I am not sure about whether i would like to do 2nd mba,my current goals are to complete my CFA/ACCA and work for 5-6 years.If i feel the need later on i would do 2ND MBA/PHD/OR MAY BE NOTHING AT ALL.
People are allowed to take 2nd MBA if they can prove the need for it.If you donot believe me please check “FAQ” section of some of the famous MBA colleges.
Can’t you just omit the other MBA?
You are proud of being a candidate while almost everybody in the world with USD 600 can become a candidate in about 5-10 minutes? And it helps you get interviews because it shows interest in finance, and that is what they probably want from an intern. It wont help you because they are impressed you paid the tuition fees.
You cleared the exams, but are not FRM designated yet. So don’t brag about it since it will take you at least 2 more years to reach that.
And who cares who has more qualifications in the future? Did you seriously type that? You sounds like a 10-year old kid (“we will see who has a bigger car in 10 years”)
What impresses me most about a lot of people passing CFA exams is not they scored well enough on each part of the exam to pass, but that they found the motivation and perseverance to study enough while they had a full-time job and/or a wife and kids. Doing your CFA during your MBA will probably result in a lot of overlap of material while you live in a dorm without any worries (kids, wife, household, career, etc) making it a lot less impressive to pass the exams.
Sure it is, but that doesn’t make his opinion right. Righteouness is not based on the amount of money you make, and it sounds again like an argument of a 10-year old (“he says it is wrong and he makes 1 mln a year, so he knows everything”).
Arrogance is not a virtue. Maybe you want to hold back these statements till you passed (and even then you should not brag so much about it).
I seriously wonder what you are learning during your MBA; I am doing one also and I mostly learn stuff like “building relationships”, “how to be an effective leader”, “how to take the lead”, “how to motivate people I am working with”, “how to present effectively”, etc. These things you learn by doing and like riding a bike, once you know how to do it you just need to put it into practice. It is not that you forget it and need to redo your MBA to learn it again. So why the hell would you consider doing a second MBA? Going for an EMBA after your MBA might be an idea to build new connections with more senior people. Btw: all the stuff you learn in classes is or quite useless when you start working or you can learn it quicker and cheaper by just buying a book about it and attenting some lectures around the country.
To come back to your original question (I passed all 3 levels of CFA, got my FRM and my CAIA): CAIA covers different material than CFA and FRM. 70% overlap is bullshit, maybe the idea is the same but the focus is totally different. Besides, after studying a lot and passing CFA L3 you will be in a mode of studying and searching for more information. Some people start learning a different language, learn how to play an instrument, others do CAIA. Its not about prestige but about the mindset of learning new stuff and finding your bounderies (now that I did CFA, FRM, and CAIA, I started my MBA, I am learning a new language, and doing triathlons. Just because I enjoy it).
And I must say that I enjoyed the CAIA material the most of them all; interesting examples were discussed and I believe I gained some insights in industries I would otherwise know nothing about.
^Respect
I have both CAIA and CFA, in that order. Contentwise, I think CAIA goes deeper in many areas (HF strategies, real estate) than CFA. The curriculum is well planned and content is up to date.
What if I had done CFA first? Would I have done CAIA? Probably yes, due to the reasons I gave above. It would have increased my knowledge.
You also need to remember that CFA charterholders have this little responsibility called continuing education. You need to study something every year - it is not just accumulating experience what counts here - and if I spend time on studying, I like it if I get a formal recognition for that. Apart from learning more, it is also part of the motivation.
i have a different opinion on it sir,if after CFA you want to continue learning then why not go for CPA or even FSA(if you are so serious).CPA would give you mastery over accounts/audit/tax.Actuary+CFA i think makes a killing combination which yields better financial reward than any other combination like CFA+CAIA etc.But again i am telling what ever i have heard from finance people.
If we are talking about an equity analyst, the combination you suggest might make sense. In my case, I’m not analyzing firms but doing more quantitative and risk analysis, also for alternative investments. I used to work for a Big 4 accounting firm but I really do not like accounting 
That’s why I’d rather stay away from CPA although my background might give me some advantage.
So I guess it depends also on what your preferences and focus on work is / what you would like it to be. But I also want to emphasize the continuing education (CE) requirement. I’m probably doing one or another designation just as a byproduct of CE.
You can’t just go for the CPA like you can the CFA. You may need to go back to school to complete required coursework and number of credit hours before you can take the exam.
