Too old to pursue the designation?

CFA Level I
#21

Let me add my voice to those who are encouraging you.

In my late 50s, I decided that my life was too short to continue paying dues to the American Institute of CPAs. Don’t misunderstand, please - most CPAs are incredibly decent, honest, and hard-working individuals. But top management @ AICPA is a different story. Sleazy doesn’t begin to describe them. Besides the sleaze and being repeatedly embarrassed by opaque policy stances AICPA took, I also had a specialty credential in business valuation from AICPA. So, before I could bolt, I had to get another designation. I looked around for an organization that met four criteria:

  1. rigorous and demanding testing regimen (AICPA has a passing ‘quota’ for the CPA exam);
  2. squeaky clean with zero tolerance for ethical violations;
  3. an insistence on putting clients first; and
  4. tons of cash to ensure its continuing independence from the members it oversees.

What was then the Ass’n for Investment Management & Research was head and shoulders above the several organizations I checked out from top to bottom. I bit the bullet, enrolled in the CFA curriculum, and, at age 62, passed Level 3. I don’t know that I’m the oldest newly minted charterholder, but I’d bet that I don’t miss it by much.

As a recovering academic myself, I want to assure you that the CFA exams are like nothing I’ve ever grappled with. Those tests make the CPA exams look like a walk in the park. In fact, there are not many charterholders who are also CPAs. That’s because accounting looks backwards; investment analysts and money managers look forwards. I’ll also be surprised if, when you pass Level 3, you don’t say that passing the three exams is the hardest thing you ever did. I sure felt that way.

But it’s also the accomplishment in my long career of which I’m the most proud. It has gotten me work that I would not have gotten any other way. Even though I’d then been a valuation professional for more than a decade, I learned one heckuva lot. More important, the policy stances of the Institute have never embarrassed me. In fact, I’ve only disagreed wtih one of them. To their credit, CFA Magazine published my strong disagreement. The AICPA wouldn’t have done that in a bazillion years.

I love the fact that the Institute publishes an annual report that includes the pay and perks of its five highest-paid executives. . .just like a public company includes in its annual proxy statement. If the AICPA ever did that, the senior sleazebags there would be run out of town on a rail by the members.

I encourage you to pursue this. As others have mentioned, somewhere along the line you’re going to need to get the requisite four years of ‘qualifying work experience.’ I’m confident you’ll be able to do that, once you can put “Level 2 Candidate for the CFA Designation” on your resume/C.V.

You are welcome to contact me if you would like to discuss any of this (strategy.by.beckmill@gmail.com). I made about every studying mistake along the way that one can make. The big one was thinking that my goal in the exam process was to learn. WRONG! The goal is to pass the tests. I can learn later. Remember that one. I think those with an academic bent, as we both have, are susceptible to emphasizing learning at the cost of perhaps not passing.

Hope I hear from you.

Best of luck!!

Warren Miller, CFA, CPA - Lexington, Virginia - Founder, LinkedIn’s Strategy Reading Group

#22

“at age 62, passed Level 3”

MY HERO. You Sir, are the Man. Thank you for your post.

L2C at 44. Just got my L2 books today - seriously excited.

#23

Hi, Bob Arctor–

[I tried to find you on LinkedIn, but came up empty. I’d really appreciate it if you would please send a note to me via strategy.by.beckmill (at) gmail (dot) com.]

Thank you, sir, for, literally, making my day. My beloved bride loved your post as much as I did. Spouses’ names belong on these charters, too, you know.

Case in point: When I got the new that I had failed the L3 test in 2005. I had studied > 450 hours and created appx. 225 hand-written pages of study notes that were geared to the LOS.In those days, the Institute didn’t have the ten-cohort system for telling unsuccessful candidates where they stacked up. I haven’t failed enough tests in my life to be any good at, so it was one heckuva blow.

My bride was more devastated than even I was. She was, in the truest sense, a ‘CFA widow.’ Such spouses should be elevated to sainthood.

