I am a Financial Advisor for a large retail brokerage firm. I have 8 years FA experience. My firm does not support the CFA designation for FAs. Instead, the would rather see us obtain the CFP, etc. At this point in time, I am more interested from a learning/material standpoint in the CFA courseload. I am curious to know if any FAs feel or felt the same way. I am not sure what career path direction an FA with his CFA could go. I’d appreciate any help. Thank you.
There is one lady who holds the designation in my office and one guy who is waiting to hear about L3 results. It more of an exception and not the norm i’d say, as most people who are clients of an FA have no clue/could care less.
Out of all the FAs I work with the only CFAs I encounter are analysts on the huge teams, or at RIAs. I don’t ever run into Joe Blow, CFA at Ameriprise.
What are your career goals?
You can transition to a medium sized RIA to become a PM pretty easily provided you have a book to follow you.
Career Goals: get away from the retail client; break into the institutional world (if i knew how to do this), expand knowledge base, and take over for Saul Panell at ITHAX. That last part is a joke, but interested in exploring ways to get away from retail world. It seems like every transition is based on the need to have a portable book of biz, but when looking to start fresh, it’s very tough. I know, welcome to the crowd…thoughts?
People always say the MBA is needed for IB but not the CFA. I don’t understand why that would be the case. The CFA hits on all the same things that an MBA in Finance would hit on. Valuation, economics, corp finance, quant etc etc etc. To me, if you’re going into Finance, the CFA relates. So stupid. I’m going back for my Masters degree in Accounting, I have a bachelors in Business administration and I 'm a lvl 3 candidate and I plan on taking the CPA exam soon but because I’m not graduating with an MBA degree I’m not smart enough/capable of obtaining a job in IB?? So aggravating.
mike101176 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Career Goals: get away from the retail client; > break into the institutional world (if i knew how > to do this), expand knowledge base, and take over > for Saul Panell at ITHAX. That last part is a > joke, but interested in exploring ways to get away > from retail world. It seems like every transition > is based on the need to have a portable book of > biz, but when looking to start fresh, it’s very > tough. I know, welcome to the crowd…thoughts? Always look at things from the client’s perspective. PM me @ samatnyc@gmail.com.
mike101176 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am a Financial Advisor for a large retail > brokerage firm. I have 8 years FA experience. My > firm does not support the CFA designation for FAs. > Instead, the would rather see us obtain the CFP, > etc. At this point in time, I am more interested > from a learning/material standpoint in the CFA > courseload. I am curious to know if any FAs feel > or felt the same way. I am not sure what career > path direction an FA with his CFA could go. I’d > appreciate any help. Thank you. I was an FA at MSSB went through the CFA program and switched to intuitional side when I got my charter. The more you go through the program the more you will find out that retail is so difficult. They just do not get it on the retail side. It is 90% sales and 10% investing/research (maybe even more sales). That drove me nuts. They very much wanted me to do the CFP, which I did not want to nor would I do. I would say that the FAs that I know who do have the CFA charter are mostly PMs and/or do intuitional $$$ (401k, pensions, endowments, charities etc.)
mike101176 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am a Financial Advisor for a large retail > brokerage firm. I have 8 years FA experience. My > firm does not support the CFA designation for FAs. > Instead, the would rather see us obtain the CFP, > etc. At this point in time, I am more interested > from a learning/material standpoint in the CFA > courseload. I am curious to know if any FAs feel > or felt the same way. I am not sure what career > path direction an FA with his CFA could go. I’d > appreciate any help. Thank you. I’m an FA with 6 yrs at a large retail firm. I finished my CFP 2 years ago and am looking at starting the CFA next June(I would take L1 this Dec but I can’t give up football season). My company will reimburse me for the expenses. I’m excited about the more in depth learning material, I also feel like I’m getting burned out on the retail side and that is the main reason why I want to get the CFA so that I can perhaps get on the institutional side a few years down the road.
CFA Jay Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > mike101176 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I am a Financial Advisor for a large retail > > brokerage firm. I have 8 years FA experience. > My > > firm does not support the CFA designation for > FAs. > > Instead, the would rather see us obtain the > CFP, > > etc. At this point in time, I am more > interested > > from a learning/material standpoint in the CFA > > courseload. I am curious to know if any FAs > feel > > or felt the same way. I am not sure what > career > > path direction an FA with his CFA could go. > I’d > > appreciate any help. Thank you. > > I was an FA at MSSB went through the CFA program > and switched to intuitional side when I got my > charter. The more you go through the program the > more you will find out that retail is so > difficult. They just do not get it on the retail > side. It is 90% sales and 10% investing/research > (maybe even more sales). That drove me nuts. > They very much wanted me to do the CFP, which I > did not want to nor would I do. I would say that > the FAs that I know who do have the CFA charter > are mostly PMs and/or do intuitional $$$ (401k, > pensions, endowments, charities etc.) You are right Jay, the retail side is 90%+ sales, especially with the discretionary models now managed by MSSB with 500k+ they just need you to get the client and manage the relationship. Are you still with MSSB on the institutional side? I assume you’re enjoying this much better?
