Question:Master of Finance vs CFA designation: career development

Hi guys, I am currently in Australia working in an wealth management firm as back office operation support role.

I did my 2 years master of Finance degree at the University of Melbourne before. Bachelor of finance at Lateobe university. Some of my colleagues pursuing CFA designation at the moment and said it will make the cv looks great but not compulsory for any finance/investment role.

My question is: for people like me already got an decent master finance degree, is it gonna be TOO redundant to pursue CFA again? Since my university hand book said 70% of CFA all 3 levels knowledge was covered by my previous degree, I wound not expect learning something totally different.

In terms of Job seeking, same question: do I need to do CFA if I got master finance already ? I feel like in Australia employers do not recongnise master degree fairly, if you guys are pursuing both cfa and ms finance, what are the most important reasons doing this?

  • some says cfa is cheaper version of masters, other argues about cfa is more globally recongnised. But it’s seem like there are only small numbers of CFA Charter holders in Australia.

Could you guys please share me some ideas – pros and cons for pursuing both master of finance and CFA designation , cause I want make my decision wether should I study CFA or not?

Much appreciated

If you have an Masters in Finance, I am not sure how much more value the CFA will add. I think the question you have to ask yourself is what do you exactly hope to achieve by taking the CFA? When prospective employers are looking to fulfill a middle to high level finance role they usually ask for either a MBA or CFA. I am yet to see a job description where both are required (at least here in the US). Are you looking to get out of back office? You best bet is probably making an internal move or reaching out to your grad school alumni network - after all, that’s one of the better reasons to go back to school. On the other hand, it never hurts to get the CFA so depending on your time and availability, you could go for it. Is the CFA given more weight in Australia than a Master’s degree in Finance? I would consider that as well.

You should just do it. The CFA is cheap, easy, and offers some recognition to some people. Even if a minority of potential employers value the credential, then that is better than zero.

I’ve done a MSc in finance before the CFA - I’d say CFA is lot more thorough than a year MSc. You will cover aspects in much more detail and of course with a Portfolio Management twist.

I’d say do the CFA if you wish for the knowledge, don’t necessarily expect it to get you places.

not sure what hacksaw school you went to but this is not true for any good program.

Thanks for ur reply

the reason I wanna pursue cfa after I completed my 2 yrs full time master finance was because I thought investment industry even in Australia is also highly competed, I wanna add something extra.

If CFA and master finance are equivalent in some degree, pursuing both gonna be redundant/overlapped ? Or still can be complementary ? Or maybe I should go with sth like MBA CPIM CAIA?

ultimately I want work in investment/finance area for life time.

many thanks my friend

Thanks for ur reply

iI completed 2yrs master of finance at Melbourne uni, also master of accounting at an average uni, bachelor finance at latrobe uni) I don’t really wanna CFA for knowledge but just wanna be a better candidate for my future opportunity, especially I saw many senior investment role asked For CFA, I reckon even Australia’s investment market is highly competed, that’s why…Do u think after I got in a role i want, in the future, should I still need to pursue CFA Charter?or If i better come up with sth different like MBA CAIA CPIM?

If CFA and master finance are equivalent in some degree, pursuing both gonna be redundant/overlapped ? Or still can be complementary ?

ultimately I want work in investment/finance area for life time.

many thanks my friend

Thanks for ur reply

iI completed 2yrs master of finance at Melbourne uni, also master of accounting at an average uni, bachelor finance at latrobe uni) I don’t really wanna CFA for knowledge but just wanna be a better candidate for my future opportunity, especially I saw many senior investment role asked For CFA, I reckon even Australia’s investment market is highly competed, that’s why…but do u think if I got master finance already , is there anything else better than cfa for me to pursue? Like MBA CPIM CAIA?since cfa and master finance share some similarities.

ultimately I want work in investment/finance area for life time.

many thanks my friend