Hello newbies who just passed L1, A lot of us who wrote L2 this year are as aggressive, cocky and capable as you are. L2 is a different beast. Learn to respect that fact and you will do your self a lot of good. My 2 cents for what it is worth. Have fun 
yo daj, youāre all wired and motivated out your @$$ to get moving and finish this goal before you get to the finer things in lifeā¦ this raises one question, what have you been doing for 9 years? and whereād this motivation come from? near death experience? near life experience? I mean, Iām 22 and looking to pass my LII in 8 days and my only motivation to get into this business is because I love this game! I love the material, I could make 30K a year and be happy, I likely will teach eventually because I love this area of study so much. So when you say dream job, at 29, I would suspect that a liberal arts degree holder would be looking at this line of work as a cash grab, which it is, instead of what you REALLY want to do, because this is what I REALLY want to do and Iāve known it since I was 15. Iām not ripping on you, just to be clear, Iām just curious.
MattLikesAnalysis Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > yo daj, > > youāre all wired and motivated out your @$$ to get > moving and finish this goal before you get to the > finer things in lifeā¦ this raises one question, > what have you been doing for 9 years? and whereād > this motivation come from? near death experience? > near life experience? I mean, Iām 22 and looking > to pass my LII in 8 days and my only motivation to > get into this business is because I love this > game! I love the material, I could make 30K a year > and be happy, I likely will teach eventually > because I love this area of study so much. So when > you say dream job, at 29, I would suspect that a > liberal arts degree holder would be looking at > this line of work as a cash grab, which it is, > instead of what you REALLY want to do, because > this is what I REALLY want to do and Iāve known it > since I was 15. > > Iām not ripping on you, just to be clear, Iām just > curious. no problem, thanks for asking. No, i am not after the money. I love the business. I have been involved in the markets for a while, was on CNBC when I was 27, quoted in media when I was 26, etc. Not trying to impress anyone, just saying i am no babe in the woods. good luck to you on level 2. and yes, i am motivated. I love the industry and have worked in it, so i know what it feels like to have a PM rip your head off and ask you to rebuild a model in 2 hours and so no. it is a great job to have and that is why I am doing, like we all are, what I am doing ā trying to get the charter as soon as possible. It is not that i am on some āmagic rushā for the pot of gold at the end of the tunnel, but at 29, things are different than when you are 22. you will know what I mean in 7 years.
Iām of the belief that if youāve been in the business for 7 years and havenāt figured out what youāre doing by now, no CFA, CAIA, FRM, PRM, MBA, MMA, GED, or any other acronym is going to help. At this point itās more about the person than the qualifications. Edit: Just to be clear, that statement doesnāt apply to someone in mid-career whoās thinking about making a switch into finance. Itās about people whoās been in the field for a quarter of a lifetime and still donāt know how to be successful.
I have to give daj credit, I understand what most of you are saying about āburning outā closer to the exam and we all get it, but not everyone learns the same. Say if daj did not burn out (which after going through L1 with him I can say will never ever burn out) I canāt see how an extra 4 months of studying can be a detriment. I work with guys who seriously started studying for each exam only 3 months before and passed with flying colours. Would anyone recommend this strategy? No. But the thing is it works for them. So if starting this early works for daj I saw rock on with it bro. I am the type where I learn by repeatedly reading and testing myself with material, so the extra 4 months of studying will help me too. Almost every L2er describes this test as the beast, and f it is as difficult as everyone says it is (which I believe it to be), then everyone should do what they think will increase THEIR odds. Most of you said that an extra month or two wouldnāt have helped at all, however I bet from reading all the posts that if most spent just an extra day on BOPās then that would have helped HUGE! daj, I am ordering the books on thursday and going to crack them right then and there. Wonāt study hardcore until feb, but I will be with you on this site till the end man. Best of luck for all L2ās getting the results in 8 days, donāt want to see your mugs in this forum after that day! Make way for the noooooooobs!
daj224 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > MattLikesAnalysis Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > yo daj, > > > > youāre all wired and motivated out your @$$ to > get > > moving and finish this goal before you get to > the > > finer things in lifeā¦ this raises one > question, > > what have you been doing for 9 years? and > whereād > > this motivation come from? near death > experience? > > near life experience? I mean, Iām 22 and > looking > > to pass my LII in 8 days and my only motivation > to > > get into this business is because I love this > > game! I love the material, I could make 30K a > year > > and be happy, I likely will teach eventually > > because I love this area of study so much. So > when > > you say dream job, at 29, I would suspect that > a > > liberal arts degree holder would be looking at > > this line of work as a cash grab, which it is, > > instead of what you REALLY want to do, because > > this is what I REALLY want to do and Iāve known > it > > since I was 15. > > > > Iām not ripping on you, just to be clear, Iām > just > > curious. > > > no problem, thanks for asking. No, i am not after > the money. I love the business. I have been > involved in the markets for a while, was on CNBC > when I was 27, quoted in media when I was 26, etc. > Not trying to impress anyone, just saying i am no > babe in the woods. > > good luck to you on level 2. and yes, i am > motivated. I love the industry and have worked in > it, so i know what it feels like to have a PM rip > your head off and ask you to rebuild a model in 2 > hours and so no. it is a great job to have and > that is why I am doing, like we all are, what I am > doing ā trying to get the charter as soon as > possible. It is not that i am on some āmagic rushā > for the pot of gold at the end of the tunnel, but > at 29, things are different than when you are 22. > you will know what I mean in 7 years. Youād think somebody who has been in the industry this long would have something better to do then post 100 messages a day on analyst forum.
