CFA , is it worth it?
Hello,
My plan is to stay in Europe, and I am specially interested in Germany or Austria. My question is:
Taking into account the following information, does it makes sense to get the CFA certificate right now? , or, should I wait till I have more experience?. Initially I wanted to work in equity research but normally i get interviews for investment and corporate banking (I don't know why), and to be honest, right now I am not sure where I want to be. I love finance , specially investment analysis, products and financial markets, but I don't really know what to do with my professional life. As a result, I am not sure if is too soon for the CFA certificate, maybe I should wait until I have a more focus professional path to decide if CFA is worth it or if i should take other certificate. I was taking a look at linkedin and in Germany, most people in equity research dont have the certificate or they get it after 3 / 5 years of experience.
A bit about my background : I hold a degree in Political Science from a target ( in Politics & Media) British University but semi target in Finance , according to some rankings my university got similar results to Boston University and Northwestern University. Now I am about to finish my master degree in the UK (think about Rice University in the U.S). So I would say that I studied at Semi Target Universities. I have 1 year of experience, first, sell side of investment funds, pension plans and life insurances and then, I worked in Business and Product development, analyzing pension and investment funds and I helped in the development of investment products , specially unit linked , structured investment products and reverse mortgages.
What do you think?, any advice or further thoughts about the CFA certificate?, should I take the exam for the certificate or is better to wait?
Passing a CFA Level 1 exam certainly won't hurt. If you have enough free time to devote for it, then go for it. I know people who passed two levels by the time they graduated (first in Dec and second in June), so having experience will definitely help you, but not having it won't disadvantage you as much as you think it will. DACH region overall (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) - lived there, worked there, professionals from those countries LOVE their credentials, so passing CFA exams will definitely be a plus in those countries.
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