Gang, Food for thought- Wanted to understand how everyone is “feeling” towards the goal of getting those 3 letters after your name and hence the question: “If I wasn’t pursuing CFA charter would my life be empty/incomplete/unfulfilled/inconsequential?”
Good question, and I’m sure we’ll get lots of different answers. This is my opinion and will be different from many others especially considering the variety of ages/countries/backgrounds etc. I’m prolly gonna feel about having CFA as having CPA after the name, meaning it’s just three letters. I got into this cuz a lot of people that I’ve met mentioned how hard it is (I also have met people saying that CPA is very hard). I guess I just wanted to see if it’s as hard as people make it seem. It’s been a good challenge. I’m not sure what else would make me get up at 5-5:30 to go study for couple of hours before work, but I’m glad to know that it (waking up so early) is not as hard as it seemed when I came up with that thought. I still had to put 12-13 hours of work after studying. Would my life be any of those 4 words you mentioned without CFA? I’m not gonna lie cuz I have no idea. I’d have to relive to tell, but I’d say no, just cuz I’d be spending more time doing other things. But just like CPA gave confidence that I can get CFA, hopefully getting CFA will give me confidence to do other things and learn more and so on until I hit the stopping point. I don’t see CFA as means to an end, but just as a step in some direction that hopefully is “right” one.
still waters run deep. im doing it for the glory
u know the traders and quant jocks are laughing at you for thinking CFA is something significant.
pacmandefense Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > u know the traders and quant jocks are laughing at > you for thinking CFA is something significant. traders laugh at everything they don’t understand…
CFA is definitely significant where i work. we have about 40 CFAs, 80 CFPs, and about 100 other advisors. Those who have gotten the CFA certainly have a significantly higher pay and cooler job than everyone else but mgmnt.
I’m doing this because (1) I do want to work in the securities management industry and (2) I want to make a comfortable wage. So If I was making a big six figure salary and doing a job I enjoyed and not pursuing the CFA I would not be feeling empty.
I’m doing it for continuing education. After I got a ‘good’ job after college, I was living the high life going out with friends, bar hopping, [attempting to] pick up chicks, and so forth. While it was a fun time, I really started wondering if that was it. I love to learn and I felt pretty dumb still after graduating college. Pursuing the CFA has kept me fluent in financial lingo and I have obtained more job opportunities than some of my friends still cranking away in the back office. They tell me they are learning excel/access and will move into analysis someday per advice of their manager, yeah right! As I was once told, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If I wasn’t doing the CFA, I’d probably be still partying with college people and have 1.67 DWIs based on the average of my friends.
I am pursuing CFA becuase 1) it is good learning 2) it is challenging and people respect you for it 3) possibly help advance my career I just graduated from college and most entry level jobs are just BS. In this market, I have seen my buddies taking up $30K jobs as gofers. While I am in a (slightly) better position, I still think that most of what I do wont help me in the long run and I try to learn as much as possible on my own.
SkipE99, if you don’t mind, where do u work ?
I’m sticking with it for: 1)personal knowledge/achievement & the respect that comes with it 2)open doors for career advancement 3)money If I wasn’t pursuing it my life would not be empty/incomplete…I think that is sad. My life would remain most excellent, I’d just have less knowledge, but as they say “you don’t know what you don’t know”.
I’m doin it for the ladies. Chicks dig guys CFA chartholders.
I have said it before and I will say it again. I am getting it so I can ethically write my name + three extra letters after it in the sand at the beach. I have always liked writing my name in the sand at the beach, but knew I needed something more, something to put on the end to make it look more classy and glorious (in the sand).
I did it to learn the theory, to get the theoretical background.
chasinggoats Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m doin it for the ladies. Chicks dig guys CFA > chartholders. I never meet a girl cared about CFA holders unless they were studying for it themselves. most girls prob are listening to you talk about the chater because they’re too nice to tell you to shut up.
QuantJock_MBA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m doing it for continuing education. > > After I got a ‘good’ job after college, I was > living the high life going out with friends, bar > hopping, pick up chicks, and so forth. While it > was a fun time, I really started wondering if that > was it. I love to learn and I felt pretty dumb > still after graduating college. Pursuing the CFA > has kept me fluent in financial lingo and I have > obtained more job opportunities than some of my > friends still cranking away in the back office. > They tell me they are learning excel/access and > will move into analysis someday per advice of > their manager, yeah right! > > As I was once told, nothing ventured, nothing > gained. > > If I wasn’t doing the CFA, I’d probably be still > partying with college people and have 1.67 DWIs > based on the average of my friends. Pretty much word for word… except the average of my friends is closer to 1.97.