I have been interested in doing a CFA for quite some time and have actually made some feeble attempts at starting previously, however each time I wasn’t committed enough to make even past week one. I lacked knoweldge and experience to have a sound reason for attempting it previously which I believe I now posess.
Having said that, I’m concerned that it’s a pointless endeavour for me given that I’m almost 28 and am not working a banking/finance/invesment field. I do have a commerce undergrad degree with most of my subjects being in Finance, so I should be able to fulfil that requirement to sign up for a CFA, however it’s the age and epxerience factor that I’m worried about. Gaining this credential will certainly look good on a resume and although I understand that a job is not guaranteed, I’m still confdent that it’s worthwhile to pursue. The question is, where will I be able to work with this credential? From what I’ve read, analysts are usually hired straight out of uni as banks prefer to have a fresh mouldable thing to play with with little preconcieved notions about anyhting, so given that I have been working in a different area and given that I’m far from an undergrad by IB standards, what are my options in the finance field?
There are plenty of jobs related to finance that could see benefit from having the CFA charter, or at least going through the program. mid-office risk management, or back office even, corporate finance in companies… etc
The key targeted areas though are Equity Research and Asset mgmt.
This ain’t no walk in the park. If you have some industry experience/exposure it obviously will make it easier. However, even then people get hung up on the exam (I know multiple people in my office that have sat for said level of the exams 3 times). So, if you’re not hungry and can’t make it past one week it may not be for you.
Not trying to discourage you- just trying to be a realist.
Consider this: if you do start, it’s very hard to quit, and some people never finish.
If you have any doubts about the program and completing it, or it’s value to you, think long and hard about starting, and save yourself the personal stress, relationship stress and time sacrificed.