I live and work in Europe. Here`s what I understand so far.
If you live in the US, the CFA is pretty well established and recognised so a good step forward. Besides, the US has very well developed capital markets so more opportunities I guess. Perhaps US forum mates would share an opinion btu I think it will be higher prized than a low-mid uni MBA.
If you live in Europe, definitely an MBA. Several of my former classmates work in large banks and they all say the same - on interviews (bank Directors are mostly from Western Europe) theyd take a candidate with a finance degree from a local university (theyre sub 1, 000 rank in the QS Global Rankings) anytime over a CFA. This indeed shook my motivation to pursue the CFA charter and I will probably go for a different education path. Besides, capital markets in continental Europe are not that much expanded as in the US and in the UK you have the CISI which my UK friends claim is preferred by employers.
From pure finance knowledge perspective, I’d say that CFA beats pretty much any MBA program. MBA programs’ focus is much broader than the CFA curriculum and its focus is not directly on finance knowledge. In my opinion, having a mediocre MBA or being a Chaterholder usually gets you an interview in Europe. After that, it depends on the position. From my own perspective, CFA (L3 candidate) has been way more helpful than my MBA. In the interviews I’ve been in, I’ve usually gotten a few pretty difficult questions relating to technical finance stuff (derivatives valuation, quant stuff), which I could not have not answered if I had not been in the CFA program.
Sorry for a very late reply - but better late than never I suppose.
Yes, in the pursuit to becoming a Charterholder, I read the curriculum. I am unsure of what you are getting at with your snide reply. Even a cursory review of the desired qualifications to most senior/executive level positions within the financial services industry would suggest MBAs are in high demand, and thus, it is logical for the supply to be so abundant. In an environment that supply exceeds demand (which I suppose might be your point?), the theme here remains such that it would not be advisable to be lacking in the prerequisite that everyone you are competing against has.
I have an MBA from a school probably ranked around #15. I have an undergrad in physics from a program ranked in the top 3. I have a CFA. I get the most comments and attention from the physics degree, followed by the CFA. I rarely hear anything about the MBA.
In addition, when I try to think of what material from my MBA has been useful that was not also covered in my undergrad or CFA, there isn’t much. It seems that info from marketing courses should have been useful, but I can’t really put my finger on any time I’ve used it. I came out of my MBA program in a recession year, and getting a job was tough. Some people I knew even had accepted offers revoked!
When I did high altitude trail running, that attracted a lot of attention. Good attention, way more than having an MBA, As in, “you ran 11,800 feet up a mountain in a morning?” I think the impression was “This guy is tough and focused”. I was not someone who put much stock in “lookism” before that, but dropping a lot of weight and being in really good shape was like moving to a different country, a much friendlier country, with higher paying jobs.
you’re absolutely spot on. Throughout my career I’ve constantly been surrounded by people (usually below 30) who see MBA, Ivy League/graduate degrees as some kind of secret weapons that provide golden keys that open paths to systemically successful careers poured with money raining from the sky.
The reality is that the most successful people I have met pretty much always focus on doing their work damn fucking well, no matter the context, personal issues, whether they find it fun or not. Rather than drooling over creds, people should focus on the delivery on the job and the skills supporting it.
I am MBA graduated who will register for CFA level I. Well… I can’t differentiate floating-rate and fixed rate debt too… All I can do is just “guess”. Well it is a debt in floating rate and fixed rate. So when it is floating, the rate will not fixed. So when it is fixed, the rate will be fixed throughout the payment? hahaha? Floating depends on the market? while fixed, no matter what happened, the rate will still not be affected?