Attention charterholders

Did any of you ever finish the charter and regret it?

Already thinking about giving up on studying?

Disregard. Was intoxicated.

I regret it. Not best ROI. …but if we are talking about waste of time… MBA was biggest waste of time and money.

In my case, was a good ROI, not a bad way to learn finance for a couple grand, skills that applicable to my personal finances and my folk’s too. And got me a job. I would have spent that time on less productive things.

There was a time when I did mildly regret it, merely because of the sheer number of hours it took and the further away from it you get the less you notice the career ops it gets you. Then out of nowhere I got 2 big opportunities that I wouldn’t have got without it. 1 which ended up in me staying where I was but with a bump in salary and 1 I ended up taking for another huge bump.

No regret. I feel like it has given me tangible and intangible boosts to my career.

That’s all I was on about last night. I was in the gym at 5am yesterday, and then in the office for close to 11 hours, and then in the library for 4 hours. I needed to destress and went to a bar by my house where I could just read a book and chill. Pretty cute bartender that kept feeding me 2 dollar margaritas all night, and eventually led to me making this thread looking like an idiot (which in the grand scheme of things is the only place I made a fool of myself, I’m okay with it lol).

I also want to clarify I don’t regret the CFA program - passing L2 single handedly got me my new job and I legit have one of the best bosses you could ever ask for.

If you asked me this question two weeks ago I would’ve said yes. Got the charter in 2017, had nothing come out of it and was getting super frustrated. But last week I got a job offer and now things are looking up!

I have mixed emotions about it.

I live in an area where CFA Charterholders are in very small demand. There is very little institutional portfolio management, and if there is, it’s being done at one of the big banks where they train the Charterholders in Dallas or Phoenix, then send them out here. So basically, there is zero opportunity to get hired in my hometown in a “traditional CFA”-type role.

Also, most of the public has absolutely no awareness of it. They think it stands for “Certified Financial Advisor”, and equate it to the CFP, but with relative obscurity.

However, I do think that going through the process gave me some tools and some ability to think for myself. Like I told somebody the other day, “The CPA curriculum teaches you what to know. The CFA curriculum teaches you how to think.”

Also, when I meet with clients who actually ask what the CFA is, I tell them, “When your current advisor has a question, they call their supervisor. If their supervisor can’t answer them, they call a CFA. Well, I’m a CFA.” So I hope that gives me some credibility over the guy at Edward Jones.

Just give them a link to the WC, should clear up any questions or concerns they may have.

Besides professional cred, the program was worth it because my kids saw me study. They learned how to dedicate themselves to a goal, how to fail (several times), get your ass up and work until you pass. I am certain that their excellent study habits are tied to what they saw when I was in the program.

Direct them to some OG SG articles on Advisor Perspectives. This here is financial advice that could only come from a CFA Charterholder and top 10 MBA grad. Holy crap, I just noticed she has a podcast! https://www.advisorperspectives.com/search?author=Sara%20Grillo

did you get her number?

smh smh smh…ethics violations right there! :wink:

Oh crap, here we go again…

Saying you regret CFA studying is like saying you regret learning. I am taking the exam after already working almost 20 yrs in IB, private equity and hedge funds and I am still learning new stuff. As an elder on this board, let me tell ya nothing will flat-line your career in this industry faster than if you stop learning. You might think it won’t happen to you cuz you’re a smarty pants, but I see it every day.

Funny, for me it is the opposite, I got so much more out of the MBA than CFA.

You’re a lvl3 candidate, I don’t think you can really talk about the benefits of having the Charter yet.

That’s true, I just meant studying for CFA versus studying for MBA.