Hopefully I don’t sound offensive, but I am curious as to why so many non-finance people are very interested in taking the CFA? Possibly I’m not the best to talk since I only found out about the CFA’s existence a few months ago. However, I’ve been interested in finance/economics since I was in highschool and always wanted to be the guy doing the analysis. Ever since then I always knew id pursue a career in this field. I’ve done several interenships as an analyst. Since I started studying for the CFA, all of this material was pretty much what I wanted to brush up on anyway from college to improve myself at work and help my clients. So for me, the CFA makes a lot of sense. Just curious why so many ppl are trying to get into this field when they have no real experience. I understand career changes, etc… but I find that many people who in college wanted to get into finance, law didn’t realize just how much work it really is and how mundane and tedious it can be at times. They quickly realized that all the work wasn’t worth it. For me, I could never do this stuff unless I were generally interested. Again sorry if I sound like a jackass, but I wanna read ur responses.
Honestly… I think that a lot of people like the sound of “Chartered Financial Anlayst”. I mean let’s be real, what designation sounds better? None. Willy
Well can you think of another certification with as much weight that all you need is a Bachelors Degree and $$$.
REASONS: Cheap, easy, convenient, focused, gap-filling, challenge, etc.
i’m doing it for the girls. a charter is the next best thing to being in hollywood
^ haha…too funny
yeah… the answer used to always be “2 chicks at once”. That answer just never gets old.
I think a lot of people want to take the CFA and get into finance b/c they think it’s “cool.” It may sound lame, but I honestly think that’s why a lot of people do it. They watch Wall Street/ Boiler Room a few times…mixed in with a little Jim Cramer/CNBC…then hear a few Wall Street success stories and think it’s just that easy and one day money will start falling from the sky for them. Maybe I’m wrong but I doubt it…I’ve been interested in Finance since I was in HS and have NEVER thought about moving to another field. I think the majority of the people in Finance have always been interested in it. I’m approximately a year out of graduation, def. not raking in tons of cash, and I still enjoy waking up every morning and going to work… I agree that you can’t do well in this field unless you’re genuinely interested in it. It’s constantly changing and there’s so much to learn.
All I could think of when I read the subject line was, “Why so serious?!”
Because you are in a CFA forum, you will see many people interested in, guess what? CFA. Go to any of the software certification forums, and you will many people interested in that, even though they come from various fields. But yes, there is some fundamental reason which has to do with pay and market demands. Years ago, and still even today, many people went for IT stuff because it was in high demand. If history and Gegraphy paid well, I think many among us would be very much interested in these two subjects.
CFABLACKBELT Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hopefully I don’t sound offensive, but I am > curious as to why so many non-finance people are > very interested in taking the CFA? > > Possibly I’m not the best to talk since I only > found out about the CFA’s existence a few months > ago. However, I’ve been interested in > finance/economics since I was in highschool and > always wanted to be the guy doing the analysis. > Ever since then I always knew id pursue a career > in this field. I’ve done several interenships as > an analyst. Since I started studying for the CFA, > all of this material was pretty much what I wanted > to brush up on anyway from college to improve > myself at work and help my clients. So for me, > the CFA makes a lot of sense. > > Just curious why so many ppl are trying to get > into this field when they have no real experience. > I understand career changes, etc… but I find > that many people who in college wanted to get into > finance, law didn’t realize just how much work it > really is and how mundane and tedious it can be at > times. They quickly realized that all the work > wasn’t worth it. > > For me, I could never do this stuff unless I were > generally interested. > > > Again sorry if I sound like a jackass, but I wanna > read ur responses. This question is so dumb—it is like you ask men why they want to get laid. Are you really in finance or just another sales people.
it’s like a law degree- you don’t have to use it directly (practice law) for it to be useful knowledge, but it’s a great credential and applicable to many types of careers. plus, it’s $$ cheap (if not labor cheap). I have never understood the position that the CFA was only worthwhile if you want to be an analyst or portfolio manager.
Have you seen the E-Trade commercial with a baby drooling over the keyboard!! That is why.
