CCM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For “other” reasons: so MD/Department heads will > stop asking me why I have an english lit degree or > not asking as the case may be. do you get a lot of flak for having a humanities degree in finance? how did you even get hired? is the CFA program hard for you? we just hired someone with an english degree for a sell side junior analyst position and that person gets a lot of disrespect. apparently, the only acceptable majors where i work are finance / accounting / economics or engineering. frankly, i don’t see how engineering is any more related to finance than english lit. is, but people seem to believe that engineering is harder and more worthy of respect. kind of makes you wonder why they hired the person in the first place if they are just going sh!t on their education every other day. weird.
Engineering is related to finance in the sense of the work load and the analytical aspect (we can’t write worth $hit, but we can analyze with extreme detail). The last time I heard an English major pulling an all-nighter in college was at a Frat party. And they like to hire engineering ugrads because…if you can learn engineering, you can pretty much learn anything else. Can’t say the same with most other liberal arts degrees.
My mother is a big fan of telling me the best doctor she knows was an English major. Personally I’m a big fan of liberal arts degrees with heavy quantitative exposure - but I’m more than a bit biased in that regard.
nothing wrong iwth non finance majors. i personally feel that majoring in finance as an undergrad is kind of a waste. you can learn most of the degree through things like CFA and MBA. one should truly get an education in the undergrad and worry about trade school afterwards.
kevin0118 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Engineering is related to finance in the sense of > the work load and the analytical aspect (we can’t > write worth $hit, but we can analyze with extreme > detail). > > The last time I heard an English major pulling an > all-nighter in college was at a Frat party. > > And they like to hire engineering ugrads > because…if you can learn engineering, you can > pretty much learn anything else. Can’t say the > same with most other liberal arts degrees. Work and classload for engineers is much tougher than for finance majors. Trust me. I’m half of an engineer, and have done a bit of undergrad in finance and the classes are a joke to me. Although I’m not a fan of accounting.
becuase it’s a challenege and it might help get me in some doors
- interesting stuff - global recognition - challenge - I like studying - more education is better than less
I’d basically 2nd what Sims said: -I find the curriculum interesting -I like to feel as though I am always moving forward (accomplishing something new) -You can never have too much education -The costs for me (basically just the time spent studying) are much less than the benefits Basically, by having some discipline, I’ll have a certification that is (basically) equivalent to an MBA without spending any of my own money or putting any real crimp on my life style. 12 months from now I could (and hopefully will) have CFA after my name, and all my friends will be saying, "Damn, I should have done the same
ASDFFDSA, I got hired by proving that I wanted it more than the compeitiors with finance degrees and by having the courage to directly approach the BSDs in the office al a Bud Fox. From there they got over the Eng Lit degree(having a 4.0 helps). Also I noticed that the BSD’s often deal with securities lawyers who almost universally have english lit/ history/philopshy degrees. The problem that I see is that b/c a liberal arts degree does not give you a specific skill set that can be quantified in cold hard numbers there is a preception that the thinking/reseach/communication/learning skills are non-existent. I put it forward like this when asked to explain: a specific piece of literature/history is a collection of asserations, observations and facts, what my degree asks is for me to understand 400 pages of material in minute detail and write a 2000 word piece with a definite conculsion that is defensable. Or put another way: understand the economic/industry enviroment in minute detail and intergate that knowledge with a detailed knowledge of a company model etc and come out with a defenseable plan for M&A etc. Almost exactly the same skill but with a different knowlege base. Kevin 0118, Also, if I ever wanted to pull an all nite frat party I hung with the engineers at my school…they were crazy mofo’s.
CCM - I like the reasoning you use. Unfortunately, many people still think that liberal arts majors don’t have a “proven” analytical aptitude. The flip side of the coin is that many of the finance/engin/science majors can’t write as well. Short-term I’d have more confidence in the “number crunching” majors to be able to pick up the finance skill set quicker. However, at the higher levels (high finance), you’ll find a lot more people with liberal arts backgrounds (and many former lawyers). I think the best training would be a liberal arts undergrad, followed by some specific analytical training (MBA/CFA/Master’s in Finance) - this would build a good foundation for all the skills that you will need later in your career.
