NY Times: CFA = Certified Financial Advisor

Just in case you needed yet another example of the New York Times’s sloppiness: Hedge Funds and Private Equity Alter Career Calculus. See page 3: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/business/16mba.html?em&ex=1190088000&en=71789963d94edd86&ei=5087

Unbelievable! See my post on the Level III forum.

I’m always shocked at the errors I find on those rare occasions I happen to read an article in the NY Times where I actually know something about the subject. (My own wedding announcement was another example. I wrote the announcement for them. Of course whatever hack they assigned to the case then felt the need to “edit” it until it because less clear. “The groom is a trader” became “trades stocks”, etc.) Here’s happyshappy’s original post for those who missed it: http://www.analystforum.com/phorums/read.php?13,610231,610231#msg-610231

This is the New York Times we’re talking about here…

I sent an email to the reporter who wrote the article. She emailed back and said the error would be corrected. I still think the quote (assuming it was NOT a misquote) by Art Hogan at Jefferies was still more egregious. I’m willing to give a pass to a reporter (even though she is a business reporter), but someone in the investment business should know better…

From: louise@nytimes.com You may not know this sender. Mark as safe | Mark as unsafe Sent: September 17, 2007 10:19:56 AM To: Thanks for your note. We are fixing the CFA line. Glad you liked the piece. Feel free to write with story ideas at any time.- -------------------------- Louise In your age of riches story, you mentioned certified financial advisor. I think you might have meant Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

NYTimes is garbage. Read soemthing real, such as The Economist. I read about 3 articles a day from NYTimes over the summer. Misquotes, BLATANT grammar mistakes…

gideon, are you a charterholder? i was talking to a trader and i told him i’m on l2 and he say “WHYYYY?!!!”

NYT has some good political coverage and a very sharp international news section. For business though, forget it.

I’m not a charterholder yet – I just passed L2 and am working on L3. To answer your friend’s question: I love trading and continue to get better at it, but there is much more to speculating and indeed investing than just trading – so why limit yourself? The CFA program provides a path to expand one’s knowledge and abilities in finance and investing. It has allowed me to test my limits, to develop new skills, and to find more intellectual satisfaction in my career. bmwhype Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > gideon, are you a charterholder? i was talking to > a trader and i told him i’m on l2 and he say > “WHYYYY!!!”

As for what to read, like or not the NYT is the “newspaper of record” and so you should at least check out the top ten most read articles every week or so – otherwise you’ll miss appearances by great writers like Michael Lewis. As for the NYT’s political coverage, everything they write is an editorial with little attempt to hide the writer’s liberal bias – just check out any front page. For general news I prefer the WSJ, the Economist, Bloomberg, and – when I can find the time – the FT. Those publications tend to be more objective on their news pages – but maybe that’s my conservative bias talking.

In my personal experience, here is how I would rank different publications: (1) Economist - for Economic News (2) New York Times - For good in-depth general reviews (3) Various Business Publications - for business news