CFA or MBA at this point
Hello, to make a long story short, I think my story should be added in the post with humor about finance like " if you live in Greece, you have no luck in the finance industry" . I mean, the term investment banking in the sense of global careers is just non-existent.
Anyways, i am 23 now, have a degree in Accounting and Finance and currently(second year) working at a tourism group of companies as a financial analyst. Mostly tracking hotel budget plans, data analysis for a rent a car company, due diligence for new investment plans etc.
The salary ofc is very low and working hours are about 70-80 per week (as you know our economy sucks). So, i am considering a plan to espace this misery and i am not sure which route to follow. So obviously, my resume is poor and i am considering of taking the cfa lvl1 exams or have a part-time MBA here in Greece. I can't quit my job as i need the money to live by and the cost of the MBA is 9000€.(average for Greece) . CFA lvl1 will cost around ~1000€ (+1000€ for lvl2+3) and i can afford it with no sacrifices, but for the MBA i will need to take off around 400€/month from my 700€ monthly salary.
USA is unreachable for me(for now) as it is very costly and bureaucratic process to settle there, so i will try to land some finance job in Europe. Everyone is telling me that the MBA is better but i believe an MBA from a university that is like 800-1000 on the global ranking list is useless. It would be good for networking with the local businessmen/entrepreneurs(maybe some from the balkan area) and probably land a better job at 1000-1200€ with peak salary of 1500-2000€/month. 1500€ is very good money for Greece's standards but it is not what i want to earn my whole life. On the other hand, my argument is that the cfa designation will help me more on my resume if i'll try applying for a job in any of the big banks in europe, be it UBS in Switzerland ,goldman/jp morgan in germany or some eastern-european country as they seek also russian-speaking people.(it is my 2nd language).
To conclude, is it better to go for the MBA, maybe even do some more corporate finance job in Greece and then try for Europe or go for the CFA and start looking for a job abroad?
thanks for your attention,
I'm not a Europe / Greece resident so take my advice with a grain of salt. I think you are correct in your statement that a rank 1000 Business School likely won't have the impact that many people want from an MBA (also the financial burden of that MBA seems too high for what you'd get out of it).
If you are 100% sure you want to do either the CFA or MBA, I would recommend the CFA as it takes less time and is far cheaper. I think your best bet would still be to try and network / reach out to employees in Europe banks and talk to them. Furthermore jumping from your role straight to IB might be difficult regardless of a CFA / MBA. You may want to add in a few extra steps into that plan (Perhaps middle market / corporate finance / working at a private bank arm of a BB then trying to lateral to MM IB or something along those lines).
Same thing as above, take with a grain of salt (I’m not familiar with How things would work in greece). But unless you do your MBA somewhere meaningful (I.e. a place that has had some regular past success of placing its graduates in finance), you shouldn’t go out and do any old mba. The CFA program could be more useful (and cheaper) here. But I do think you’ll have to try and find something outside of Greece (maybe somewhere else in Europe). I would also say, in this case, cast a broader net - be it finance, or say consulting. The point is to improve your resume (in experience and brand name, where possible) so that it helps bridge the gap for your goals down the line (and potentially with a firm that is willing to hire from outside of their location).
Get an MBA in London or at that school in Barcelona or something .... MBA schools that aren't ranked aren't good for much except checking a box as a requirement for government promotions or something
CFA, without a doubt
The CFA is not likely to 'help' on his resume until he passes L2 in 2020 at the earliest. Not sure how this is going to help him advance his career. Long game - maybe. But, its more the icing on the cake than something to propel one's career like an MBA.
The issue here is that is it worth to go for an MBA that is going to cost me more than half of my monthly salary for 2 years? Bcoz, assuming I pass lvl1, continue working where I am right now and head for the lvl2 in 2020 it will still cost me much less. And could the probability of landing a good entry job in the finance world with lvl2 CFA be higher than of this with an MBA from a not even top200 university? Maybe after i land an entry finance job and can afford a good MBA could propel further my career?
Just get into the best school you can for an MBA and borrow the money. Greece may be bad, but at least you’re coming from Europe and not India or China (money is even weaker there and more competitive).
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