I’m a new member to this forum. I’m in the medical field currently in the middle of my residency training with no finance background whatsoever. I’ve been interested in learning more about investment, especially personal wealth management, in order to make my future life easier without having to work to maintain lifestyle when I’m older. I’m wondering if CFA is a good program to go through purely for learning the knowledge of finance/investment. I really like how CFA is a self-paced learning program. I recognize that CFA charter require 2 year relevant work experience in finance which is probably something I’ll never be doing as I will be working full time as a physician after residency. Would studying for CFA I or II and writing the exam worth the effort or is there a better way to systematically learn about finance without having to go to school for it?
Thanks for the reply! I recognize CFA won’t make you an expert investor but I’m wondering if having a solid foundation of knowledge in portfolio management and finance is a prerequisite to successful investing.
There are some benefits, but I don’t know if it’s worth the time if you don’t work in finance. I recommend that you borrow or get some used CFA books and skim through the material, to see if it is worthwhile before committing.
Would you rather people consult you or WebMD for their health related issues?
In a similar way leave wealth management to the professionals. It’s not really a matter of knowledge. You must also be able to execute. Everybody knows compound interest can make you a millionaire.
I find it somewhat unethical when doctors discuss finances and wealth accumulation as if every patient is a source of income for them. What happened to the Hippocratic Oath?
I don’t see why it is unethical for doctors to learn about personal finance. It has nothing to do with viewing patients as a source of income. Doctors work to make a living just like anyone else. There are a lot of sacrifice (sleepless nights, debts, missing meals) involved in pursuing medicine. I take my job very seriously and try my best to be the best doctor I can be. Financially, being a physician is not as rewarding as most public think it is. Check out this article on how UPS driver salary compared to a physician if you are interested: http://www.er-doctor.com/doctor_income.html
I don’t mind patients bring up their internet reading on their medical condition. I counsel them on using good resources and encourage patients to take ownership in their health. I think the same applies to financial management. I think having a good understanding of personal finance is a supplement to wealth management rather than a replacement for the professionals.
I agree. A lot of doctors I know are terrible with money. There is little to none financial education for most of us. Many doctors go from being undergrad student working part time at restaurant to making 200k salary as attending after 8-10 years of training. The spending often goes out of control without any intention to invest. That’s why a lot of doctors end up having to work into their 60-70s and delay retirement because of lack of financial planning.
And I want to learn about investment, not speculation.
Cute article, but physician compensation has long been underreported. Like any good worker’s guild, it is in the best interest of the practitioner to underreport. Salary reports will often conveniently leave out practice profit. My anecdotal experience supports the assertion as well. I’ve dealt with dozens of physicians through the years and making less than $350k would be the exception, with a median over $600k. Here’s a more balanced and timely article.
It’s a waste of time to just take one level if you’re not going for all three levels and the charter. It takes a LOT of time and energy to prepare for each of these exams. Have you looked at the curriculum? Seasonned finance/econ majors who spent four years in college (and grad level work) often fail the exams, so someone coming in with zero background will struggle even more. If you’re really interested in learning more about investing, take a less academic approach and start by reading the staples (The Intelligent Investor, Liar’s Poker, A Fool and his Money, etc). Read the finance/business section in the news. Put a very small amount of money in a trading account (like Robin Hood) and play around while being fully prepared to lose the money (consider it tuition). Learn the basics of financial statements (youtube). Listen in quarterly conference calls from companies you like. Watch finance shows (Jim Cramer’s Mad Money, but only for entertainment and not investment advice). All this would cater well to your time constraints and residency commitments, which I’d imagine takes 12-14 hours of your time now.
The CFA program would be a waste of your time for these purposes. Go through this first, most charterholders still have trouble with these basic fundamentals. Learn these well and you’ll be ahead of most investors…
I can randomly find 100 “experienced” people in finance and maybe 5 of them are worth their fees or can beat the market. The rest make crazy money for failing year after year.
I don’t think he was asking because he is greedy or acting poorly for his own gain (he’s making an honest living and gave up an incredible amount of time to do so). I do think you could make the same flimsy argument about people in the CFA program (see the ethics book…), since the program propagates the idea that a member/charter holder is the highest standard of putting the client first. Personally, I don’t think it’s a good argument, and you seem a little jaded towards physicians, but I could have misperceived that.
If you are thinking of investing in direct equity market, CFA is a good course to learn various ways of analysis and techniques of investment. Or Its better to just do reasearch on some good Mutual fund house and select funds for your investment where you can invest also to build your wealth and still have sufficient time for your profession as a physician.
Your already a very busy person and you shouldn’t get bogged down in the detail of the CFA program to learn how to manage your money personally
Following on from that. Investing your our money brings in to much emotion to the picture. I.e do you sell S&P futures on the night of the election under a discount brokerage account or does an professional ride through the process. Your cleanly a very successful and smart individual. Emotions always wins over logic, as the smartest IA is not as successful the smooth talking IA. Please look at an professionals resume before working with them.
In Level 3 of the CFA you will learn, that in efficient markets (such as large cap US markets) that the value may not come from being a great picker of stocks with fundamental analysis. But in resource the Wealth manager has at their disposal with creating tax alpha and correctly using asset allocation to manage and mitigate risks.