DirtyZ Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > CCM - I like the reasoning you use. > Unfortunately, many people still think that > liberal arts majors don’t have a “proven” > analytical aptitude. The flip side of the coin is > that many of the finance/engin/science majors > can’t write as well. Short-term I’d have more > confidence in the “number crunching” majors to be > able to pick up the finance skill set quicker. > However, at the higher levels (high finance), > you’ll find a lot more people with liberal arts > backgrounds (and many former lawyers). I think > the best training would be a liberal arts > undergrad, followed by some specific analytical > training (MBA/CFA/Master’s in Finance) - this > would build a good foundation for all the skills > that you will need later in your career. agree
SomewhatDamaged Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > kevin0118 Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Engineering is related to finance in the sense > of > > the work load and the analytical aspect (we > can’t > > write worth $hit, but we can analyze with > extreme > > detail). > > > > The last time I heard an English major pulling > an > > all-nighter in college was at a Frat party. > > > > And they like to hire engineering ugrads > > because…if you can learn engineering, you can > > pretty much learn anything else. Can’t say the > > same with most other liberal arts degrees. > > > Work and classload for engineers is much tougher > than for finance majors. Trust me. I’m half of an > engineer, and have done a bit of undergrad in > finance and the classes are a joke to me. Although > I’m not a fan of accounting. Don’t have to “trust you,” learned it my own way. BS Mechanical Engineering class of 04 from a top 5 “engineering” school here. Red bulls, coffee, and nerdy diff eq jokes got me through the countless all nighter study sessions for useless classes. CCM: You partied with engineers? The only parties we hosted were LAN parties for starcraft and counterstrike. They were, however, all nighter parties.
kevin01119 Believe it or not I managed to make friends with a group of Eng (and others) that lived in my res block that hated video games etc but loved a good party, sports and the oposite sex(there were women too and a few were even hot!). They did not hang out with many of the Eng brethern and most have left the field for areas like medicine, started business or have gotten into sales roles with the big Eng firms.
DirtyZ Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > CCM - I like the reasoning you use. > Unfortunately, many people still think that > liberal arts majors don’t have a “proven” > analytical aptitude. The flip side of the coin is > that many of the finance/engin/science majors > can’t write as well. Short-term I’d have more > confidence in the “number crunching” majors to be > able to pick up the finance skill set quicker. > However, at the higher levels (high finance), > you’ll find a lot more people with liberal arts > backgrounds (and many former lawyers). I think > the best training would be a liberal arts > undergrad, followed by some specific analytical > training (MBA/CFA/Master’s in Finance) - this > would build a good foundation for all the skills > that you will need later in your career. I represent that comment. I have an English undergrad (following a year each spent on Bio/Chem, general Business and then Environmental Science before switching into Lit), and I have one class left for my MS Finance degree. I happen to be more of an analytical type (my high school ran out of math classes available to me my junior year, and I was president of my FBLA and went to nationals twice), but I also have a knack for the written word. I fell into finance the usual way - I knew the right people. I also started out in the equity research department as the editor: not exactly a prestigious position, but a great place to get your foot in the door and learn all about the sell side while proving yourself. I am still on the fence regarding the CFA: it would be great to have, though I don’t necessarily need it at this point in my career, and I don’t believe the time commitment would be worth it, although it could prove handy when moving to another firm down the road.
wow, those all nighter parties are pretty gangster.
mcthorp - that’s a good background to have. You’re right, you probably don’t need the CFA, but it might teach you some useful stuff, open some more doors, or at the very least lengthen your name by 3 letters LOL. In many respects, I don’t “need” the CFA either, just like someone doesn’t “need” to bench press 300 lbs. vs. 275 lbs., yet they still put in the extra hours of lifting to reach that goal. The way I see it is that I could spend my Saturdays on the couch watching college football and drinking beer or I could devote 9 months of my Saturday’s (and never Saturday nights!) to something more productive that will last me a lifetime. Really, to each their own. One thing I can say though is that I won’t look back and say, “Geez, I wish I woulda spent those 9 months just watching football on Saturdays”. However, I could definitely see myself saying, “Why the hell didn’t you just get the CFA when you were young and had time?” (I know I’ve heard that many, many times from my bosses and older peers who wish they could go back and do it over when they had the time to).
I love this topic, I found the SOA website discuss this topic a lot, often compared with Actuary. I coming Actuarial background, and with some exams. but now I am working in investments(Multimanager). and will begin to write CFA exams, to be honest, I still feel perplaxed. why CFA? As I know, your salary will definitely increase in line with the progross of SOA exams, earn big buck with ease. this is for sure–certain. what is potential as CFA ? Certain and uncertain ?
certain? nothing in life is certain and certainly not salaries. having the cFA will not guarantee you big bucks at ease.
^I totally agree. What having a CFA does guarantee is that the person who achieved the charter was willing to work hard to achieve a goal. Typically, those are the same people who succeed in life. However, other factors that come into play are one’s social skills and the ability to network - not to mention being at the right place at the right time. The CFA is simply one piece of the puzzle. Ultimately it will become a prerequisite in asset management - much like the MBA is in the majority of career paths in business.
I’d say that for certain positions (e.g., ER) CFA is becoming what a college degree was to white-collar positions oh 50 years ago: not an absolute prerequisite, but a pretty high exhibited correlation.