Questions about CFA

Q1) Where would I get the official reading material for the level 1 exam?

A----> From CFA Institute, after you pay the fee.

Q2) Considering that people working in finance after college will have demanding jobs for the first two years, not to mention all the fun and partying that takes up most of any free time, when would someone find time to prepare for levels 2 and 3? During downtime at work!?

A----> Yeah, during your downtime, or during your MBA years.  Going through interviews, being enrolled in the CFA program was an added plus as it added to show my interest in the financial markets and relevant study of finance subjects.

Q3) Is it fair to update your resume each time you pass a CFA level, or is this weird to do?

A----> Yeah.  As soon as you pass Level One, you can only list, "Candidate for Level Two" AFTER you pay for the fee.  There is no partial designation or anything like that.

Q4) All said and done, for those interested in portfolio management/investment management/trading and not having majored in finance/economics in college, is it worth getting a CFA?

A----> I like how you put PM/IM/Trading in the same bucket.  PM and IM yeah. Trading: I wouldn't jump to that conclusion.

CFA is known for mostly PM, IM, and off course Equity Research.  I know a couple of people who've done CFA in sales, not that many traders though...

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I also am interested in taking my CFA Level 1 test, and possibly Level 2, before I graduate (5 years in university). Are the study materials in the form of textbooks or study notes or a combination of both? I am asking this because I would like to purchase the study materials and sit the examination when I am truly ready even if it means having to wait for the next examination, which would be six months away from the last, and would hate it if they continually updated the study materials and the content to be examined.

Also, is there a link to the prescribed texts available?

Cheers

The material changes enough between exam dates for test-prep firms like Stalla and Schweser to warn against using old material. Stalla and Schweser are review notes, the official CFA Institute materials I hear read like a regular textbook. There's no real textbook, just some custom published books by the CFA Institute that feature some pretty standard authors (Ross Jaffe Westerfield's Corporate Finance, or Brearley and Myers).

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From my experience, most people don't purchase textbooks unless you want a bookshelf full of heavy thick textbooks.  Most of my peers just get Schweser.  Despite its warning that the material may be out of date, from my own experience, it's good enough.  The curriculum doesn't change dramatically year over year, so the study guide's material coverage is sufficient to pass all three levels.  It worked for me.  One thing to keep in mind is that you could never learn all the material.  The scope of the material is very wide and for most people in the finance industry, time to study could be limited.  I would suggest that you know which subject your particular level is heavily weighted on (i.e. fixed income, accounting, PM, etc) and know those areas well.  For example, you better know financial statements well for level 2.

Hey guys, thanks for all the feedback.

Assuming I have a basic knowledge of corporate finance, derivatives, and fixed income, how many hours of studying in total should I spend preparing for the level 1 exam? Would 100-150 hours be sufficient?

IB in Asia, what kind of finance/accounting knowledge did you have before you started preparing? Also, do you know what area is heavily weighted in the level 1 exam? Does that weighting vary from year to year?