Best CFA approved Calculator

Hi,

Can anyone reccomend the most efficient financial calculator which is allowed by the CFA. ( I know this is bit of a subjective question). I have never used a financial calculator long enough to start getting used to one. So I’m open for suggestions.

I have heard that the 'Texas Instruments BII Plus Professional Financial Calculator" is the best out there.

Any reccomendation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

LP

TI BA II

TI BA II Plus

TI BA II Plus Professional

Get any of those and you will be okay!

Thanks for the quick favorable response appreciate it :slight_smile:

Some people reccomended the HP models. I did not like HP’s outlay, lol.

Schweser recommends the TI calculators and uses them in the examples…

Yeah Elan’s examples only cater to the TI as well…

Thanks :slight_smile:

Really depends on your preference. Most people prefer the TI’s. I’m a HP person myself. Either way I found it helpful to buy the newest model of the CFA approved calculator to make sure you get the best processors. This make sure you have a fast calculator for exam day.

go HP

If you want to look like an amateur, then use the TI. If you want to look like a professional, you got to go with the HP 12C It is the industry standard and way faster than the TI to do long calculations once you learn RPN. Eventually you will stop using the financial calculator registers and start doing things via formula, which will make you a lot faster using RPN.

^ Bull crap, I use the TI and all the younger star analysts I worked with used the TI. It basically came down to this, the older guys used their heritage HP’s and the younger ones used the TI. That whole “look like a professional” thing is a load of crap.

This is hilarious. Ultimate shootdown. BOOM!

As I said, I think it’s a matter a preference. I’d say bull crap as well if you’re saying that everybody old use HP’s and everybody younger use TI’s.

The exam is an intense 6-hour “war”. As such, you should choose a “weapon” you’re most comfortable with.

I used the TI 10BA II while completing my MSF and it wasn’t until I was almost done with the program that I switched to the 12C. The primary reason I switched was because everyone I worked with used the 12C and the metal polished casing just looked bad ass. After I got used to RPN and the memory stacks, I was able to fly through long caculations which would have taken much longer and required pen and paper to finish with the TI using algebraic notation. Another feature on the 12c that I use alot for the cfa exams is the weighted average function which I don’t think is available on the TI and helps avoid errors and having to go through and calculate weights and suming the product of the values and weights. My previous response more a joke than anything. Just my 2 cents.

HP 12C. Once you understand the logic and simplicy of RPN, you’ll never go back. Once you pass Level I, you’ll never see this question discussed again either.

RPN is very nice if you can stand to learn it and use it, however, I strongly recommend the BA II Plus. But I’m also not the type of person that needs a calculator to do arithmetic for me, especially with integers, and I solve most problems with a TI-30XS due to actuarial training. So… do whatever works for you, but for most people that ends up being the TI line.

FWIW, at Levels II and III, the choice of calcutor is less important. The formulas are more longhand and require less of the advanced features these calculators possess.

Talked to a few of my buds who have finished level I and they all used the BA II plus. Just copped mine on eBay for cheaper than I could get it here in Calgary. Go figure. Hustle hard!

The best calculator is simple: the one with which you have practiced and on which you are skilled.

I use the HP because I had to buy it for a cash flow analysis class I taught years ago the textbood for which was based on the HP. So I got good at using the HP. If I’d bought the TI, I’d have gotten good at using that TI and that’s the one I’d use.

12c Platinum rules

I used the 12c on the exam in the late 1990s. However, I’ve never seen any person, ever, using a financial claculator in any office I’ve worked in, in any of the past 12 jobs I’ve had. I think a caclulator is kind of nice if you’re banging through a very simple PV or FV problem, like you may see on test. However, in the real world, there’s no way any calculator would be able to do even 1/1,000,000 of the work that I do on a daily basis. On a dailybasis, I run dozens and dozens of automation models, and do all kinds of .NET programming, as well as SQL set programming. It’s absolutely rediculous to think a calculator will do the work of a real financial analyst. The files I deal with are several gigabites in size, and it takes hours and hours for the fastest computers at my firm to get through the data sets, and process the logic. In my opinion, this is real financial aalysis. What the CFA Institute teaches, especially with the TI and HP, is really just nonsense.