Quit Now While You Still Can

CFA Level I
#21

You want to take career advice from some douche with only a few years work experience sitting in that well reknowned financial behemoth of Djibouti go right ahead. Hey maybe he’s just bitter but karma’s a b1tch.

Otherwise ignore his efforts at trolling and just crack on with whatever it is you want to do. Attaining a CFA is a worthy objective in and of itself. Nobody ever said becoming a CFA Charterholder or getting a college degree guarantees you a job - but it helps.

The reality is though that the pass rate for Level 1 is low so there are a lot who will fall at the first hurdle. Level 1 seperates the wheat from the chaff. It only scratches the surface of what you need to know in Level 2. If you really struggled here beware as Level 2 is a monster. There is just no comparison with Level 1. Schweser will help you digest that quicker but the CFAI books are what you need to know. You are not merely trying to pass a test, you are trying to absorb a body of knowledge. There is a difference and that is what the Chartership represents.

None of the stuff in any of the levels is conceptually hard, it’s just that there is a vast volume of information to get through and retain and understand in such a short timeframe. If you are young or fresh out of college I would do it now. I am older with family and believe me it sucks telling you kids you can’t go to watch them play sport or spend some really enjoyable time with them because you have to study for an exam. And that has been my reality for the last 18 months. Hopefully my journey is over. I think I did well in the exam. I have been in the industry for 15 years all of that either front office for big IBs or running money in the private wealth sector and I wish I had done this earlier in my life.

I did it because:

a) I love what I do and recognise that continually educating myself in finance helps me understand other areas I was ignorant of and helps me perform better in my job and

b) There are very few professional designations worth anything in Finance and after 15 years I wanted something real to show for it. The CFA Chartership is in my opinion the best out there.

Yes I did CAIA as well only because there was a lot of overlap and I spend considerable time working in Alts and Structured securities so already knew thre area well. But really there are like 5000 CAIA Charterholders out there. When you have to explain what it is to anynoe who asks to someone you realise what its worth. The CFA Charter is not like that.

Don’t let some frustrated dude in the backwater of finance deter you from what is a worthy goal. “Equities in Dallas” would be a better moniker for him.

Itera - what happend you? When you were going through Level 2 and 3 you used to be more helpful. I certainly hope that if I am lucky enough to get the CFA Chartership I remember how much others helped me on this forum and hope to return that manyfold.

#22

I dont work in Djibouti. Really, this has nothing to do with me,. I’m just trying to tell the kiddies here the truth about this charter and what it means.

If you have the job that requires it, go for it. If you don’t then go do something else.

#23

Thanks for the discourse. It’s good to see things in various perspectives and will help us in our decision-making in whichever station we are at.

#24

giving up is an easy option smiley

#25

I’m a level III candidtate, and I hope I passed this year. I tend to think that there are many of you who didn’t get a job out of undergrad and decided to pursue the CFA instead. I worked for a few years before I started this endeavor, and it’s been brutal but I’ve learned quite a lot.

That said…

I think the best thing to supplement your career is to learn how to program. I mean basic stuff, VBA and SQL. The amount of dividends that wll pay to you is enormous. You want and entry position? You’re going to be doing a lot of mundane tasks for awhile. If you learn how to program, you’re going to have more time to figure out the business side much more. You’ll also be able to manipulate data in a way that takes your boss forever as he plods through pivot tables. CFA has helped me, but my ability to program has helped much more as a PM.

#26

It’s so nice that someone on this board mentions programming. I’m about to start this myself. I bought “financial modelling” by Simon Benninga and a John Walkenbach book on VBA in excel. Highly recommend it.

As for SQL, I might start that soon as well. Anyone got recommendations on books or websites to learn this?

#27

So, from your experience, Schweser is a good study tool for CFA? I just did my level 1 exam and used Schweser notes. I did Schweser mock exams and scored on average above 70%. Yet, i feel the real exam was somehow off from Schweser, in terms of difficulties, and the areas of being tested. Schweser mocks were harder than the real exam and I focused too much on understanding the materials tested on Schwesers well I didn’t expect that much of easy materials were tested on CFA exam (Hope I am ot violating anything by saying those).

Therefore, being said, I am not sure if I did well enough to pass, hopefully I did. The CFA level 1 exam wasn’t hard, but I might not do well on some questions cuz I didn’t expect some easy concepts and questions were tested…

#28

Hmm, I am taking for this test for a completely different reason. I work as an analyst at a regular company (not financial), moreso a data cruncher for a tourism company. I have a master’s in economics, while impressive sure, entirely theoretical and not applicable to the real world. I’d like to advance my career - I have two options, either an MBA or a CFA. Both very different sure, an MBA costs a lot more, may cover a lot of the things I know already. CFA may be a lot of things I may or may not need, but at least Level 1 will give me a basis for the finance knowledge that I lack. Hey, I had to do something!

#29

Hey Guys,

I, too, just passed Level 3. How do I know? I just know.

And racist banter and abrasiveness aside, I agree for the most part with the OP.