The 2005 test was simply outrageous in its complexity. I mean, it was truly ridiculous. It took the two of us a while to get past the disappointment and reach the point where we could discuss it calmly. In the meantime, I also touched base w/colleagues I knew who had taken the same test, and they were all as bum-fuzzled as I was about the staggering complexity of the test. They hadn’t passed, either, and they were really angry about it. Like me, most of them didn’t understand at least half of the questions on the afternoon set. They, like me, were actually madder about that than they were about failing.

At that point, I was 61 and had enjoyed far more success in my career than I had ever expected or dared hope for. Not passing L3 was a huge blow. Still, I got over it fairly quickly. Not so SWMBO. Finally, we sat down to talk about it.

I said [paraphrasing], “You know, dear, we don’t have anything to prove to anybody. We are known–well-known around the world, in fact–in our professional community for the highly unorthodox and innovative approach we take to valuing middle-market, non-public companies. At this stage of our lives, who needs this kind of aggravation and grief. What do you think about calling it a day and just getting back to living normal lives and enjoying ourselves without being dragged down by this exhausting and enervating experience?”

Well, my beloved, who is a petite, soft-spoken, and lovely woman, looked me in the eye and said [not paraphrasing, but _ quoting _]: “Dear, I’m really sick of being a CFA widow, but let me tell you something: If you don’t pass that test next year, I’m probably going to think about becoming a real widow.”

Yikes. Wow. The decision to retake L3 was made.

When the L3 study materials for 2006 were released, I updated the handwritten notes I’d taken in 2005, discarded the pages that no longer applied, studied for < 100 hours–heck, I remembered almost everything–and passed. In fact, I knew when I came out of that exam that I had passed. But I wasn’t going to take any chances that my spouse my test performance would impose crushing disappointment on her yet again. Besides, I didn’t want her warming up and taking target practice in anticipation that I had failed it.

It didn’t happen. Thank goodness. Getting the results that we–yes, we --had passed was one of the happiest days of our lives. And shredding my AICPA Dues Renewal invoice, which arrived a few days before the L3 test results did, was sheer joy. I was never so glad to be away from an organization in my life. I’ve never regretted the humongous investment my bride and I made in attaining the CFA charter. It’s the designation to have, and it really is, as the Economist magazine wrote some years ago, “the gold standard” in financial analysis. I’ve known CPAs who couldn’t pass L1 (which I thought was a walk in the park), and I also know a guy with a PhD in finance who studied like heck for L2, failed, and never took it again.

The pride and satisfaction of holding the CFA charter were worth every miserable hour we invested in the process. My bride agrees. But we’re sure glad the experience is behind us. Like Marine boot camp, it was for me a million-dollar experience. . .that I wouldn’t take a million bucks to go through again!

Hope to hear from you, Bob.

Warren Miller, CFA, CPA

#24

I felt old at 27 taking Level II this year. So many college kids taking Level I. I can’t imagine going through this much later in life.

#25

Happy Belated Birthday, Cory.

#only2monthslate

#26

The people who say don’t do it are the same people that would tell a high school dropout not to finish high school and get a job at Burger King flipping burgers - just keep pushing through it if you want it.

People do all sorts of things with their time that waste time - invest in yourself and you can’t go wrong. I am 32 studying for Level 2, but in my life I finally am to the point where I have the discipline to put in the hours and pass these tests.

-Joe

#27

I changed careers in my mid 40’s and entered Financial Services. I passed the CFA exams at age 44, 45, and 46. Today I am 56 years old, and while I will suggest that it would be a little tougher to do today, age would not stop me from trying nor would it be an excuse.

If it feels right, just do it. Good luck.

As one of the other members noted… the second best time to plant a tree is today.

#28

I’m 38 soon to be 39. I’m considering starting it for June 16. I want to push my career to the next level. I currently work for a bank in the Trust Department but would like to move into the investment department which I think would better suit my personality. I’ve had my CFP® for 9 years… seeing this thread has instilled confidence in me again.