Will_R256 has the answer. The CFA education is comparable in price to taking a few finance extension courses and it gives you nice optionality if you pass. Two chicks at once.
Good Question. I will hopefully complete the CFA program this year and now I am really starting to question whether or not I really want to stay in this industry. I keep thinking to myself, “I should have listened to my dad and studied engineering.” Lately I have just been really interested in designing circuits and programming AVR’s and PIC’s. It’s getting pretty bad. Lately I have even been rewarding myself for getting through another reading in the CFA curriculum by allowing myself to read another chapter in an Electrical Engineering Text book that I picked up from a second hand bookstore.
By the way CFABLACKBELT. What martial arts discipline do you study?
GMATBLACKBELT, people pursue CFA because it’s cost-effective, practical and recognized.
I am the exact opposite as jg1996business. I currently work in software engineering and really just don’t want to be a programming monkey the rest of my life. I decided soon after I graduated that finance was more interesting to me after being exposed to a couple classes and talking to my family and friends. A bunch of people in my family are in financial fields…investment banking, VC, PE, and corporate law (not directly finance, however, he deals with bankers all the time) so I’m exposed to it constantly. The fact of the matter is, people change their minds. I think it’s great that you figured out your life’s passion in high school, but generally people do not know what they want to do with their lives at age 16. I don’t know what the exact statistic is, but a large percentage of people change their majors at least once in college. I think it is fairly absurd to say that just because you go down one path through college or even for awhile out of school, that you should stay in that area forever. Your comment about wanting to get into finance without any experience is kind of ridiculous. The way you get experience is by working in the field, so clearly getting a job in finance would be the goal. Passing the CFA exams is one way to help facilitate that. Also, I hate to break to you, but lots of fields besides finance are a lot more mundane and tedious. I’d say that programming all day certainly fits that description (at least for me). Try getting an engineering degree. Not only that, but engineering tends to have a salary cap unless you make your way up to some sort of executive position with ownership in the company. It seems to me that the cap is much higher in finance. Most of the finance people I know make way more than any engineer I know (or engineering manager for that matter). There is something to be said for that.
prossetti Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am the exact opposite as jg1996business. I > currently work in software engineering and really > just don’t want to be a programming monkey the > rest of my life. I decided soon after I graduated > that finance was more interesting to me after > being exposed to a couple classes and talking to > my family and friends. A bunch of people in my > family are in financial fields…investment > banking, VC, PE, and corporate law (not directly > finance, however, he deals with bankers all the > time) so I’m exposed to it constantly. The fact > of the matter is, people change their minds. I > think it’s great that you figured out your life’s > passion in high school, but generally people do > not know what they want to do with their lives at > age 16. I don’t know what the exact statistic is, > but a large percentage of people change their > majors at least once in college. I think it is > fairly absurd to say that just because you go down > one path through college or even for awhile out of > school, that you should stay in that area forever. > Your comment about wanting to get into finance > without any experience is kind of ridiculous. The > way you get experience is by working in the field, > so clearly getting a job in finance would be the > goal. Passing the CFA exams is one way to help > facilitate that. Also, I hate to break to you, > but lots of fields besides finance are a lot more > mundane and tedious. I’d say that programming all > day certainly fits that description (at least for > me). Try getting an engineering degree. Not only > that, but engineering tends to have a salary cap > unless you make your way up to some sort of > executive position with ownership in the company. > It seems to me that the cap is much higher in > finance. Most of the finance people I know make > way more than any engineer I know (or engineering > manager for that matter). There is something to > be said for that. jc1996 is among the minority. Many people are in your position, trying to break into finance (a large majority from IT/engineering). The point of the CFA program though isn’t for people trying to break into finance, but for people who work in the field to further expand their knowedge, credentials etc. Personally, I can’t understand where he is coming from. Having majored in electrical engineering in college, I knew there was no way in hell I would do that after I graduated!
I understand that it’s not the main purpose of the program, however, if it helps, it helps. There’s only so many cost efficient ways of breaking into another field.