Do you know the Salary of a Wall Street Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

The “New York Sun” newspaper reported in 2006 that there are 50,000 CFAs in the United States, with nearly 20 percent of them working in New York City. These financial analysts earn a median salary of $180,000 a year, which the newspaper reported averages 54 percent higher than salaries of financial analysts with comparable experience. For earning power, the CFA even beats the prestigious MBA degree. The “Sun” reported that a CFA with 10 years of experience earns an average of 18 percent more than an investment analyst with an MBA only. About 60 percent of CFAs have a graduate degree, as well. Salaries and Bonuses The average CFA on Wall Street and elsewhere in the U.S. earned an average base salary of $184,000 a year in 2002, plus bonus compensation. Overall, the average CFA earned $304,000 in salary and bonuses, according to the a report by the “National Post Business” in Canada. In addition, a CFA with 10 years of experience earned an average total compensation package of $392,000 a year, the “Post” reported. Potential

I would be curious to know the salary difference of CFA charterholders against CFA charterholders with a graduate degree

iteracom Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I would be curious to know the salary difference > of CFA charterholders against CFA > charterholders with a graduate degree WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT CFA (DELTA) MBA MIND BLOWN.

$300k seems a bit high. What is the source of their statistics?

Just be sure they didn’t remove all unemployed charterholders from the sample. There is likely self-reporting and selection bias on that anyway.

The only number that matters is the one you receive at the end of the month.

bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just be sure they didn’t remove all unemployed > charterholders from the sample. There is likely > self-reporting and selection bias on that anyway. Actually, you bring up a good point about unemployed people. Maybe it’s more accurate to report compensation averages with a zero entry for the percentage of people with no jobs. I don’t think most surveys do this. This would give a better expected value of compensation.

Well, it’s a tough calculation. You could have a person wealthy enough to trade/invest their own funds and live off the proceeds. But they’d likely be unemployed (though they could be self-employed, depending on how they perceive themselves). I’d just like to see a % charterholders employed / self-employed / unemployed, and then median work-related income for each. (Remember that unemployed may include people unemployed less than a year, so it is not necessarily $0)

If after 10 yrs in your career you’re still basing you pay off your education and certification (and not performance), you need to get a different employer. Assuming these analysts with the same experience level had similar workloads, the ones that didn’t have the drive to sacrifice 3+ years of their lives for this certification theoretically are less driven.

I think we need a new CFA compensation survey.

kevin0118 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If after 10 yrs in your career you’re still basing > you pay off your education and certification (and > not performance), you need to get a different > employer. > I think it’s still somewhat relevant to consider certifications in these cases. For instance, if you get a Harvard MBA earlier in your career, this might put you on a trajectory to succeed for the next 10 years. Hence, the guy with 10 years experience with the Harvard MBA might have measurably higher compensation than another guy who did not get a Harvard MBA 10 years ago. Obviously, this information is less useful for people who already have 10 years of experience and are considering a Harvard MBA.

I think the median salary tells more than the average salary. Average salaries tend to be skewed upwards by a few mega-earners.