When looking to the post of 125, it mentions that there are 165,000 charterholders. This figure seems quite low, given the fact that this year alone 21k people passed level III. Over the last 5 years, +20k passed level III each year, leading to 100k charterholders alone. Does this mean that a lot of people pass all levels but never become member?
Because of work experience requirements, I have a lot of friends who happen to pass all 3 levels of the CFA exam and yet do not even have a single year of experience. Also, there are many people who stop paying their dues and others, who have been sanctioned by the CFAI.
It is considered low given that CFAI is not very strict with the experience requirement, so the real difficulty lies with passing the exams and not with getting the work experience approved.
On the other hand, since I am a member of an accounting body, the number doesn’t seem very low in comparison with the number of members of that body (other professional bodies), as they have become 200K only last year, and I believe the number of candidates who attempt their exams Is way larger than the number of CFA candidates, and so I was really under the impression that the members number would be higher.
I guess it is just a matter that not many candidates end up clearing these professional exams, being CFA or accountancy exams.
There are also people retiring their charter when they leave the workforce. if you arent working any longer, odds are you wont pay for your annual dues and therefore wouldnt be considered a charterholder anymore, unlike other designations such as an MBA where you will always be able to site those credentials even though you are not working.
It’ll be interesting to see how this # changes over the next 5 years. If you look at the historical pass rate summary a total of 260,000 have passed level 3 over the course of the program. Only 160,000 actual members. If you looks back 20-30 years at the numbers, people who had the CFA at that time may be retiring but the numbers aren’t huge to contribute to a 100,000 difference. i have a sneaking suspicion that there are a lot of candidates that passed level 3 in the past 5 years that may still be working on their 4 year experience requirement or are trying to transition to finance?
i think there are people that might not have jobs that will pay for their annual dues so this wouldnt neccessarily entice them to become a charterholder even after they get the relevant work experience. i cant think of any other reason why that many people would go through those exams with nothing to show for it
I know a few who used to have the three letters after their names a few years ago, and now they just list CFA exams among their education on their LinkedIn.
I believe employers stopped to pay the membership fees for them and it otherwise does not add value to their career profiles.
I am from banking where there were huge cuts in fringes and benefits.
I myself plan the same. Obtain my charter for now, network a bit in the local society and then probably stop being a member because I will find better use of that money. Sad, but banking and finance jobs are not what they used to be 10 years ago (at least as concerns my country in Central Europe).