#1 - I generally agree. If I could go back in time five years ago, I would NOT attempt the CFA exam.

#2 - I generally agree. Unless you have some real experience, I think that having the CFA charter will not gain you a lot of recognition. That is, nobody will hire you for an Equity Research position just because you pass the exam–you have to work in the field first, which leads us to…

#3 - Ditto #2. If your employer requires it, then it’s an obvious choice. Which leads us to…

#4 - If you don’t already work in the industry, I’m dubious as to how much the CFA will really open any doors for you. A better option (albeit an unpopular one) would be to become eligible for, and take the CPA exam. This will have immediate tangible benefits, and at least open some doors for you. Then it would be easier to transition into finance.

#5 - No comment.

#6 - Sounds more like a rant than a real criticism of the test or testees. (heh, heh…testees…)

#7 - I generally agree. Did you know that basketball players are, on average, about 6 inches taller than “normal” people? Therefore, if you want to get taller, start playing basketball. Similarly, CFA Charterholders make, on average, $X more than non-CFA’ers.

I do think that the OP was a little brash about his opinions, and maybe could use a lesson in tact, but I’m not sure that he’s really wrong. For the 1/3 of you who do pass and go on to Level 2, you will be surprised by how much it begins to consume your life.

#30

Ahhh… Greenman. I was wondering when you would chime in…

#31

Enough of those harsh ‘‘truths’’, anybody who studied or is currently studying for the charter and it actually helps you to advance your career?

#32

Hehe was also waiting for Greenman to join in :slight_smile:

I don’t think that the benefits of a charter would be apparent in the short run. Therefore to advise against it only days after the actual exam is biased. Come back in a couple of years and let us know! Some of us (including me) will most likely still be hanging out here!

#33

Yes. 2 ways

  1. from my days as a young pup, I find that a big help the CFA program does for you, is during interviews. If you manage to land the interview that is (sorry, passing CFA exams doesn’t help much to land interviews, you need something more to entice them to interview you)

Technical questions on valuation, or equities, or theory etc… goign through the program exposes you to a lot of stuff that can be a big help actually in nailing potential questions.

  1. Also, the second area of big help is to give you the final “hurrah” in landing the job. if it’s down to the wire, and they are torn between 2 or 3 very similar people. The CFA will generally be the wild card that gets you the the WIN. or if you don’t have it, it may be the reason you were cut.
#34

I’m going to attempt it for a few reasons. First I think passing a level or two may help for positions that favor a Finance or Accouting grad over an Economics. Second it will help me a lot in interviews because I’m somewhat ignorant in a few of the topics CFA level 1 covers. I also enjoy learning in general, everything but the ethic section has been fun learning. I want to be a Financial Analyst at a small to medium sized company not work on Wall Street. Any sugestions on entry level positions I should be looking into or something similar? (I’m applying to Financial Analyst positions now of course) My last position was as a commercial real estate appraiser.

#35

I think too many people put too narrow a focus on the material in the CFA curriculum. If the goal is to show we know how to analyze and put values on business, it means we know what adds/subtracts value from a company in the first place.

The goal of any business (at least publicly traded ones) is to maximize value to shareholders. Having made it through the CFA curriculum shows you know how to add value to a firm, whether it be through project analysis, dividend payout decisions or helping determine the optimal capital structure of the firm. It’s incredibly ignornant to assume the Charter has no value outside of equity research etc. You just need to learn how to extract the value of it rather than expecting people to throw money at you because you’re a Charterholder.

#36

For the record, the same guy that started this thread made the following post on the Level III board in response to paranoid proctors in the U.S.;

Read into that how you may.

#37

Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster. I just sat for the L1 exam. Thought it went really well. We’ll see. Anyway, I most likely am working in a completely different field than most charterholders/charter-seekers. I work at a consulting firm that specializes in economics and energy. Our consultants serve two major roles: 1) consultants to large industrial users of energy (energy portfolio construction in customer choice states, for example), and 2) expert witnesses for regulated electric/natural gas/water utility matters (rate cases, M&A’s, depreciation studies, etc…). We currently have one CFA charterholder (most are engineers with MBAs), and he serves, among his many roles, as our only regulated ROE and rate of return witness. The CFA charter is highly sought after in our niche field. I’ve long considered sitting for the CFA, but wanted to get work experience to see if I would even need it. I’ve kind of been taken under said consultant’s wing, and he has convinced me to pursue the charter (probably as a means to lighten his work load. But, I am completely fine with that). The firm pays for any and all of my expenses related to the exam (so long as I pass). Anyway, just thought I would chip in my $0.02.

#38

WHICH IS better’

Name or Name,CFA ???

#39

This original post seems to me like a child throwing a grenade into the school playground as he/she walks away.

#40

CPA has greater value because in Finance they are more scarce. So if you have a CPA + finance experience, you are more baller. The assumption being you really know how to tear apart financial statements. CFA has become something that may be more of a requirement but value less. Like it is assumed you have an undergraduate degree.