Hey chimps,
Just thought I'd post this on here to dispel some myths about the CFA® [sic]. Not bragging, just want to establish that it's not in fact as difficult as people make it sound. I agree there is a lot of content, but the point I want to make is if you're efficient, you can get a helluva lot done in very little time.
This was the study plan (between school/job at this point):
WEEK 1:
- Read one book of Kaplan each day (~14 hrs pd)
WEEK 2:
- Do 2 past papers each day (~8-12 hrs pd)
GENERAL DAY:
7-12 - study
12-1230 - lunch
1230-430 - study
430-7 - exercise/dinner/relax (obvs no tv/computer)
7-Midnight - study
Was this difficult? Yes.
Was it draining/demoralising? Yes. (no worse than IBD)
Was it worth it? No question. Some of my mates spent about 6 months declining invitations to party/go out due to CFA® commitments.
Anyway results were out today and passed lvl 1 with most topics in the >70% cat.
NUMBER ONE TIP: Turn off phone and computer when studying. Your pals can chill. So can Gaybook.
Gaybook? what are you, 12?
anyways that's nearly 200 hours of studying.
agreed that it isn't all that bad as some stories i hear studying for months, but it depends what your background is I think
the other point about the CFA is that I really don't agree with a lot of its content about portfolio theory, EMH, etc.
Well now that I know you don't agree with the CFA, I will never take it!!! What is it about portfolio theory and EMH that you don't agree with? Obviously, you're much smarter than the people from the CFA.
read the book value investing by james montier and he makes some pretty good arguments...very broadly speaking, i disagree that markets are efficient and that the price accurately represents the value of the security...i.e. active management can work
CFA lv 1 in 2 weeks is doable (especially if you come from a finance undergrad background or just finished a training class in IB or S&T which helps cover the accounting, valuations and some of the Fixed Income materials)
CFA lv 2 in 2 weeks - would be hell, but still doable assuming you don't have a job and can study day in day out
CFA lv 3 in 2 weeks - not so doable. It's less material than CFA lv 2, but practicing for the written exam requires some time. It's harder in a different sense because there's a lot more application than lv 2 where all the info is given to you and things are all formulaic.
Thanks for the info. Yeah fully intend on spreading the study over a longer period for lvl 2/3, but was a fun challenge. Glad to hear some other ppl managed in even shorter timeframe/hours - impressed!
For the record, yes I have UG econ and exp at a BB.
Thats great, but for most people that have jobs, it would be impossible to study like that for 2 weeks, so thats why its spread out for 4-6 months.
@ineedajob15: Exactly. So that's why you shouldn't try to fit studying in 2-weeks. This isn't recommended.
What background do you come from?
JW how you did 14 hr a day studying with school and a job. dont seem to actually be enough hours in the day
On top of the fact that most people don't have two open weeks to dedicate to study, this sounds like an awful two weeks and I'm sure retention of the material after the test would not be very good.
Take a few months, learn the material well, and you'll be much more confident going in and will retain much more of what you learned to build on for level 2.
If you have a finance degree / background, you shouldn't need more than 50 hours to pass level 1 at the mosot. Good luck with that strategy on level 2 and 3 though.
Why Kaplan material vs CFA material?
It's more condensed and really doesn't leave anything out. It's about maximizing your efficiency.
Most people studying for CFA don't have two weeks without any commitments so this whole "plan" is pretty much impossible for most.
I used the kaplan books and did it in 2 weeks studying an average of 6 hours a day. if you come in with a finance/econ background it really isnt bad.
Congrats.
Now put the ego in park while you spend 4 months studying for L2.
Yah these two week CFA study threads never cease to amaze me. The 3-day Level I study topic was a real hoot. I just started studying for Level II and I fully intend on putting in 225+ hours spaced out over the next 4 months.
You spent 200 hours studying for level I, therefore it's not hard? Let me guess, you also come from a finance background?
Nothing surprising here other than your poor time management decision.
I practically flunked out of college as a fiinance major and past L1 3 weeks after graduation. I put in about 250 hours of study between December and May. So I studied somewhere around 12 hours per week, which seemed like a full-time job for a lazy college student.
^^^ andre nickatina signature ftmfw.
gratz on having absolutely no responsibilities to take care of and obvious access to adderallz
I think outperformance in a large-cap fund is going to be extremely hard to come by. There was an interesting study that showed the companies that had the most "Buy" analyst recommendations in the S&P 500 outperformed the companies with the most "Sell" ratings.
Now, small cap and micro caps are an entirely different story and that is where I believe it is possible to (severely) outperform the market.
This is exactly right about large vs. small caps.
