CFA Salaries

So there doesn't seem to be much reliable or solid salary info for the CFA designation. Can anyone offer some insight? Would it just remain in line with given career paths? For which career paths is the CFA most crucial?

8 Comments
 

PM's for larger AM firms it's usually expected. Not really a strong correlation tied to CFA and salary. Maybe a propensity to being slightly higher for a given role.

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Best Response

First, use the search function on WSO to do some research about the CFA - you'll get a better perspective on who has it, what it does, etc. As a general statement, it can be useful for a HF/AM career, but most people consider it to be a prohibitively large time investment with a paltry return to other career paths.

If you do find any data about CFA salaries, I wouldn't put any stock in it. Correlation does not imply causation. If someone is motivated enough to pass the CFA, they are probably more ambitious that the average guy, and a large part of the salary differential will be due to this personality trait and the other effects it has, rather than just the CFA letters.

 

The only way I can see a CFA adding to salary is in more finance RELATED roles, like investor relations/financial comm, reporting/writing or maybe programming or sales.

Most salaries are pretty well industry set with bonus being performance tied.

WSO Vice President, Data @JustinDDuBois
 

you dont get paid more because you have your CFA, you get paid more because you're the sort of guy who like to learn, willing to put in the work to get your CFA and hence this translates into your work ethic on a day to day basis. hence, any correlation people find between the two is spurious / weak.

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