Dads and CFA?

Just did L1 2 weeks ago. Lovin life right now chasing my 2 year old around the house. I heard about this board recently and find it funny and helpful. I can tell that there are alot of young people on this board and damm, I wish I did this 10 years ago. I don’t know how many nights I enjoyed changing diapers more than reading about indirect and direct methods.

I hear you… I am dad too… 2 kids… I started reading for Level 1. Continuous learing is part of life. I love reading these books, at least for now…

I am a dad of two as well. My kids hate the CFA. I told them it means Certified Fun Adult and it helped.

Just took Level 1 in December and my first child is due in early March, so I am about to figure out just how tough a balacing act it will be.

You really need a good luck budfox247 I pray God be kind to you :-o))

my first born arrived in Oct -45 days before the Dec L1. It helped that I had finished my prep by mid september. i resumed studies 3 weeks before the exam,but boy, its a difficult act. atleast i am not a woman. infinitely tougher for a woman to study and care for her baby at the same time . if you search the L3 forum, there was atleast one such thread about CFA-Parents.its a familiar story,worldwide.

Having new kids is the best. Sometimes I look at my kids (mostly grown now) and think that if they died tomorrow, what would I do for one more day with them. Kinda makes the CFA exam seem trivial.

I took LI in Dec and I have 3 year old girl who, to this day, still asks me every morning “Daddy, do you have to study today?”. I wish I did this 10 years ago too. Did the MBA instead.

Yep…same boat…I have a 15 month old at home. Finished my MBA 3 years ago, took a half-hearted poke at the L1 back then, finally got serious about it this year. Balancing act is definately how I would describe it…

had my first daughter 10 days before level one last june. studying for level 2 now. my wife stays at home so that makes it easier, but i feel guilty when i’m studying after being at work all day and i only get to see my daughter for 2-3 hours a day. then again, everything i do is for her now anyway.

I kept telling myself each night, dragging my butt down to the office that I’m doing it for her. To prove that if you bust your tail, you can make something of yourself.

This thread is encouraging. I am a dad to two ( 4 1/2 and 2 1/2) with another due in a couple of weeks. I sat for Level I in 2005 two months after the second was born. Needless to say, the wife was not happy then, and not happy now that I’ve declared that I’m signing up again. I’m planning on getting up at 5am, study and hour before work, study during lunch, and then another 1 or so after the kids are down. Hopefully, this time will be better.

WOW! That is wonderful! I’m happy that there are so many of us in the same (turbulent) boat. I got 20months daughter and she wants to tear my books before I read them! It makes me feel guilty sometime the hardship that my partner takes to support for CFA, especially at this point in life. But I totally agree with Joey that CFA becomes trivial if we know how important is the joy that comes from being father and chasing your child in the house…

I, too, have a 3 year old daughter, and I tried juggling father duties, a full-time ER gig (50-70h/week), finishing my MS Finance degree and working nights as a bartender. I wised up about two years ago after failing level I, dropped down to one class per term and just recently quit working the second job. I tried to do it all, and I found that I really didn’t have enough time for myself and my family, so I slowed down the process. I signed up for my last MSF class for Spring term, and even though it will have taken me five years to achieve, that doesn’t diminish my sense of accomplishment. Once that degree is out of the way, I plan on taking on the CFA once more (December level I). Trying to schedule time to do it all is difficult, but certainly not impossible. Just be sure to focus on the moment - your daughter will remember how fun it was to play with daddy/mommy for that 2-3 hours, more so than she will remember how long she waited for you to come home after a long day at work. We are all pretty young (I just turned 31, so I guess that is debatable) and have all the time in the world to get these life goals finished. Take some time to smell the roses along the way.

Great to read this thread. I have one due in early February (my 1st) and just took the L1. Any advice on how to best juggle a healthy marriage, being a good father, and preparing properly for the CFA exams I would really appreciate it. Any good success stories from studying from 1-3 am while walking around with your baby in your arms or bjorn (sp?) All I hear from friends is that the amount of sleep is going to go down by about 50% on an average night. I have a very understanding wife but I know it’s going to get more difficult with a newborn and hopefully a lot of L2 preparation. Good luck with everyone in this thread and I would love to hear your success stories and maybe as important what not to do. GMOFDEN

I have no kids and none are expected any time soon, but I have tons of respect for all of you, guys. I had enough problems juggling the CFA program prep and relationship with my girlfriend. I can’t even think what whould have happened if I had any kinds.

I have 3 girls (6, 10 and 11) a wife and a full time job. I’m 38. I have to add that english is for me a foreign language. I prepared the Level 1 in less than 3 months, having very few social activities during that time (took a few days to go and see my mum at the hospital tough). You know what? I loved it! I loved being fully concentrated on one subject (if I can say that there is just one subject). I learned a lot - and still think I have a lot to learn. I hope I’ll pass level 1 and will then take level 2 in June 08. Should have done that earlier? Yes, probably. But I have done other interesting things as well. So nothing to regret. Am I going to use it on my day to day work? May be if I change job. But you know, I’m taking it also for the challenge and to learn new things. Regards, Marc

I just saw another thread that talked about how if you were 40, you were an old fart. Most of the posters were 20 somethings, fresh out of school. Now that I’m on the downside of 30, it constantly shocks me that job experience is pushed aside as not being as important as book smart. Most of the “kids” on this forum have never seen a down market. I stated in the business in 1992, rode out the Russian Ruble crisis and LTCM (that’s Long Term Capital Management for those who were not in the business world pre-1997), traded bonds and convertables at the biggest shop in town, saw the stock market meltdown in 2000, traded equities derivatives for three years, and ran my own money fund. Yet, somehow, my experience is viewed in a lessor light versus some 20 something with a CFA. Yeah, they’re book smart, but do they know what to do when the market turns on them? Or, do they pull out a text book and flip through pages trying to find an example? Me, I’m doing this because I want to augment what I already know. But in the real world, I’ll take someone with some street smarts, whose been around the block a couple of times over someone whose fresh out of B school with a CFA whose never done anything except get me my coffee in the am. Cheers and Merry Christmas.