So, last year I had a lot of free time - just moved to SF and was starting a new job. I currently work on the insurance end of finance and don’t have any “relevant work experience” as it would apply to the charter process. I was originally using the CFA exam as a transition into a more finance related role, door-opener so to speak, but now with the markets frozen and everything going to crap I’m having a really hard time convincing myself Level 2 is worth it. Honestly, I passed Level 1 in June and couldn’t even get an interview at any traditional “finance” firms. Now I’m not sure if I even want to pursue finance. It seems like there are many other career options and endeavors that may not put a Bentley in my driveway but will definitely put me at 6 figures before i turn 30. Is it a bad idea to skip 2009 and pick it up in 2010 after the markets stabilize? Who feels me?
or you can have it already when the market stabilize…
I named my dog “Motivation.” I have trouble finding him from time to time, but he always comes back at some point . . .
Went to bed last night thinking about the chapters I haven’t learned yet (corp finance, fixed income, alt inv, deriv, pm), thought how much time I have between now and june, and felt very discouraged.
Try to read literally one or two pages per day, and you’ll find yourself back on track automatically …
If you don’t find this stuff extremely intrinsically interesting, perhaps consider another career. The money is a poor motivator for long term goals if the material and work is dull and uninteresting. I derive plenty of pleasure from thinking about the material in the CFA program and the markets in general, the money is icing on the cake.
Oh god, I just don’t feel like going through it - the material is interesting, but there is so much so it’s hard to continue to keep the party going.
sublimity Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you don’t find this stuff extremely > intrinsically interesting, perhaps consider > another career. The money is a poor motivator for > long term goals if the material and work is dull > and uninteresting. > > I derive plenty of pleasure from thinking about > the material in the CFA program and the markets in > general, the money is icing on the cake. That’s pretty much what I was going to say. I agree 100%. “If you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life.” - Confucius
And INTJs think alike. 
LOL. Apparently we do. Oddly enough, we appear to think in a way that nobody else does.
Yeah, since we love CFA study, lol!
HAHA. Very true.
Ok, what’s an INTJ? I didn’t get the joke. I definitely find alot of this stuff to be interesting but some more intense portions of quant I just can’t muster up much excitement over. I mean seriously multiple-linear regression and time-series analysis sucks. I think it’d be different if there wasn’t a huge probability that we won’t even be tested on it. Stalla said that there would maybe be just one or two item sets over all of quant. We all find different parts that interest us more than others, but I have a few true motivations: 1.) Interest in the material (sometimes) 2.) Major respect from peers 3.) Being able to draw upon the knowledge in a professional setting 4.) Potentially major bucks They all factor in, plus the weather sucks here so I’m making the most of my time before spring rolls around.
thenson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Ok, what’s an INTJ? I didn’t get the joke. > > I definitely find alot of this stuff to be > interesting but some more intense portions of > quant I just can’t muster up much excitement over. > I mean seriously multiple-linear regression and > time-series analysis sucks. > > I think it’d be different if there wasn’t a huge > probability that we won’t even be tested on it. > Stalla said that there would maybe be just one or > two item sets over all of quant. > > We all find different parts that interest us more > than others, but I have a few true motivations: > > 1.) Interest in the material (sometimes) > 2.) Major respect from peers > 3.) Being able to draw upon the knowledge in a > professional setting > 4.) Potentially major bucks > > They all factor in, plus the weather sucks here so > I’m making the most of my time before spring rolls > around. http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?1,886173 Meyers-Briggs personality type.
thenson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Ok, what’s an INTJ? I didn’t get the joke. At best you don’t know your personality type, and at worst you don’t have any:) Its not a joke! Know thyself.
>At best you don’t know your personality type, and at worst you don’t have any:) Um, thanks i think. But, I don’t need to know my Meyers-Briggs classification to know myself or understand my own personality type. No more than I need self-help books to help myself. Think about it. That said, maybe I’ll take some time to do the test in late June while I wait for results. I’d take it for kicks though, not because it would define me or anything.
who said making money wasn’t enjoyable? 
I understand the feeling, sometimes im really motivated to do it because of the better job opportunity and because I am really interested in the material. But it’s an investment and it takes alot of time and effort from you and Im just scared it wont pay out like it should with a better job cause I know nothing in life is guaranteed.
JOE2010 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > At best you don’t know your personality type, and > at worst you don’t have any:) What JOE2010 means is that being an actuary is worse than being ignorant, LOL.
SFOCFA, I completely hear you, but I guess my motivational hump is more on the MBA side. Even though I’ve been telling myself for years that this would be the year I apply to b-schools, I just can’t bring myself to do it with this crap economy, and there’s no certainty that there would be a job waiting out the other end. I guess I think of CFA as the cheap alternative to b-school. If the economy stays in a long-term slump, or if finance shrinks relative to the rest of the economy (which it’s almost certain to do), then we’ll be glad we didn’t waste $150k on an mba and yet we’ll still be competitive with a cfa in our pockets. I’m in an industry where I use the cfa material a lot, but it’s all in the context of litigation, so its valuations that would have applied 2-5 years ago, not today. I’m hoping that the cfa will be my exit strategy, so that I can make the jump to asset management. But yeah, it’s a hell of a lot of work for an “option”.