CFA worth it in IB?
Incoming FT Analyst, want to stay in IB into associate years, want to keep option open for buyside after.
Is it worth it to go for my CFA? I can do my level 1 exam before starting FT, but then would need to take time out over the next few years to get full cert.
Does CFA add any value for career bankers? Does it (significantly) improve buyside recruitment options/visibility to headhunters? Is it worth it to go for it now, or wait until I'm certain I'm interested in a buyside role?
For context, I did all of my college internships in equity and credit research and have connected with ~40 PMs across the two asset classes. I have asked virtually all of them as well as many other research analysts and the opinion is roughly split 40% don't get CFA and 60% get CFA. The CFA is a stamp that says you understand and can interpret financial math, but it does not mean you are a good investor. At some firms, most people have the CFA and will encourage their juniors to do so, while at others, the sole objective is finding/developing money makers. I must note that as a student member of my city's CFA society, I have had access to the CFA job board and that has a plethora of pretty good opportunities that are marketed as for charterholders only. Also, those at SM or MM L/S equity funds are far less likely to demand the CFA as opposed to fixed income focused firms. My advice to you (and what I'm currently doing) is aiming to complete the CFA level 1 exam during my first year as an analyst and try to finish level 2 before moving to the buy-side, however, I have also been told verbatim that "if you spend all the time studying for the CFA reading 10-Ks and building models you will be way better off."
for IB no, at best you can pass lvl. 1 which should be easy coming from a finance undergrad and use that to network with other CFAs/show interest/show tolerance to sit down and do the work
on the job - useless
but I would recommend it, if you're in finance, preferably, you should know very well your field spanning across anything that is out there in the same way a lawyer has an idea on many law fields.
Maybe down the road you want to lateral to a HF because you hate IB/PE, which the knowlede eof the CFA will be valuable. The more away you are from 18 years old the harder is to grasp concepts and the higher the opportunity cost of doing the CFA
so between jerking off on tiktok and doing the CFA, I would do the CFA
If banking is the end goal, you'd be better off using a third of that time to develop skills more related to the industry to hit the desk ready and the other two-thirds being a degenerate while sprinkling in networking consistently and you'll likely be 10x happier and still successful.
No. And it’s even more useless if you only pass some of the levels.
Don’t do it. But if you do it, then go all the way. There’s no such thing as a level 2 CFA. You either have it or you don’t
I’m going to save you some time. I did banking and then PE. I have the charter. I’ve met one other person in PE who did it as well. No one cares.
I actually recommend it if you want to broaden your knowledge base, but it has not helped me at all in my career if that is your objective. Do it only if you legitimately just want to learn.
And to reiterate what someone said earlier, “Level 2” is not a thing. You either have the charter or you don’t.
Nah not for transactional based IB. You are better off spending that time networking, maybe finding a relevant internship and learning modeling and slide deck formatting/power BI through BIWS/WSP
It's "worth it" in the sense that it will give you strong foundational knowledge that will help you throughout your careeer. It's not "worth it" because no one will care that you have it and it won't help you break into the industry.
I work in IB and have the CFA charter. Honestly, no one’s ever really cared except for a few juniors who also had it.
That said, it actually helped me break in since I came from a non-target. It added some credibility and probably helped me get past resume screens.
The content is way more relevant to asset/portfolio management. For IB, it’s only kinda useful — mainly Level I/II stuff like accounting and valuation. You’ll learn this just doing IB.
If you're aiming for the buyside, you’ll need to build an investor mindset early. The CFA might be helpful, but you'd get more value for your time preparing for actual PE intreviews.
If you’re from a non-traditional background, it can definitely help. But if you're already on a decent IB path, you’re probably better off spending that time networking and prepping for interviews.
Consectetur labore nihil quis deserunt impedit nobis repudiandae. Debitis corporis maxime est reprehenderit iure.
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