Many of the best FA’s at my firm are charterholders (most also have CFP). I think it opens opportunities to gain business from institutional clients. Most retail clients probably won’t know what CFA even stands for or the value it presents. It would be your job to fill them in. The designation represents a higher level of analytical knowledge than most FA’s possess.
CFA Jay Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > mike101176 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I am a Financial Advisor for a large retail > > brokerage firm. I have 8 years FA experience. > My > > firm does not support the CFA designation for > FAs. > > Instead, the would rather see us obtain the > CFP, > > etc. At this point in time, I am more > interested > > from a learning/material standpoint in the CFA > > courseload. I am curious to know if any FAs > feel > > or felt the same way. I am not sure what > career > > path direction an FA with his CFA could go. > I’d > > appreciate any help. Thank you. > > I was an FA at MSSB went through the CFA program > and switched to intuitional side when I got my > charter. The more you go through the program the > more you will find out that retail is so > difficult. They just do not get it on the retail > side. It is 90% sales and 10% investing/research > (maybe even more sales). That drove me nuts. > They very much wanted me to do the CFP, which I > did not want to nor would I do. I would say that > the FAs that I know who do have the CFA charter > are mostly PMs and/or do intuitional $$$ (401k, > pensions, endowments, charities etc.) Wow it is great to see that I’m not the only one. I’m 17 years into my series 7, 10 years into my 9/10 for the past 5 years or so I just kept getting sick every time I talked to any other retail FA and especially a manager everyone is out to screw the client and most have not clue what they are doing. I started the CFA program a year ago, I just got through L2, BEFORE I opened a book I think I was more qualified than 95% of the FA’s around now after L2 frankly I think 80% -90% of the FA’s should not be allowed to talk to clients at all. The deeper you study the more you will want out of retail personally I miss using my brain and I want to change so I can actually think as part of my job. If you think about it a CPA that does your taxes can make a mistake and it may be expensive but any guy with a series 6 can invest your life savings and destroy your life in 6 months. Why should anyone have the power to destroy your life after only taking a 4 hour exam that is so easy people with GED’s can pass it.
Good points all around, but I think there is a little bit of a misconception of what FAs for the big retail firms are meant to accomplish. The goal of an FA is not to time the market, add value through security selection, or anything like that. Decision-making is increasingly less centralized and outsourced to the “expert” managers rather than being done by FAs. The CFA only adds value to this process insofar as the client recognizes and respects the designation, or the knowledge gained makes you more articulate and confident in speaking about the financial markets. I have posted this before, in my opinion the vast majority of value added from a PWM standpoint can be summarized in 3 main points: - Investors feel and sleep better having someone “professional” managing their money who can speak intelligently about the financial markets and is an interesting person to talk to. - Advisors are available to talk an investor through market downturns so that they don’t sell out at the exact wrong time. - Advisors can serve as a psychological put option because clients can blame them when things go bad and take credit when their portfolio does well. You don’t need to be an expert on FSA, statistics, portfolio theory, derivatives, or anything else in the CFA curriculum to do these things. I think saying that most FAs should be able to do them misses the point. FAs are a higher-prestige, more glamorous version of car salesmen.
^ you sound like a manager at a retail firm that doesn’t what the employees to increase their employment opportunities…or maybe you are a broker that doesn’t want more competition… …or maybe you just failed the CFA a bunch of times… 
Haha nice. I’m neither. Finished the CFA program last year. Worked in PWM for 3 years before that. Getting ready to start the second year of my MBA. Interned at a mutual fund over the summer.
The goal of an FA should also be to protect clients from the sometimes self-motivated investment “recommendations” of their firms as well. That’s why a CFA is important. Brokerage firms generally dislike it when their distribution force becomes more savvy.
^ +1
samnyc Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The goal of an FA should also be to protect > clients from the sometimes self-motivated > investment “recommendations” of their firms as > well. That’s why a CFA is important. Brokerage > firms generally dislike it when their distribution > force becomes more savvy. Your point is correct, that firms often sell products that benefit them through higher fees/loads, etc without a corresponding benefit to the client. However I am not clear on how getting the CFA designation would benefit FAs working for those firms or clients of those firms. The CFA charterholder will either 1) not work for that brokerage as an FA in the first place, or 2) recommend the products anyway because that is what they are compensated to do. The key is to find a company that has a properly-aligned incentive structures to manage your money. I stand by my assertion that the CFA curriculum is basically irrelevant for an FA.
I would consider myself a FA, I guess. I started up my own fee-only RIA with a partner several years ago. I felt the CFA program was valuable as it is on me to guide the investment decisions for our firm. I now know far more of what I didn’t know and better understand risk.