daj what your email man?
thanks for the support getterdone.
daj224, Good luck with your studies bro. I would say to click āhide posts from this userā next to farley013ās name. I mean, the guy is criticizing you but yet he still canāt get basic finance knowledge down. For example, in the following thread in which he doesnāt even know what VAR is. http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?1,795145,795152#msg-795152 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Re: VaR spectrum Posted by: farley013 (IP Logged) [hide posts from this user] Date: July 14, 2008 03:35PM VAR relies on a normal distribution of returns.
And another thing. Ignore his confidence, it stems from a degree of comfortable ignorance that manifests itself in many ways other than attacking you. For example, in the following thread, he criticizes a non-native speaker for their use of the term āmaths.ā Due to his ignorance and confidenceā¦he doesnāt know that the word āmathā is mostly used to describe the field of mathematics in America (and especially where he grew up, lives, and works), with the pluralized form āmathsā mostly used in Britain, Australia, and a few other non-USA English-speaking countriesā¦he continues to lecture this non-native speaker. http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?11,803171,803171#msg-803171 --------------------------------------------------------- Re: Why do you want CFA? Posted by: farley013 (IP Logged) [hide posts from this user] Date: August 2, 2008 04:11PM Iāve worked with three Korean analysts and all of them have the same specific grammar problems for some odd reason. They often omit the words āaā and ātheā in sentences (see original post above), and tend to unnecessarily pluralize specific words like math (āmathsā) and stuff (āstuffsā). I gave up correcting them a long time ago, it seems to be ingrained in the Korean-to-English translation.
common you guys are not seriousā¦ u need to relax before you take on L2 if you start right now you will be running out of gas in next few months itself
studying in August for a June exam is ridiculous, you wonāt be any less stressed in the run up to the exam. I started mid Sept for the Dec 06 Level 1, mid Jan for the Jun 07 Level 2 and October (just doing light reading until Dec) fo Jun 08 Level 3. I was equally stressed in the run up to each exam except I had the horrible feeling that if I missed Level 3 that I had wasted so much more life on it relative to the othersā¦
Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Busprof, q.benjamin@gmail.com I dropped you an email.
I just dont get it ā¦ while on one hand you say L2 is a different beast all together ā¦ much tougher and all, while on the other hand you say do not start studying till december ?!! And the reasons you give : Burn Out , Peak out?? ā¦ What do these mean anywayā¦ what do you think our minds are, a queue following the FIFO algorithm ?? To Rote something real hard on red bulls and the like in 4-5 months and just spitting it out on the exam day is the worst way to study in my IMO. We all did that because we were resting on our L1 laurels, wanted to enjoy the summer etc etc. But the best way would always be the to give the material as much time as you can, absorb it as gradually as you can and let all the concepts sink in. When you grasp topic conceptually, you sure might forget it after some time but it comes back a zillion times faster when you re read it. So if someone is willing to sacrifice his summer and go for , then good for themā¦ all the very best , you are doing the right thing ā¦ So all you guys criticizing those early starters, just let them be, guess its just the frustration they are causing by jumping around the LII forum going gaga over their new books and new found enthusiasm while we guys are on tenterhooks ā¦ So take it easy guys ā¦different strokes for different folks
The reason why I love finance and economics is because all concepts can be directly related to every facet of life. For instance, equilibrium is where marginal benefit reaches marginal cost. In this situation, the marginal benefit is what you actually learn plus the fact that youāre onto the next level, so studying an extra 4 months on top of 5 full months should you start in January, to me, does not match up with the marginal cost should you fail. The reason being is that only thing that will change is whether you get to say youāre onto the next level or not, b/c the amount you learn by doing it a second time will probably be more than you studying for 9 months in a rowā¦ the area of psychology has proven that burnout exists, doesnāt matter who you are, whether burnout means lack of retention or lack of motivation, it happens. the marginal cost is only $600. if your probability of passing is 90%, studying for an extra 4 months and making it 95% doesnāt make sense to me. now if you were dumb, which it doesnāt sound like you are, and your initial probability was 30% and that extra 4 months would make it 95%, then maybe that would be enough to get to work right away. Anyway, to wrap it up, unless you have no friends, family, or enjoyment in your life, then study away asap, otherwise, give them some attention and yourself some attention too. thereās more to life than degrees and designations. but i donāt know. maybe thats just the inner economist in me and thats how i make sense of the world.
