CFA renewal fees is exorbitant

275USD plus 50USD for local commounity? It is double than annual premium of my $100k insurance, it is three times of my current phone price

Do I have too much time to crib or there are others who feel they are paying too much for a quarterly magazine

You don’t actually have to remain a member of your local society once you become a charterholder. The local society membership is only required for receiving your charter, so you can at least save $50. I have a hard time feeling sorry for you though, my local society is $200.

Hey, John Rogers has kids to feed.

I think $275 is a pittance in order to have those 3 letters after your name.

Nearly all companies will pay for your CFA member dues anyway

I too thought $325 is quite high for a EM member. But look at the online resources…gosh!! They are worth a million.

See if you can get your firm to expense it.

Really? What are the resources? I’ve been charter-eligible for a while now, but haven’t been motivated to go through the process.

The CFA jobline is overrated, IMHO.

you get access to FAJ the research journal. Access to copies going back to to the 50’s. I know you don’t really need so long history, but nevertheless. I like reading older issues when I am really not in a mood for anything :). Also there are short videos - like 15 min - on various topics. Once you get your charter you have something called as CE - continous education. You have an online diary in which you can keep track of things you have read or listened.

All this is completely voluntary. If you work or interest is not research oriented types, then these resources are not of much use. There are paid courses as well. Some of them become free after a while. I found a fixed -income course and felt it was pretty good.

The whole thing is interesting if you’r inclined to it.

Personally, I think the fees are high given that most of my interaction with CFAI is deleting its endless spam; however, as others have said, my company pays and the three letters are useful.

One adside - you don’t actually ever need to join the local society, you just need to apply to one. I have never been a member of a local society.

Fees went up after QQQbee reamed the CFAI with dozens of emails daily leading to unforeseen overtime labor costs.

^lol

I agree, it’s too high. This has been discussed to death in the past – why is it so high if the CFAI CEO makes a million dollars a year, etc., etc.

You would have to pay me (a lot) to read FAJ, but I have gotten a lot of mileage out of job line, so that’s something I guess. Job line is as good as any online source but in reality, the very good jobs in this industry are never advertised online and come through recruiters or networking.

This

On the toll road of life, you have to pay to prove you can.

only if it’s worth it.

At the end of the day, paying $275 means nothing compared to the other sacrifices we’ve all made to use the letters. I’ve lost friends, girlfriends, a chunk of my early 20’s and a part of my sanity in order to get through this entire process.

The program has not benefited everyone equally. For some, $275 is a steal. For others, it’s pure robbery.

Sunk cost bias. But yeah, I see your point for developed nations 275 is not really that much, EM’s different story.