Have a good job as we speak. Make mid 80’s. Started studying about a month ago then stopped. Now it’s hard to pickup the books again and I forgot all the material. Would have to start from square one again. Not sure if will make a difference in this point of my career. I am also in my mid 30’s so don’t know if it’s worth it.
Maybe it’s not worth it. I don’t think I would start L1 in my mid 30s.
If it is not going to advance your career, then it’s not worth it in my opinion. It is a huge time committment.
If you can’t come up with a VERY good reason to do it, then do not waste your time. It requires a HUGE time commitment out of your life that you will never get back. It’s a long road and each level becomes increasingly more difficult to rationalize. Most of those of us that completed it and really desired the designation still struggle to rationalize whether it was really worth the effort in hindsight. I’m not saying the CFA is not worth it. But I am saying that if you don’t feel very strongly about it at the beginning save yourself a lot of grief, it’s not necessarily the right move for everyone.
Doesnt sound like it will be worth it…
Being a mid 30 guy myself, I can tell you I question myself many days as to why I took up this challenge. Well its a challenge and I started doing this just because I wanted to do an MBA and couldnt do it. So to just add a tail to my name I started this and realized probably I can never add this tail and call myself sooraj,CFA because I dont have the required experience anyway!
Am I repentant? Yes I am. I could have done something else. Did I learn something useful? Yes, I manage my investments very efficiently now.
And to top it all I am an IT developer! So if you are not motivated and CFA is not going to give you a push in your career, you are looking at the wrong certification!!!
Dude stop trolling and posting this in random threads.
Truer words were never spoken.
I’m 150 hours into Level 3, and plan on studying another 300 or so before June 1. I’m 10 feet from the peak of Mount Everest, and I’ll either get to the top or die trying. But if I knew two years ago what I know now, I would not do it again.
By the time I’m done, I will have well over 1,000 hours and probably close to $7,500 invested in this thing. Not to mention the constant stress and worrying about finding time to study, and the nights that you dream about discounted cash flows. (Oh yes–it will happen. A literal dream about discounting cash flows. If you don’t dream about it, you haven’t studied enough.) This is time that I could have used to play with my baby that’s growing up with a largely absent father (because I study at night instead of playing with her), or advancing my CPA career, or just relaxing.
Ask yourself this question–is my boss a Charterholder? Or is the boss at the job I want to apply for a Charterholder? If the answer is no, then the CFA will probably do very little for you. And if you’re having trouble getting motivated now, you will certainly have moviation trouble at Level 2 and 3.
I personally never look back at all the hours I spent studying with regret. Of course, I was young (22,23,24) and it was also several years ago, so I can’t speak to having a family and the exams causing me to miss out on things other than getting drunk with my buddies every weekend (which I still managed to do).
This comment on whether or not your boss or future boss is also a charterholder is really worth considering. Let’s face it, unless you’ve been through the program there is no way you can relate to the immense time commitment. I’ve worked for 3 different firms in my career, only one of which actually cared about the designation. But, at that firm, it was almost the equivalent of being a 22 year old hot chick with a 24 inch waist and 36DD’s. The higher ups there really evaluated the junior staff, fairly or unfairly, based on the distinction of whether or not you were pursuing the charter. This impacted the types of projects you got to work on, the independence and respect given, and ultimately the comp pkg.
Let me explain why I say this–I’m a CPA, and before my current job, I was in an industry accounting job. My boss (the controller) didn’t even know what CFA stood for. For him (and most of the accountants in the company), there was ONE designation–CPA. And either you was or you wasn’t a CPA. We did have one CFA in the company, who worked in the Corporate Development department, and he knew the value of the CFA. Unfortunately, he was a one-man gang, and didn’t need any help.
In my current job, you either ARE or you AIN’T a CPA. Any other credential means very little. Even when you tell the bosses that you’re doing it, they’ll say “What is that? Certified financial…advisor? Doesn’t that work with like, investments and stuff?” They have no idea how difficult the exam is. To them, nothing could be harder than the CPA exam.
I also live far away from a CFA society, and there are no other CFA’s within about 250 miles. (My old company moved to the big city, and the CFA moved with them.) None of the banks around here have any charterholders, none of the money management firms have charterholders (they’re all the Edward Jones/Merrill Lynch types), none of the CPA firms that do valuations have CFA’s (see above). There are no pensions to manage, no insurance companies, and all the high-net-worth individuals have their accounts somewhere in the big city (250 miles away). And even if JP Morgan wanted to open a private bank here, there would be nobody to train me, so they’d move their own CFA in.
So now I’m kinda stuck with credential that nobody really wants, nobody cares about, and nobody’s willing to pay for. If I were in the big city, that would be different. There are mutual funds, insurance companies, banks, private wealth, M&A, hedge funds, money management, universities, etc. But again, the people that work there are CFA’s, so they value that in their applicants.
to me it is mostly about whether you have a passion for the material, I actually enjoyed spending 1500 hours studying for all 3 levels
You must be joking, right?
passion makes necessary chores easier to digest…nothing controversial there i think.
I must respectfully disagree with you. I have a passion for this, and I enjoy learning as much as the next person. But after June 1, I’m done with this exam, pass or fail. I can’t stand the stress and time it takes away from my daughter and my job. It’s not as painful as, say, memorizing human anatomy, but I certainly don’t “enjoy” it.
^well to each his own. I can imagine not wanting to share time between wifey/daughter and cfai books! 
when i did L1 i was motivated by passion,when i did L2 I was motivated by duty…gratefully i passed somehow…for L3 i had neither and failed 
good luck for 2013 L3 ddrobinett!
no. it’s much easier when you are able to pursue things you enjoy, granted not always easy to do but applicable for me with the CFA designation
Thanks for the good luck shout-out! So, did you re-register? Did you pass or fail the second time? If you didn’t re-register, why not?
^I failed L3 once in 2012 have not re registered and do not plan to for the next year!
hello all im from indonesia, nice to know this group before. next year i wanna take course for preparation of CFA exam level 1 and then take the exam of CFA, pray for me,
i am falling on my knees for you in prayer as i type