I am studying for the CFA because I like the material and would like to transition out of accounting. I see many people say they would not have pursued the charter had they known then what they know now and would have focused on something else. For those of you in that camp…what is it that you would have done instead?
pro golfer
More chicks, but I made up for lost time so it is okay.
This is one thing that would be really hard to measure in hind sight. For one thing you can’t know where you would be without the CFA. Yes it may not have been the reason you got that promotion or that new job but you don’t know that for sure and even if it wasn’t a requirement it may have given you the edge over the runner-up. The question you should be asking is, given where you want to be in 5-10 yrs what is the best thing you can be doing today. You like teh material so this shouldn’t be ‘torture’ to spend 1-2 hours a night studying but without knowing what you want to do outside of accounting we won’t be able to say what may be better.
^^ I’m not questioning my decision, I am happy with it. The question came to me when I was reading the Why Suffer CFA thread when someone said they would have focused on something else. I assume he meant something in the realm of professional development and not playing golf or banging chicks (2 good hobbies though). I’m just asking what that would be. As for the 5-10 year thing, there are some large insurance companies in my area and I imagine getting into their investments dept. They have a lot of CFA required/recommended job descriptions.