CFAI keeps spamming me about rejoining. I stopped paying dues a few years back when I left finance. Apparently now I can get a “retired” rate of $100 and just need to fill out that conduct form.
Can you just join CFAI or do you have to also join the local society? My local society was BSAS and now I am in CA.
You probably can get away with just sending $100 and no local society.
When you first become a member, you have to join a local society. Then in subsequent years, you can let the local society lapse.
If your membership is lapsed, I don’t know for sure if they will insist that you join the local society or not, but I think it’s pretty likely you won’t have to.
In my case, I’m not a member. But I plan to join soon, just to be able to use the initials.
However, I live about 300 miles away from any society. I obviously won’t be going to any society meetings or anything. Can I just pay the $100 per year to CFAI? Or will they force me to join a society (that I will get zero benefit from)?
Blake, why would you join? Help me see the ROI on that CFAI Affiliation? We all know the letters marginally help those in finance, how will being a CFAI Affliliate help in your line of work?
I stopped paying the CAIA and FRM dues for that very reason…CFA is next.
I have very reluctantly paid the CFAI this year and let my local society membership lapse. Plan to discontinue altogether next year.
let it lapse. it’s useless
Once you got to BSD status, you slowly started dropping the shackles eh?
Even if you do not have retired status you can actually opt out of the local society dues and only pay the national dues which I believe is $250 for regular members (vs. $400 with local dues).
I also discontinued. I already paid for the exams, that’s enough, I don’t need to pay for the charter every year as well.
The only real reason I can see paying for the society dues. is if you were unemployed, but wanted a place to network with industry people, use the society’s bloomberg terminal to check out sell side research reports, do interview projects. etc…
My local society has a pretty comprehensive event listing, such as luncheons that are almost every week, that are free to members. So to me all those events that are $30-40 each can easily be a good value with the full membership. Our local dues are $180/yr. I’m not a member though as I’m obviously still a lowly candidate.
So you studied for however many hours to obtain the CFA, CAIA and FRM but you no longer work in finance and no longer hold the charters? is that what you’re saying?
Well, from an employer’s standpoint, is there a difference between “CFA Charterholder” and “former CFA Charterholder”? The real value is in showing that you have the wherewithal to pass the test, not the initials themselves.
If you believe that the power is in the initials and not in the process, then MBA = MBA, whether it’s from the University of Phoenix or University of Pennsylvania.
So can you still use the letters if you pay the national dues but not the local ones?
The head of marketing at the Institute is a genius.
I think a strong local society is important. It is important for purposes of having a voice, maintaining professional contacts and arranging relevant continuing education. The dues are paid by the firm so it is painless (mostly), but I would likely be a member regardless.
Yes. I called the CFAI society a while ago and found that out. You cannot use the letters if you don’t pay the national dues.
This. The whole thing is basically a scam.
Of course. The right to use to CFA letters is dictated by CFAI. societies are just social gatherings
" I stopped paying dues a few years back when I left finance. "
The moot question is, “Has the situation changed requiring a relook at the option?”
If not, it is not worth even $100 to be a ‘retired’ member as for you really speking there is no added advantage. In any case you remain a CFA qualified IT specialist ( and the added knowledge base and expertise will remain with you for use). When I shifted to educational projects management I too found myself in similar condition (not much value addition due to having the letters in the vc) and after about 2 years opted out and have not felt the need so far to pay to regain the right to use it again. From your various posts it is quite evident you know your area of expertise (IT and financial applications) well enough and got established well enough not to need the ‘retired’ membership of CFAI tag to strenghthen your credibility.
I’m saying the ~$1300 a year I was paying did not yield any sort of return. All it did was allow me to look like a dbag with tons of letters after my name that no one knew about.
I did the exams for the knowledge, not the pretentiousness.