CFA membership

CFA General
#1

Hi all,

I would like to become a member of CFA society. However, when I look up on the membership application, they require you to have two regular members to sponsor you. I don’t know anyone who is a member of CFA society. Do you know if there is other way around it? Or do you know what I should do to help me network with those members?

Also, I checked the CFA website and it seems that you don’t have to pass all three levels to apply for a membership. Am I understanding it right?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

#2

There’s a difference between CFA societies and the CFA Institute. The sponsor requirement is part of becoming a charterholder and you need to pass the exams first.

In the meantime, you can usually become a member of your local society. Check out your local society for membership options (typically, once you pass Level I you can join as a Candidate member or you can become a Student member if you are still in school):

http://www.cfainstitute.org/about/locations/Pages/society_directory.aspx

#3

Call up your local society (the one you are interested in joining) and typically they have a mememer service person who can referral you to some current memeber for the sponsoring. My society members were very nice abou this.

#4

You can become an affiliate member of CFA Institute before taking any of the exams, but you do need two sponsors. Only one of the sponsors has to be a charterholder – the other is your manager. After you have passed Level I and met the experience requirement, you can become a regular member. As a regular member, you get to vote on all kinds of things including, quite ironically, what subjects are covered on the CFA exams!

#5

Thanks all. I will try to contact my local CFA society to see if I can get in. It is really good to know how this thing works.

You all are the best !

#6

It pisses me off that there are always people up for election on the CFAI board that don’t even have the damn designation.

There is no way in hell I’m voting for someone to run a program that they can only relate to conceptually, since they never with through the process and have no vested interest in preserving the designation (other than their salary, which is rather high and paid by the volume of member dues). I would support a requirement saying that nobody can serve on the CFAI board w/o having the designation.