Keep CFA® Charter During Business School

Is it worth paying the fees to keep the CFA® charter during business school?
Obviously, since I'm leaving, my company will no longer pay for it. Thinking of letting it expire - is there any downside?
I'll be recruiting within the financial services industry, but not Asset Management or Equity Research.

7 Comments
 
"JohnnyLlamma45" Without knowing the fees, I'd say absolutely keep it. Everyone in the finance world knows and respects the CFA. It can only help you.

It's like $300 a year. And you can still say you "passed all 3 levels of CFA certification" or were "Awarded CFA charter in 201X"

You just can't put CFA after your name or list yourself as a charterholder. Anyone who knows anything about the program will understand from the resume that you earned the certification but just stopped paying annual dues.

 

That's a little steep, but personally I'd just keep it. Unless it's standard for people to pass all 3 levels and then stop paying dues. Maybe that's common, I wouldn't know.

 
Most Helpful

For what it's worth, I kept mine during business school, even though I was fairly certain that I'd be recruiting for a different industry. Due to the timing, I only ended up having to pay for one year, which was worth it to keep "CFA" on the resume. Once I accepted my new job, I stopped paying for it. I called the institute, and it sounds like you can "reacquire" the designation just by paying the annual fee in the future without paying for the missed years.

If you hear otherwise, let me know!

 

I would keep it. One more indicator that you've done your work. Also ER people get to interact with corpfin people very interestingly similar to IB

 

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