CFA Salary Surveys - are they real?

I’ve seen many CFA salary surveys that show that the average and median salaries are at least 150k-200k a year. Are these surveys representative of the general CFA population? Or do you think that people who took part in the survey just happen to be the ones that are really successful?

You are looking it wrongly.

It should be read as - Successful financial profesionals take many certification exams (including CFA) to learn, re-learn or stay up-to-date in their chosen field.

it should not be read as - People who took certification exams (including CFA) became successful.

The salary numbers you are seeing belong to ‘successful financial professional’. These professionals are also likely to have bachelor’s from top notch schools, MBA from top notch schools, some other certifications e.g. CA, CPA, FRM, CAIA etc.

I believe things will be clear once you read the additional details provided in the survey. Look for age, experience, gender, location, employer etc.

Phil

key terms AVG AND MEDIAN

probably heavily skewed. suffering from selection bias and survivorship bias lol

is 150-200k balling?

anything over 100k is balling in my book lol

Uh, how old are you?

400k is balling

29 lol

My advice - change jobs every 2 years. Only way you’re going to get legit raises.

+1

Where do you live that $100k is balling? That’s my minimum survival amount in Southern California.

Self-reported salary surveys are about as accurate as self-reported penis-size surveys, studies about how many people respondents have slept with (overreported by men and underreported by females), and self-reported weight and age info on dating websites; they should be taken with a grain of salt.

ROFL,

_ Acheivement unlocked:- Full Savage mode _

Lol