Yeahā¦ you do sound like an economist with all your stats, āequilibriumsā and āmarginal costsā. I love finance too (economics not so much ) , but my reasoning here is plain and simple ā¦ The amount studying I did for L1 was somthing I did probably over a span of two years in my under grad days. And yeah , i did pass my under grads with honours and had a time of my life doing so ā¦ We all do lots of multi tasking in our lives. Tell me what do you prefer: 1) Study gradually, spend time with all your loved ones, probably take one weekend in a month off from studying and dedicate it to your family, and then may be lock up for a month in the end for a full blown revision 2) Enjoy all your summer (mind you, you sure have the guilt of an impending exam on your mind , and the thought that you need to hit the books sooner than later) and then lock your self up for 5 months staright, behave like an antisocial and live with the constant fear that some friend or a relative might land up some weekend or something out of the plan might happen and ruin your delicate and fragile timetable ?? And I do not think when it comes to knowledge you break it down so simply into stats like 90% and 95% . Its all about how well do you understand the concepts, how well do you relate them to real life scenarios, and probably most importantly how much do you retain AFTER the exam.I think you are missing the point here. Why are we studying for CFA anyway ā¦ just pass it or to gain some serious knowledge out of it ?? ā¦ And I am sure the area of psychology has also proven that the more gradually you absorb something the more retentions powers you will have. So mate no ones dumb here ā¦ that fact we are in LII forum proves it ā¦ No one is right no one is wrong ā¦its the way you perceive it. We have passed too many exams in our life to know what are the best ways to go about itā¦ Just because we passed LII doesnt make us preachersā¦ of unsolicited advice especially .
How is the MC $600 if you fail? Is it definitely his prerogative if he wants to study now, impossible for you to tell someone what there 90 or 95% is in passing, or the value of his time if he failsā¦ honestly, who here isnt burnt out right now, in general???
eros79 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yeahā¦ you do sound like an economist with all > your stats, āequilibriumsā and āmarginal costsā. > I love finance too (economics not so much ) , but > my reasoning here is plain and simple ā¦ > > The amount studying I did for L1 was somthing I > did probably over a span of two years in my under > grad days. And yeah , i did pass my under grads > with honours and had a time of my life doing so > ā¦ We all do lots of multi tasking in our lives. > Tell me what do you prefer: > 1) Study gradually, spend time with all your loved > ones, probably take one weekend in a month off > from studying and dedicate it to your family, and > then may be lock up for a month in the end for a > full blown revision > 2) Enjoy all your summer (mind you, you sure have > the guilt of an impending exam on your mind , and > the thought that you need to hit the books sooner > than later) and then lock your self up for 5 > months staright, behave like an antisocial and > live with the constant fear that some friend or a > relative might land up some weekend or something > out of the plan might happen and ruin your > delicate and fragile timetable ?? > > And I do not think when it comes to knowledge you > break it down so simply into stats like 90% and > 95% . Its all about how well do you understand the > concepts, how well do you relate them to real life > scenarios, and probably most importantly how much > do you retain AFTER the exam.I think you are > missing the point here. Why are we studying for > CFA anyway ā¦ just pass it or to gain some serious > knowledge out of it ?? ā¦ > And I am sure the area of psychology has also > proven that the more gradually you absorb > something the more retentions powers you will > have. > > So mate no ones dumb here ā¦ that fact we are in > LII forum proves it ā¦ No one is right no one is > wrong ā¦its the way you perceive it. We have > passed too many exams in our life to know what are > the best ways to go about itā¦ Just because we > passed LII doesnt make us preachersā¦ of > unsolicited advice especially . I think weāre arguing different things here. Nobody ever said you canāt read the material 4-5 hours a week right now. The huge difference is when you sacrifice your family, friends, and your ability to enjoy life 10 MONTHS BEFORE THE EXAM DATE. Read casually right nowā¦build a base. But by no means should anyone be putting in over 5-10 hours a week right now. It is just pointless.
thats all i was really saying jalmy. study as long as you have time to enjoy yourself, but for me, with a job, 3 sports, and a girlfriend, those 4-5 hours would be halfassed and pointless. would rather just enjoy myself. the reason why the mc is $600 is because i framed the mb to include what you learn, i refrained from including any āmaterialā gain from attaining the charter earlier, my reason for that is because in my beliefs the charter gets you know where, it just give you the tools and some extra opportunity in some cases, but really it comes down to the individual. and eros, that was my whole point, its not passing that matters, its the ratio between time spend on the material and depth of understanding. for me, i might be able to change my probability of passing from 70% to 85% with an extra 3 months of studying, but Iād rather start in late February and kill it; I remember everything I read. I donāt half ass it with Schweser either by the way, I read the CFAI through 3 times before each exam. and I donāt know what kind of guilt gets you going, but these exams arenāt THAT hard, i mean, there are 100K+ holders of these charters so its not like theyāre impossible. most the people i know can get through them with under 2 months of study, mostly just weekends and not even all weekends. 100-150 hours max. bottom line: donāt waste your time now, winter sucks and winter is godās gift to studiers.
"So all you guys criticizing those early starters, just let them be, guess its just the frustration they are causing by jumping around the LII forum going gaga over their new books and new found enthusiasm while we guys are on tenterhooks ā¦ So take it easy guys ā¦different strokes for different folks " I like this guy already!