Should I get a CFA? If so, when?
I am 24, got into HF straight out of uni. Covering TMT as a Global Equity Research Analyst for a Top Brazilian Hedge Fund (I am Brazilian) in a $150MM L/S book inside a $4-5B fund (50% dedicated to overseas markets). The team is only me and my PM (he is pretty young too, ~35). Aim for the book is to gain representation within the fund (more AUM). We cover US mainly, but also China and every other country.
Should I do a CFA? Is it worth it? If so, when should I do it? My boss is favorable to it, but I got so sick of school by sophomore year of uni cause barely anything had to do with public markets from an investment perspective.
Before anyone asks “How did you get in?”, my father was a broker turned investor and my elder brother is a long-time Sell-Side guy between GS, JPM from positions from Sales to IB and Wealth Management and all. I got immersed in public capital markets early on and more so during uni. Made a macro paper on LTCM (on my own) and as part of a class I made a pitch + report on AMD as a buy and possible short in INTC to fund it and eliminate risk in Oct. 2019, an M&A report on Alexion a bit before that (and both happened! :D). Had some connections, got a face 2 face with the PM, talked about them, sent him the work.
Based on how ur question is framed (“a CFA”), u should already give up
What an unhelpful response. Truly dogshit. I know what the CFA is. But not every person in a HF has it, and I’ve seen some posts around here saying that it isn’t perceived as valuable by HFs as much as for AMs
Chill tf out
I think a CFA adds more value in other parts of the world than the US. US funds are full of ppl from top world reknown schools and hard track records to get in. Other places look at things differently. This is probably why your boss sees it as favorable , would say complete level1 if by level2 you crushing it at work then give up the cfa track.
Yeah…Idk, I feel like I don’t wanna take the CFA so soon at least, I got so fed up with academic work at uni. I think right now work would be best and learn from it…I don’t even know if the CFA would be that beneficial to my line of work and investing $3500 + 100s of hours is just dreadful
Adds zero value in the HF space, and I say this as a charter holder. I did it as a graduate working on the sell-side before I moved to the buy side. Your ROI is so much higher focusing on finding ideas and making sure you generate returns. As others have said, no one will care about your charter if you can't generate ideas or produce returns. Where the CFA is important is in long-only asset management where marketing plays a big role in asset raising.
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