Claritas Investment Certificate - CFA® Institute, worth taking it?

I know a guy who did the Claritas as a shortcut to the CFA charter at my private wealth firm. Our marketing team wouldn't allow him to put it on his business card. He applied to join our local trust and estates council and they didn't consider it a certification. It was a running joke in the office.

For high finance, I've seen that only a few designations (CFA, CPA for research, FRM & CAIA if used in a relevant role, maybe CFP but ONLY for pwm/wm/pb) hold weight. Seeing "junk" on your resume will hurt, not help, your application. Claritas is earning a reputation as a 'back office' certification, designed for fund accountants who don't have a clue about the broader industry. As an aside, a lot of the other 'alphabet soup' out there will get you pegged as some idiot who belongs in retail planning or insurance, so don't go looking for some other shit certification to replace it. And considering that the Claritas was a running joke at a top pwm firm (trust bank model, not a wire house) imagine how quickly you'd be snickered out of a BB ib interview. In the heart of those fortresses of Wall Street prestige, somewhere, sometime a first year analyst shook hands with a Claritas certificant and then rushed to the Hamptons to wash his cufflinks in rose water.

Yes, the CFA is really hard and a lot of work. No, you can't earn it in undergrad (though you can take and pass level I, which does give a very marginal boost to your resume - passing level II is a bigger deal). Yes, something like 85-90% of people who sign up for Level I abandon before finishing Level III. This, however, is the reason it means something on a resume.

If you're thinking of the Claritas to show your intent for the industry, instead find a networking group that welcomes undergrads/young professionals and spend the time you would have been studying there. It will help you get over the awkwardness of first introductions, help you start building a network, and provide SO much more to you, both in terms of people skills (it's a lot different meeting people professionally than at a college party) and career prospects.

This is based on my experience as a CFP and Level III CFA candidate, a holder of one of those 'junk' certifications (which I've stopped paying dues for, going to drop it in grad school), and 5 years experience in private wealth.