Unemployed CFAs

Getting Out Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I thought I might as well add on to this thread, > as I was just laid off today. > > I will let you know about the life of an > unemployed charterholder. Welcome to the club, buddy! 11 month anniversary today for me. I got the 2 week notice the same week I found out I passed Level 3 last year. Congratufrickinlations! Where I live, the job market is practically non-existent for finance. I have my professional engineering license and can’t find a job in that area either. It was very depressing at first. I work out a lot more now and spend more time with my daughter so I there are some upsides. My wife has a great job that she really wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere with the same quality of life so moving is really out of the question for me. If she didn’t, we would move in a heartbeat to find something better. For the time being, I’ve pretty much given up on finance and am just focusing on engineering jobs.

hez, sorry to hear about that… were you making good $ before?

needhelp Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I saw some ridiculous survey a while back that > showed CFA charterholders made huge salaries > easily in 6 figures and often breaking 200K. Of > course breaking 200K in NYC is not the same as > breaking it in Dallas. These guys are already mature in their careers and add CFA as an additional qualification after their MBA or MS finance.

yankees98a Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hez, > > sorry to hear about that… were you making good $ > before? Not bad for the midwest. Basically just cracking 6 figures, although to be honest, I was overpaid for what I did. Not really a surprise that I was laid off. I understand it from a business standpoint. The funny (or not so funny) thing is that I was at the bottom of the ladder in terms of compensation in my group yet I was the first to go. Most people made significantly more than I did, some even made multiples of my salary and did significantly less than I did. What’s annoying is that if I end up back in engineering, I will probably take a 30% or more cut in salary. Beats what I’m making now but it’s still annoying.

Thanks BiPolarBoyBoston, dmnyc, and hezagenius. I am located in Chicago and was a Portfolio Manager at a wealth management company. I go to school part-time at Chicago Booth, so if I don’t find anything soon I will take classes full-time and get the MBA more quickly. It sucks that the paycheck will stop next month, but I’ve really enjoyed the last few days off.

Getting Out Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks BiPolarBoyBoston, dmnyc, and hezagenius. > > I am located in Chicago and was a Portfolio > Manager at a wealth management company. I go to > school part-time at Chicago Booth, so if I don’t > find anything soon I will take classes full-time > and get the MBA more quickly. It sucks that the > paycheck will stop next month, but I’ve really > enjoyed the last few days off. Same boat, if something does not pop up here, I am going to try to acclerate PT classes to gain some ground and make it easier for future semesters…

hezagenius Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Getting Out Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I thought I might as well add on to this > thread, > > as I was just laid off today. > > > > I will let you know about the life of an > > unemployed charterholder. > > > Welcome to the club, buddy! 11 month anniversary > today for me. I got the 2 week notice the same > week I found out I passed Level 3 last year. > Congratufrickinlations! Where I live, the job > market is practically non-existent for finance. I > have my professional engineering license and can’t > find a job in that area either. It was very > depressing at first. I work out a lot more now > and spend more time with my daughter so I there > are some upsides. My wife has a great job that > she really wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere with > the same quality of life so moving is really out > of the question for me. If she didn’t, we would > move in a heartbeat to find something better. > > For the time being, I’ve pretty much given up on > finance and am just focusing on engineering jobs. Dude thats tough to have both engineering and finance qualifications and not be able to find a gig. Are you in a small town? St Louis? It cant be Chicago. If you live in Chicago this is depressing news.

Not exactly a small town - population is about 500K - but for finance, it is small. If we move, it would be to Chicago.