Hello,
I will be taking the CFA® exam this December. After reading the forum, and seeing people talk about how hard work does not equate success, I am starting to have serious doubts about whether this exam will help me reach my end goal.
Why did you take the CFA® ? What industry are you in? and How did it help you?
Thanks
Because I work on the buyside (asset mgmt) and want to have some letters next to my name when I'm up for PM. CFA for free (work pays) is a lot cheaper than an MBA.
2nd this, and adds some technical knowledge on some more obscure topics I would not have seen in undergrad in finance. And I think just how the industry has changed it is moving to be more required for Asset Management jobs so they can say "all of our analysts have or are pursuing CFA designation" or still to the point where it shows initiative by pursuing it before they higher you on. It won't get you the job necessarily, but it doesn't hurt. Think it showed I was serious about working in asset management and let me move to FO.
Got a scholarship for level one that brought the cost to ~$300 and did level two because I was going to learn the content anyway.
Thank you for your reply. Do you think the CFA exam will be valuable in a commercial bank? coreytrevor @msnow"
I did not think things through, and I am not sure whether it will be valuable for a credit analyst position..
I don't know that it would be useful for credit analysis on personal loans, credit cards, mortgages, etc. Could always try and use taking teh exams and principals of credit analysis and go work in Fixed income if you sell it right and have the right connections, but not sure you would need it for commercial banking opportunities.
yeah Im an idiot. I registered for the exam in March. I figure, I am taking some action so it must be a good thing. On my way home, I looked online, and I realize that unless Im in portfolio management it probably wont help too much; your right, even if I am looking to analyze companys’ credit line and other debt, I probably dont need it.
Now, I’m not sure whether I should forget about it n do something else. This is gross.
thank you!
I took it actually for the knowledge, because I did not study finance as an undergraduate. I think by now most folks know CFA is not golden ticket to buy side, without the relevant work experience. I did actually learn a lot theoretically about different financial instruments and rudimentary valuation techniques.
I wasn't saying commercial credit analysts. I meant people who do credit evaluations on traded bonds. Either way, if you want to get involved in any kind of investment management/analysis/whatever (not just PM), CFA can't hurt. I'd stop looking for excuses not to take level 1, it won't kill you.
ok. thank you
Value of CFA Program: Do I really know what I am doing? (Originally Posted: 04/05/2015)
I think the value of CFA is wasted on some people. My conclusion is that there is no point in doing CFA to get a job and the CFA institute statistics seems to confirm that. The value of CFA - again I am not discussing the exam specifics - is unlocked only when practitioners study them.
Unfortunately, because of the world we live in, PMs are better off having CFA than not having it. It might offer a peace of mind to clients. It follows that the recruitment in Asset Management might state that "ideal candidate has a CFA charter."
What we want to avoid is CFA qualification becoming like a university certificate because CFA program, I think, offers tools that people who are involved in portfolio management can use on a daily basis.
You probably don't think about what you do if you work for a big company because you are hired to perform a set of tasks and the beauty of working in AM at one of the big money managers is that you don't have to reflect on what you do. There is a work manual for each role and you are supposed to do that. Quite frankly, anyone can do it and thats the way we maintain the organizational integrity (if you will). You can't rely too much on one individual because there is always a risk that that individual leaves the company to do something else. As a manager, you are not supposed to create such over-reliance and big hole in the organizational fabric.
On the other hand, if you work in, maybe big companies but a new team, or a smaller fund, you rely on each individual's expertise to run the business. If you want to test the variances, you have to know why you are doing it, how you can do it and whether you can do it given the data available to you. This is when you go back to basics and ask yourself "do I really know what I am doing here?" To answer this question, the CFA program offers a set of extremely useful skills (which are already divided into chapters and sections).
I think the CFA, unlike the accounting qualification, is something that is good to have, not a must have thing. It's quite frankly a waste on early 20 something who is "trying to break in." But the CFA institute also needs to pay the bills, so they need those 20 somethings. These 20 somethings have the mentality of "I will do anything" and unfortunately, this is precisely the wrong mentality to have when approaching the CFA program. It should be used to ask yourself "do I know what I am doing here?", "is what I am doing worth it?"
where are you in the CFA program? candidate? charterholder? have you failed any exams? give us some type of background so we can properly judge this post
Lol at the above
Basically sums up the post
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