In my country CFA more commonly refers to the Country Fire Authority service, when I mention that I’m studying for the CFA people frequently assume I’m planning to be a volunteer fire fighter, which is way more awesome than learning about pension accounting.
i think it depends on where you live. i find a ton of people in my city, an exurb of Toronto, knows what it is including a lot of engineers and tech guys.
Toronto is … the CFA capital of the world though as well
but what that means is that as the charter reaches a certain saturation, a good percentage of the upper middle class knows what it is.
Speaking of MIDDLE CLASS. I want to manage money for the middle class. Forget opening up a hedge fund or becoming a PM or CIO or whatever. I want to open up an asset mgmt business and manage some money. Partner up with an advisor from one of the large broker dealers and a CFP or CPA and get the ball rolling. Target them middle and upper middle class.
i was trying to show off to some fin tech chick from canada that i was a charterholder. i got nothing either.
that reminds me of my lame pickup line but a line that started off with a laugh and a conversation then a seat at my table. Used to hit bars and clubs in the meat packing and chelsea area every weekend. Probably the best place with combination of beauty, brain and career focused individuals.
I go for the top3 girl in the club…of course not successful all the time but i had my moments in my early 20s. One time I went up to a girl asking heyyyy did you go to harvard? finance major?
she said no did you go to harvard?
I said nope i just asked…sounds super dumb but it is funny and starts a convo. anyways the girl was from Tennessee here to pursue modeling while attending FIT.
I can relate. I ended up going through the CFA program in lieu of a top 25 MBA. I’m assuming I could have gotten into a school in that category given my scores and background. I definitely sense some snobbery in my personal life, and professionally outside of investment management, given that I don’t have a masters. I’ve even considered getting a diploma mill MBA just to check the box. I had a colleague do just that. He was an engineer from a top tier school, as am I, and a charterholder. He claimed more was required of him in high school than was required during his cookie cutter accredited MBA program. My understanding is some European governing bodies recognize the CFA program as master’s level work. Being a charterholder doesn’t even get that level of recognition outside investment management. I’m with you. I don’t even try to explain. Maybe I should take a little solace in knowing a few top 25 MBA holders that have not found success during their charterholder pursuits. I don’t. But, fortunately, I’m entertained by snobbery, ignorance, and arrogance, so it’s all good.
This seems inconsistent with what you’ve written in the past. Maybe I misread?
i wasnt trying to use a pick up line thouhg. it was just a plain convo. she was fin tech and toronto as well. i had assumed, she would know whats up. she knows ucla though. so yea like everyone said. no one knows the charter really.
i never use pick up lines. but at vegas. my buddies wanted me to try some lines for shits and giggles. i did the “slow down, grab the wall, wiggle for me till u make ur ass fall off” song. lets just say the hit rate is terrible. a simple hi hello, i i think ur cute, what you up to? blah blah blah. is much more effective.
Not sure why that didn’t work for you, when I use that one, 80% of the time, the panties drop every time. Maybe you could try one more spray of Binaca or perhaps frosting your tips as in the below image. Please report back with your results.
what did i write in the past? run a fund or become a ski bum in Aspen or move back to SF?
It is so true!
I thought it would get better over time because the number of candidates and new members increase year over year, but the general awareness is still very low.
Of course, the general public sees accountants more than they see equity analyst or portfolio managers, so I don’t blame them for assuming CFA and CPA are the same (or similar) thing. But even if they do know they are different, very few people understand exactly how hard it is, I remember when I was studying for CFA exams, people around me always tell me “you are stressing yourself out, you really don’t need to study that hard, you are always so good in school!”
I just kept quiet… -_-
NANA
You can never guarantee superior performance :)…A girl puts that title to her tinder profile would probably scare boys away. My boyfriend thinks I’m scary just by the speed I calculate the tips…usually it’s like 20 dollars, 4 dollars tip. Sometimes taking this test makes you looks superior while all you do is 2X2.
20% is pretty generous tip. Someone waiting 3 tables simultaneously/hr with an average bill of $50/table and 20% tip would make 3 * 50 * .2 * 2080 = $62,400/year just in tips, working a standard 8 hour shift 5 times/week. Throw on top of that the base wage. And I don’t see this job getting replaced by automation either.
Good calculation! I never thought about that. Now that you lay out the numbers I seriously start to think about the value of the test, taking into consideration of all the opportunity cost, lost vacations, peace of mind, etc.
Hey at least you know what triangular arbitrage is.
I think at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if people don’t know or know. If you enjoyed your time studying the program and learned a lot from it - you should be satisfied.
I’ve learned quite a bit from the program and feels good to know that I have passed all 3 levels. and this is where it ends. If you are after the “wow” reactions from people, perhaps top5 MBA or top5 law or ANY medical school is your way. I say ANY medical school because well the average acceptance rate into med school hovers around 3%. Harvard MBA hovers around 12%…Plus if you want to impress some random girls at bars all else equal or similar…having a medical degree is more impressive than some mba or working in finance and certainly cfa…
^ Agree, MCAT is MUCH harder than any level of the CFA, harder than all 3 levels put together (in my own personal experience) and that’s just the entrance exam.
come on now can’t compare MCAT to CFA in difficulty…not even in writing or in anything. That is like comparing if the Moon is higher up than the tallest tree in the world…Heck, the bar exam is harder than CFA so are the actuarial exam, DAT, PCAT, etc…