Word. Most states require 150 hours of college. Of those 150, 30 have to be in upper-level accounting, and another 24 have to be in upper-level business (other than accounting).
i had no idea about it.If that is the case then may be we can look at ACCA as an alternative to CPA since ACCA is also a global accounting body.We in asia have no option but to go for ACCA as CPA exams are perhaps not conducted here.ACCA is much more flexible,there are no stringent requirements like CPA and one can even benefit from exemptions if he/she has a CFA charter.
I have nothnig against CAIA i have seen their schweser notes but some where here in analyst forum in some other thread a CAIA holder wrote that CAIA is not value for money he did it since his employer paid for it.
I may be wrong here but if i want to take out $2700 from my pocket then i would love to learn a specific skill which i donot have now as a CFA/FRM holder.
I personally will not take CAIA but i will study their schweser notes atleast to see if it provides me some extra knowledge that perhaps CFA/FRM failed to provide.If my future employer pays for it and asks me to get CAIA then perhaps i may give CAIA exams.
Same argument can be made about FRM holders doing PRM and vice versa,i am curious to know what is the need of other credential in risk management when you already have one of them??
This reminded me of an interview I once had about 15 years ago. Me on one side of the table and about eight people on the other side. Stressful. Although I didn’t spend my time arguing and antagonizing everyone since I was 23 and the least experienced person in the room. Two ears, one mouth – use in proportion.
the guy’s being a knob but he’s got a point.
Everyone on this site seems to want to shit on an MBA thats not from Wharton, Harvard or Oxford. If thats the case what is CAIA going to do for you? At some point the designations get a little useless.
Stanford definitely gets shitted on a lot.
+1000
Those commenting “experience always trumps education” should keep in mind that education and practical experience can go hand in hand.I am used to working 13 hrs a day (7hr college+3hr college home work +3 hr studies for CFA/ACCA).
I will not leave my education even though i will start working by next year after my college.No matter how busy you are there is always scope for studies if you are motivated.
Studying 13 hours per day does not compare to work experience. Perhaps I’m speaking for myself, but I’ve learned FAR more in my short 3 years on the job than I learned in all of my schooling. Moreover, a lot of this practical knowledge occurred while putting in 10-13 hour days…regularly.
13 hours per day spent studying for school and professional designations doesn’t compare to 13 hours per day spent working a meaningful job. It’s likely you won’t realize as much until you look back on this when you’re employed.
I completely agree with your point of view,but there are people on this forum who are trying to teach a college student the importance of work experience.You cannot teach the importance of work experience,one will learn it when he will be working full time.
Many are of opinion that i am trying to create “alphabet soup”.I donot know what is wrong with that?If a young student can clear CFA/FRM/ACCA while still being in college,i think it’s a nice move.
Its better to complete your education by 25 when you are without wife and kids then to do it by 35 with all the responsibilites.Some will say look at the dedication of that 35 yr old guy working full time and still clearing CFA.According to me a 22-23 yr old guy clearing those exams is equally dedicated,infact the later knows at an young age ,what he wants to do in life and has planned well in advance.
There is always a trade off either kill your socail life at 22-23 to get what you want in life or kill your self at 30+ by managing studies/family/kids/full time job etc. to achieve your goal.
You would not be able to clear CFA while in college. The requirement for level 1 registration is to at least be in your final year…so level 2 and 3 could not be done during college. Anyway, cgottuso is right and i dont believe any one is trying to “teach” you the importance of work experience…they are merely telling you it is important based off of their own experience. I think it was you who was trying to teach people the worthlessness of CAIA after CFA/FRM, but that was actually without base since you are missing experience in 2 of the 3. The important thing here is to have experience with the claims you make.
I am doing my masters,so i can clear CFA while being college.
I made my judgement based on industry people who have CAIA and i donot think i was completely wrong.I just told what is the truth that CFA/FRM are more demanding then CAIA.If you donot trust me ask any one who has done CFA/FRM/CAIA.I am very serious about my education and my judgement about CAIA was based on mostly secondary and some primary research.Here we donot have many CFA/FRM etc as people move abroad for better opportunities,so i had to depend on expert opinion of professionals working in singapore/dubai/uk/usa etc.Even my tutor who has done cfa/frm/caia etc told me the same thing.
Probably my only mistake was to be critical of CAIA on public forum via this thread.