Long story short I didn’t really have much time to study both times, and now I have 2 kids under 4 years old but I really want to get my CFA I feel it will help with my career long term.
Should I sign up for the in person classes or should I just continue to study?
If you could, you should…
You should watch videos by Mark Meldrum. I believe his level 1 videos are free on youtube. I’m using them for level 2 and they’re great.
Thanks guys, I could take the once a week classes, I would have to pay around $1,399 for the classes, my work wont pay, not too big of a deal.
I will take a look at Mark Meldrum’s Videos, thanks!
Don’t do it. Forget it man. CFA is hard and you’re not up for it.
Lol. Thanks for the encouragement.
The time commitment to get through the CFA program is not something to take lightly. If you’ve struggled to find the time/energy/commitment to study for Level I, you’re going to be in for a world of hurt on Levels II and III. There really aren’t any shortcuts. Videos and classes are fine supplements but they cannot replace self-study and of most importance, practice solving problems.
Before you continue to beat your head against Level I, I think you have to decide if you really want this, and if your family is onboard. If you do, you have to internally commit yourself to going all the way. I studied for all three levels with two young kids, and the way I managed it was to study early in the mornings before work and on weekends. For about two years I would wake up at 4am 5-6 days a week and hit the books. The weekends were key though, as by the time my kids were waking up I’d be done for the day it didn’t get in the way of spending weekend time with them. Sure, I was a zombie by about 8pm, but that’s around their bed time anyway so it worked out fine. My wife had to sacrifice a lot though.
Anyhoo, like I said, you first need to figure out if this is something you really want. If you do, the only way to get through it is to put in the hours.
An orangutan should be able to pass Level 1 with preparation. I think you should just study instead of paying money for classes…
How long ago did you take it the first two times? Was it earlier in your career and are you doing investments-related work now? I took Level 1 twice nearly 10 years ago when I was a year out of college and failed twice. I just took Level 1 again in December and passed. While I have less time now (longer commute, a husband, no kids though yet) I felt like I was more serious about my time commitment this time around. I also felt like because I had more real life work experience everything made way more sense to me and I was able to connect the dots of topics more so than I did the first couple of tries when I was just trying to memorize everything. If you think you can find 2 hours a day during the week and 3hrs/day on the weekends to study, then go for it. I used the Kaplan self-study materials and they were great. Whatever you decide good luck!!
Here’s a good read for those who fail twice.
https://www.analystforum.com/forums/cfa-forums/cfa-level-i-forum/91317574
I had two kids under 4 when I took Level 1 a couple of years ago. I took an in person class. Did quite well on the exam.
If you have failed twice, diagnostics on why will be pretty useful. It is a whole list of questions. Like how many hours did you spend? Do you have test anxiety? What kinds of scores did you get on qbank or mocks? How many mocks did you do? Etc.
if you are willing to dish the dough and give up valuable time with the kids/wife then sure.huge trade off
What about level 2? Can we teach a monkey to master pension accounting?
No. Monkeys can’t do pension accounting. There was even a Level 2 mock I did where the test author completely blew their own question. When they sent out errata in their answer key, they still didn’t fix it. I called and told them what the mistake was. They were embarrassed .
Researches have shown that monkeys are more successful stock pickers than investment advisors. For pension accounting I’m not quite sure.
I realize now that my comment might have been offensive to orangutans and those who identify as orangutans. No one has more respect for higher order primates than me.
#orangutanLivesMatter
#meToo
#orangutanLiberationActivists
#meToo
#RIPHarambe
Take the classes or don’t, but if you sit there in class, focus and pay attention rather than just going through the motions.
If you have a job, wife and kids, I think the whole program might be a bit much unless you function on the Trump sleep patterns of 4hrs per night.
What he means is, if you had any trouble with Level I (you obviously did) and with 2 kids it may be apparent you won’t have much time to study, maybe call the whole thing off for a couple years until the kids are older and you can really commit yourself.
Level II is much MUCH harder than Level I. Requires 2x the study time IMO. That’s why he’s saying that. If it were just one test, I’d say go for it, but if you have trouble with Level I, you have no chance at Level II.
Sidenote: I had a 1 year old when studying for Level III. Got in early at work and studied at night after the kid went down. Takes real commitment. Wife took him for a couple weekends in May just so I could commit all my time to practice tests. Passed.