CFA in two weeks is only doable if you know half or more of the shit already. if you don't simply reading a book a day ... 400 pages isnt going to give you a fuck's chance in mastering the material enough to pass. this is sort of a stupid post. i had a friend who was a pm at a 700m hf for 8 years and passed level 1 without really studying at all.
Sorry Rav, I meant to say the companies with the most "Sell" ratings outperformed those with "Buy," but I think you got my point. I've gotta PM you back soon to ask for some advice on career path again.
Yeah, I know what you meant. The sell side is nothing but the mouth piece of the companies it covers.
Warren Buffet is all the proof I need for an actively managed portfolio.
Uhh, Warren Buffet has access to far more information and leverage than the average investor. Unless you can buy a controlling stake in the company and cut fat and change management, you aren\'t doing it the Buffet way. In addition, the guy is the quintessential corporatist/crony capitalist/insider, especially as he\'s gotten wealthier and more powerful. The guy pretty much has direct access to the Obama administration.
You\'re right, the only reason WB is successful is because the Obama administration is allegedly helping him out. That definitely proves that active portfolio management is for the birds.
That\'s CLEARLY not what I said. I don\'t even need to argue the point because that is transparently and obviously not what I said. Thanks for trying.
It is what you said. You wrote a sarcastic and flagrantly off base rebuttal to eriginal\'s point. Your claim was that WB trades on inside information, some of which is gained through his ties to Obama. That\'s a joke. And your claim that the only way to \"do it the Buffett way\" is by owning full stakes in corporations is equally wrong (and wasn\'t even worth responding to). He didn\'t start doing that in scale until decades into his career.
Look, some people are really good at investing. No need to try to slander them, especially without any evidence or viable claims.
If you have something valuable to contribute, please do so, otherwise don\'t clutter up the forum with garbage accusations.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
You could definitely argue that in the past 10-20 years he has had more leverage than the average investor, but before that active portfolio management was really the only key to his success. He picked great companies that were undervalued.
How is it garbage accusations? Comparing Buffet to an everyday investor is like comparing a real estate developer to a REIT's performance. It's completely apples and oranges, not to mention that when Buffet was investing in a regular portfolio as a nobody it was done years before computers. Computers have made the market far, far more efficient than it was in the 1960s. Your points are completely and utterly invalid. Buffet buys companies and changes their management and uses incredible economies of scale and leverage. He also has incredible insider ties to very politically connected people, both in Washington and on Wall Street and around the world.
Giving credit to Buffet's successes to "active portfolio management" is an utter joke, and at the very least is not relevant in the information age.
10 Days Left? The Final Smart Prep CFA Strategy (Originally Posted: 11/28/2013)
This article is originally from 300Hours.com. You can read the full article here.
I know exactly how you feel now - it's so close yet so far. You've worked hard for the past few months, revising and doing tons of practice papers. You're exhausted, stressed and tired. Worse of all, you don't know whether you're ready for the exam andwhether you'll pass? The dream is to ace the CFA exams in 18 months, if possible.
Am I Prepared? Big question, a hard one to answer. However, you probably know by now that I'm one of those people that prefer to take a view on tricky issues like this, so here are my thoughts of what you should have done (or are in the process of finishing soon) by now:First off, take a super deep breath - yup, give me a BIG inhale and exhale. Whatever stage you're in your studies now, there's always room to improve and make the most of your time left efficiently to maximise your chances of passing the CFA exams. Here's our little guide for doing it right.
Have an objective assessment of this, there's no point lying to yourself. If you're extremely behind the schedule of achieving these 4 points above, I highly recommend adopting our Cramming Strategy for the best use of your remaining time. For others who are close to finishing the above 4 tasks in a few more days, please refer at the next section.
Yay, What Should I Be Doing Now Then? First of all, well done forbeing so disciplined and delivering consistent results so far! It's not the time to slack off though. You've done a solid base level preparation, now it's for the final push - all you have to do is 'plug the (knowledge) gap'. Here's how:
<div class="paragraph" style="text-align:left;"> Once the key topics are identified, it's a matter of revising that particular sections, trying out practice questions, and repeating for all the weaker topics until you're rock solid ready to give the exams a kick in the ass!Link to the original article: 10 Days Left? The Final Smart Prep CFA Strategy
Most important thing- get a good nights sleep.
Don't try to change the discussion. Your claim was not that Buffett is unlike ordinary investors because the market is more efficient in the computer age. Your claim was that he is a fraud. If you have proof, please share it, otherwise crawl back into your hate cave and STFU.
Buffett beat the market by a substantial margin without inside information, and has done so since the advent of computers.
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