I’m curious how many of you are jumping through these hoops because it looks good in the eyes of an employer or client, rather than for the reason that the CFA curriculum offers an education of such merit that it is indispensable. I have learned much more than I expected in L2, and have not begun L3 studies. I hope to become enriched during my L3 studies. I appreciate the program, and I am humble before these demanding tests. But when you know that the real money is made creating mad HFT algos, why bother understanding the nuances of different equity valuation measures? It’s not fundamentals that seem to matter these days. At least it doesn’t seem so to me. Am I the only one pursuing this credential because it’s what others expect? If I had any stones I would go my own way, but the truth is that I don’t know how much longer I’ll enjoy working around fictions. Maybe I’ve visited zero hedge one too many times…
All I can say is that I am not pursing the CFA Charter to earn “real money” It is a great credential to signal that you are ready to work a little harder and probably many people just go for it because of that but what real matters to me is that I feel that you get a pretty solid foundation to be in finance and that it doesn’t miss out on the most important fact that it is also about reasonable behavior and ethics in our field. For instance my wife works in compliance and is doing the CFA just because she thinks it is reasonable to understand as much as possible what the PMs are “doing”. I work in AM (for frontier markets) and firmly believe that it isn’t sustainable to solely trust models and all the kind of quant stuff. To me fundamentals actually matter as does common sense. So far for us studying for the exams was somehow fun and I really think that this puppy shouldn’t be earned just because somebody thinks that it looks good on a piece of paper.
I disagree. I’ve done my MBA from a Tier -2 college in India where the education wasn’t very deep. It’s the CFA Program that took me a lot deeper to Finance - especially in Equity, Fixed Income, PM and Derivatives; all of which will be useful in my Job Search.
RahulMulchandani Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I disagree. I’ve done my MBA from a Tier -2 > college in India where the education wasn’t very > deep. It’s the CFA Program that took me a lot > deeper to Finance - especially in Equity, Fixed > Income, PM and Derivatives; all of which will be > useful in my Job Search. yeah, because you made two mistakes; did your MBA from India and did from tier-2 
I am pursuing CFA to impress others and imply to clients that I have the ability to generate superior returns. I don’t care about the course work because I’ll forget most of it a minute after I pass level 3.
@Ashwin ***I am pursuing CFA to impress others and imply to clients that I have the ability to generate superior returns. I don’t care about the course work because I’ll forget most of it a minute after I pass level 3.*** You suck at ethics. 
I think that it is a very useful program. It does not give you complete answers to what is right and what is wrong. However, what I personally like is that you get to know what all literature exists for most of the topic areas. No one works on all the areas so in that sense studying for the exams is not much of practical value. However, focusing on the area(s) that is/are of interest to you and delving down deeper into the reference readings gives you some tools to broaden your thinking. I do not regret at all registering for the program. I have mostly read from the curriculum books and enjoyed the time I have spent with them. I do not know of any other text which is written and structured that well.
Like it or not, CFA is the gold standard. Period
Ashwin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > RahulMulchandani Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I disagree. I’ve done my MBA from a Tier -2 > > college in India where the education wasn’t > very > > deep. It’s the CFA Program that took me a lot > > deeper to Finance - especially in Equity, Fixed > > Income, PM and Derivatives; all of which will > be > > useful in my Job Search. > > > yeah, because you made two mistakes; did your MBA > from India and did from tier-2 > > I am pursuing CFA to impress others and imply to > clients that I have the ability to generate > superior returns. I don’t care about the course > work because I’ll forget most of it a minute after > I pass level 3. Have you given or planning to give GMAT. I second your Indian MBA comment. However not everyone targets expensive US/UK MBA and wild west ride. Quite a significant percentage of CFAers in India are looking to work in India.
>>I’m curious how many of you are jumping through these hoops because it looks good in the eyes of an employer or client, rather than for the reason that the CFA curriculum offers an education of such merit that it is indispensable This may be why I started, but I’ve learned so much more (both about finance and myself) then I ever could have imagined going through this program. It’s made me a significantly better employee, I can carry on conversations with PMs and clients that I never would have been able to do before. Without a doubt, the most challenging and useful thing I have done in my life in terms of education. You get deep exposure to so many areas, will I remember how to construct a 2 bond hedge off the top of my head 3 years from now? No, but if I had to I could grab the book and re-learn it with a few hours of work. I think the CFA is a great great program… but do I hope I done with it.
It’s great to hear the responses. There is a quote from Vanderbilt, ‘if I would have spent my time doing education I wouldn’t have had time for anything else’. That’s good if you’re a Vanderbilt. Maybe the rest of us should just learn the old forms and make sturdy houses in the conventional and accepted fashion of our forebears. There is a certain volatility-minimizing aspect of going the CFA route, and we appreciate that volatility erodes returns given two identical arithmetic mean returns. Vanderbilts have exceptional mean returns, more than enough to compensate for the higher volatility. But it is hard, at least for me, to resist the call to be the brave explorer, and stake your flag on new theory and new ways. I don’t know about you, but in L1 and L2, I would find myself often criticizing the CFA materials, thinking, ‘that’s flawed’. ‘that’s not quite right’. ‘that’s too neatly wrapped in a package’. But the curriculum is not about an intellectual adventure and arriving at a closer semblance of truth. It’s about passing a language test, and the language is CFA-ese. Which is a useful language. cheers.
i am pursuing cfa so i can impress the ladies
Interesting thread - I’ve come to this conclusion: CFA will help if you want to work for others. If you want to work for yourself, the CFA will probably be useless.
“It’s about passing a language test, and the language is CFA-ese. Which is a useful language.” That’s actually a pretty good description. I hope you don’t mind if I adopt a variation of this explanation for regular usage.
>>Interesting thread - I’ve come to this conclusion: >>CFA will help if you want to work for others. If you want to work for yourself, the CFA >>will probably be useless. Completely disagree. If you want to round up clients and set up your own little shop, the CFA will lend credibility. To the lay person, the CFA signals some sort of authority in financial matters and they’re more willing to trust their money to someone with it than to someone without it. In my experience: people who know a lot about the CFA know that the CFA doesn’t necessarily mean all that much. People who know a little about the CFA, think the CFA is the holy grail of Finance. People who don’t know about the CFA, think you’re a douche bag for talking about the CFA.
Dude, it’s just a badge that you can show to others and boast about yourself. In educational view, I think that the programme is useful; however, I really expect more topics about techinical analysis.
I just didn’t know better when I enrolled, but many seem to appreciate association with CFA, even tho I don’t even have the letters after my name. I’m 24, my philosophy is more education never hurts at this stage in my career.
CFA has given me the tools to do stuff I didnt think I could do. Now I’m building my own OAS model…never could have done this without it. changed my career.
CPierce Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Interesting thread - I’ve come to this conclusion: > > > CFA will help if you want to work for others. If > you want to work for yourself, the CFA will > probably be useless. O CFA is so useful if you wanna be an entrepreneur…you have no clue! 250%+ returns…i wouldn’t be able to fetch that without CFA n FRM material. 
Here are my reasons for tackling this beast. I have no finance background, no business degree, and never worked in the financial sector. I am employed with a government and feel pretty comfortable so far. Entry level pay for financial analysts (aka CFA grads) is simply ridiculous. It is disconcerting to bend your back for some honchos for 30k after going through the CFA nightmare. Thus no plans to enter the industry in the near future. I passed both Level 1 and 2 on first try. The only reason I take CFA is to understand the financial sector. I lost a lot of money in stocks and options and feel this is the way to redeem myself. Call me a nerd but doing CFA gives me an adrenaline rush. Cheers.
its cheaper than an MBA