Do write a book and let me know
When I first started the CFA program, I had just passed the CPA exam. Sure, it was difficult, but it was doable. And it gave me a real, tangible, immediate benefit. I immediately realized a 50% jump in pay, simply because I passed the CPA exam.
Since I had a real interest in investments (and not really accounting), I thought, very logically, “Well, I can just take the CFA exam. It can’t be that much harder than the CPA exam, and will probably give me another 50% bump in pay. After all, all the ‘good’ portfolio managers around town make that much, or more.”
This is a perfectly logical, very sensible statement. Unfortunately, it’s just not true. CFA is like CPA x 3, and so far has earned me zero. And my job prospects haven’t increased as a result of passing Level 3, either. By the time I realized this, I was already halfway through Level 2. Might as well finish what you started, right? (Which again follows logic, but is unfortunately a foolish decision, because the first 1.5 levels were already a sunk cost.)
I don’t think that CFA is deliberately failing/passing some, but I do wish they were more transparent about the candidate’s grades and the MPS. After all, they are the loudest voice for transparency within the industry. Sounds like a case of “do as I say, not as I do.”
Grading/MPS is kinda like Obama’s birth certificate. I don’t know if there’s any foul play going on, but if you have nothing to hide, why do you take such pains to hide it? Just put it out there for everybody to see and be done with it.
Out of my own curiosity, what exactly do you see on said resumes that makes you throw them in the pass pile?
It’s 2 things. If we are looking for someone with 3-5 years finance experience, we get a number of resumes of people with no finance background whatsoever (with and without charter). Specifically it is people from back office or IT positions, financial writers, etc.
When we are looking for recent grads (no prior experience), we’ll get even mor resumes of people in late 20s / early 30s looking to change careers. There is a reason why we want someone who is very young. First, salary reasons. Second, we want someone who we can beat up, who can stay late, etc.
It is very very difficult to make a career switch into buy side / sell sie past a certain age and the charter will do absolutely nothing to change that. The only exception is if you are in a really small market and you are willing to get into private wealth management.
So these are reasons why there have been so many threads about being sure why you want to spend the time and energy taking the exams.
good points here
See my post about why Big-4 audit was not interested in me at the tender age of 30.
andytrader…what do you do?
I think if you view the CFA program as an educational exercise and then learn to apply that knowledge in a meaningful way, I don’t see how you can be disappointed. If you think getting the CFA charter will equate to someone paying you more money for what is in your head, you are likely to be disappointed.
Just curious but you say you get applicants with no finance background and have the charter. How is this possible since you have to have 4 years investment related work experience? Is CFAI pretty lax on this topic or did you simply mean applicants that have passed level III?
i don’t belittle the charter, i think it’s great to have a standardized program for finance, unlike accounting, many people in finance have nothing mroe than a finance degree, and there are so many different schools that offer finance programs and they are not all on equal levels.
I think CFA at least set a “minimum knowledge” required for the industry.
Having said that, many people think it’s a golden ticket and it has become a “MBA”, where there are so many non-industry peopel taking it, it de-values the charter. In a way, it’s good to put CFA on the map, at least more and more people know about it. but on the other hand, a lot of people end up passing all exams with no jobs.
I am a bit perplex when people ask me if they should get a CFA, because i truly do not know what to say to them. if i tell them my honest opinion, they will think i am “belittling” the program. But if i encourage them, i feel like i am pushing them off a river and they may be heading the wrong direction.
>_<
NANA
Why are people asking other people if they should enroll in the CFA program?
Everyone is different - I didn’t ask a single person if I should pursue the designation… rather I did a lot of soul searching over what I wanted to do with my professional life. For me it was MBA vs. CFA. For someone else it might be CFA vs. qualifying to be a PGA Tour teaching professional.
At the end of the day, I’d want to be doing it because I decided it was best from me… not because someone else thought it would be a good idea for me.
Bottom line: if you’re asking people if you should do it, you have done enough research, you have decided that cost is not an impediment, you understand the time commitment and you have enough interest in finance to pursue an advanced designation. JUST DO IT. But don’t put it on a pedestal and think of it as the holy grail.
Buy side research.
I see “passed all exams” as well as charterholders. Am looking at one right now. This guy has been in IT / software engineering for 5 years. Building software for trading firms and support. I looked up name in the directory so he definitely has charter.
Also saw someone who is a current Bloomberg salesperson (since 2006) w/ charter. Prior to that did internship in PWM at Morgan Stanley. That’s a real stretch to claim they were involved in investment process
I had a friend at Bloomberg, his job was to average up the sellside estimates, and put that number into the Bloomberg terminal as consensus. apparently that work experience also counts.
I did sell side research for 5 years which is how I decided to get into the CFA program. Almost all the senior analysts were charterholders and I was convinced I wanted to stay in that role forever. Since then I’ve moved into ibanking and now risk management.
Hey andytrader, would you mind if i shot you an email?
Tyler: sure.
Stud: No hoes here. Lot of turnover at T Hoe and Legg. Baltimore a potential spot for newbiews though.
I want to apply…
Eeh Hemm cough… Looks like I’m sh*t out luck, being that I’m back office. But I do participate in the investment process with our clients.
what do you think of brown advisory?