Hey guys, I passed the Level III exam, and I just wanted to thank everyone here for their support over the years! While I was studying for L3, I wrote down some of my thoughts on the things I had learnt going through the program about myself…and having now passed, I thought you guys might enjoy or relate to some of the below. Let me know what you guys think! Fear is a great motivator : Nothing motivates more then fear - fear of failure, of wasted effort, of having to face others after failing, of having to face yourself. Embrace that fear - it is a powerful ally. Be very afraid, and you will do your best. Negativity has a cost: Negative thoughts will consume you, and self-doubt will nip at you, sapping your motivation and your faith in yourself. Don’t listen to yourself, in fact, believe in your own abilities blindly and let nothing deter you from that belief. Your mind will howl otherwise, don’t give in to it. Your body has a shutdown switch : You can only push your body to a certain physical and mental limit - a limit I became quite familiar with. After that point, it simply doesn’t matter what you want to do, your body stops listening to you. That’s when you find yourself suddenly waking up in the middle of the night with the CFA text on your face, having fallen asleep halfway through a sentence. That’s when you know you’re working to potential. The tyranny of averages : Getting one out of a set of 6 questions wrong is a respectable 83%. But get just one more wrong and it drops all the way down to 66%. Ouch - one little mistake and you’re in the 60s! Obsessive but not compulsive, and it’s not a disorder: I personally tend to get obsessed with whatever I’m doing. In the case of the CFA program, that manifested in me spending hours and hours poring over something that I didn’t understand, and it bothering me and staying at the back of my head until I finally figured it out and made peace with it. I think that level of obsession, if you want to call it that, is necessary to get through this program. Do any “normal” people ever make it through this? Appreciate silence: I have never appreciated the beauty of silence more then I have during this program. Studying in complete silence, you can almost hear your thoughts, hear the gears click into place when something makes sense. Silence is a gift, and I have a much deeper appreciation for it now. If you’re not careful, you might be fooled into thinking you actually know what you’re talking about: Those of us who have finished the CFA program should be very careful to understand how little it is that we actually know about how the world in general and the financial world work. Yes, we know a lot of things now, but there is a ton more that we don’t know. Risk managers beware, black swans abound everywhere, and overconfidence in analysis is a sure way to guarantee dissapointment. Let’s be humble in our ignorance - lighting a candle in a cave does not illuminate the whole world. Success is abnormal, true accomplishment is lunacy: While I was studying, I remember hearing about how David Beckham used to practice curving a soccer ball right into the corner of the net hundreds of times a day, way before he became a superstar. That’s not normal, normal people don’t do that. Those of us who have seen the conclusion of the CFA program should remember that we are abnormal as normal people wouldn’t do what we’ve done. Those that go a step beyond, and become the next Warren Buffet or Bill Gross are not just abnormal - but almost lunatics by this scale. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all, it’s the lunatics who move this world forward.
Excellent post.
great summary.
I particularly liked the part about being obsessive.
I also liked the appreciation of silence, i grew to really like the 2 hours of study time in the morning before work. The whole process of getting up, coming to work and studying in silence for a few hours made me much more productive at work and much more relaxed.
I think this is important " If you’re not careful, you might be fooled into thinking you actually know what you’re talking about:"
someone who’s finance background mainly comes from the CFAI books needs to be very careful about what they project how much they know.
Example just recently: A person that passed L2 asking how to project sales and costs:
Excellent post!
I relate very well with 1 and 5. On 1, the fear factor! I feared that if I fail, I may lose the respect of some peeps who thought I am above average and almost “abnormal”; even though I think they are not so right about me being super. Also, a colleague and friend of mine breezed through the program within 18 months and I was keen to replicate the same, and luckily I did.
Again on 5, my fear propelled me into obsession. I lost every sense of fun and intimacy. My girl friend and family can attest to this. All that I wanted to do and talk about was the CFA. At a point, I was on self imposed house arrest. Staying indoors, and returning as quick as I can whenever I manage to leave the house.
I am glad it is all over now. I am still struggling to get my groove back though. I feel that sense of nostalgia. Maybe, I am permanently a changed person now after 18 months of solitude. I am almost feeling like a nerd. I know I must get over this, because it is hightime I resumed networking.
Great post!
I would also like to share one thing I learned most from CFA.
Your family and friends are equally important. The fastest way to pass all level takes you 2.5 years, some would even takes 4 to 5 years. It is too late to fix the broken relationship after all those years of indifference. So, go and ask them out!
A good summary in general.
Like all generalizations, it misses the mark occasionally – for some people a carrot is a much better motivator than a stick – but overall it’s quite good.
Thanks for taking the time to post this; it will unquestionably help candidates.
The user who posted that finally got her job as a Senior Analyst:
http://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-iii-forum/91324601 As we say in here: “what an overly generous world!”
I learnt there are too many idiots also in this forum alongwith some gems
Good post. My only quibble is with the fear point, which I don’t find to be entirely accurate. Fear is a negative thought and love is a more powerful motivator than fear.
I experienced most of it, and I think the CFA program gave me a more disciplined, balanced lifestyle.
Similarly to your turn off switch idea, I think the more I study in front of the books, the more i need to eat right and exercise regularly to recharge my energy.
I think i workout more during my exam preparation than any other time in my life ( i am a naturally skinny girl so i don’t exercise ^_^) But i do feel so low in energy if i don’t do anything active, i think it’s the stress and the bad hormones from studying perhaps?
I really agree with the fear thing. Cognitive Psychology does show that humans are twice as sensitive to the prospect of a loss, than to the prospect of a gain of the same magnitude. Definitely helps fuel the will power to study at night after a long day at work 
And the coolest thing i learned through the cfa program so far, is that indeed my body has a shutdown switch… BUT if u keep at it, u can learn to work harder and smarter for longer periods of time, and hence, delay whatever triggers the shutdown. While studying for L2 was averaging 4 hours of sleep a day (Feb-May)
Are we abnormal? or just academically well versed?
Don’t get me wrong, this is a tough program to finish considering the fact it is tailor more towards working professional rather than student.
I don’t think we can be consider abnormal:
- there are people who obtain CFA charter and went on to become bankrupt
- alot of top investment ‘gurus’ are not charterholders
Having said that, I am very curious as “Whose the most successful CFA charterholder as of current”
Good post brafique, very well thought out. no name - I’d view the CFA the same as I do an Ivy league college degree. It’s just an indicator of intelligence, not a guarantee of or prerequisite for success. It can help open doors, but won’t make you walk through them. I’d consider it abnormal to dedicate over 1000 hours towards a piece of paper that I’m sure most charterholders would say they could have been equally as successful without.
It’s, at best, a very poor indicator of intelligence. Many extremely intelligent people will never get a CFA charter or an Ivy League degree, and many less intelligent people will get one or the other. Dedication and persistence probably have a lot more to do with it than mere intelligence.
Of course there are outliers - some of the most brilliant and intelligent people in history never finished school, but those are few and far between. However if you were to take the individual credentials of a good degree, CFA, work experience at a reputable firm, good recommendations, etc then together they paint a very good picture of the person.
No question. I was simply disputing the usefulness of the CFA charter (or an Ivy League degree) as a measure of intelligence.