is well respected and relatively cheap compared to MBA..
 
Quote from Datradr:

""""Cool, no doubt.

What study materials did you use for Level 1? I guess you don't find out how many you missed, just Pass of Fail, right?""""


I just used the books they provided with practice exams and questions. You can also purchase other practice questions from the CFA institute...$40 bucks a time I think.

You get a break down of your score but only 3 categories below 50, 50-70 or above 70...

All of this is on the CFA website---you should check it out

lots of people fail level 1 --prob cuz they dont realize the commitment it takes.. i didnt really drink for 4-5 months.

Depends what you really want to do with the designation, there are other routes as well but CFA is well respected and relatively cheap compared to MBA..
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Are you working in the same place you did when you were studying for level 1? If you are, have you thought about going to another company? Or did they increase your pay? Just wondering.. thanks.
 
Quote from Algo_Design_Kid:

Gah, you must just have a super good long-term memory or something, because I have forgotten like half of the economic stuff that was covered during fresh-soph year of college. There is much more on the first level of CFA than I thought there would be.

Did the CFA open the door to your equity research? Meaning, do you think without it, you would be where you are today?
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I did not do well on level 1 econ, and several of the other sections as well, but level 1 is so heavily weighted towards financial statement analysis that I managed to pass.

No it didn't open any doors for me yet since I've only passed it recently.
 
Since you don't have a job, if the money isn't a problem I would do the cfa.

It may or may not help you get a job but it definitely won't hurt. And commit to doing all of it. No one cares if you just passed level 1 or 2 unless you are in the middle of doing the next level.

To save money, don't buy their books. Just buy the cliff notes from schwesser. Everyone else uses that and so the curve is really built around schwesser materials.

I did all three levels. Never got me paid more but improved my stock at the company I was at.
 
The CFA is most valued by other people who have done the CFA. Basically, they think it's like a Navy Seal tattoo that shows that you two are brothers. You've seen the war, what it's REALLY like in the trenches, etc;

Thus, it makes sense the most when you know for sure that the decision-maker for your target job is a CFA himself / herself; they will value you above other candidates (without a CFA) in the interview.
 
""""The CFA is most valued by other people who have done the CFA. Basically, they think it's like a Navy Seal tattoo that shows that you two are brothers. You've seen the war, what it's REALLY like in the trenches, etc;

Thus, it makes sense the most when you know for sure that the decision-maker for your target job is a CFA himself / herself; they will value you above other candidates (without a CFA) in the interview. """""

HAHA that was funny--- and i guess partly true---

the average salary for CFA charterholders is higher than many other positions so to say its not valuable is a little unfair---after 10 years of experience the average salary could be around 120K ---agreed it might be skewed a bit because of portfolio managers who make 250K ++++ but even if its only 100K avg...that is still better than a high percentage of jobs.
 
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