Why is CAIA....

[meazza]

@Destroyer_of_Worlds

@converts

CAIA both levels are easy. Period.

Its about the society coining it. They saw how much CFA were making and copied. Same thing happens every other part of finance. That is why they have such a high pass rate. It’s a joke. How can you take it seriously when 75% of test takers pass. It’s not about the quality of test takers, it’s about building a captive audience of charterholders who will have to pay annual dues. They may as well go the whole hog and securitise the stream of future dues and cash themselves out. Sounds just like a PE business plan to me.

The fact that there are so few charterholders and its so expensive yet you still have to exaplain absolutely everyone what it is says to me it’s not a serious qualification.

To most it seems like a cheap CFA. Couldn’t hack the CFA so did CAIA just to get something on your cv. I sat both levels only because I was doing the CFA at the same time, there was significant overlap and someone else was paying for it.

While both CAIA and CFA may be expensive lets be honest, anybody would rather have CFA on their business card than CAIA.

I disagree to an extent. I don’t disagree that the CAIA is easier than the CFA, but your ideas on the organization and implications of profit motivation are completely wrong. I know several top people at CAIA Association and I am familiar with the history of how it has evolved. Those people never intended to start a credential. It was merely a convergence of the people who ran CISDM, AIMA and some other alternative investments research groups filling a need for alternative investments education given the explosive growth of the asset class worldwide.

Some younger folks forget that alt investment allocations were less than a tenth of what they are now prior to the time that the CAIA Association was formed – growth really was that rapid, particularly among institutional investors. The other piece is that distribution channels have exploded, making previously unavailable strategies now available, even to investors who are “unaccredited” (take for instance the huge growth in liquid alts or hedge fund-like strategies masquerading around as “traditional” investment portfolios).

While there may be some critics of the curriculum within the CAIA program, I challenge you to find me a program that will comprehensively organize all of the alternatives papers, empirical research, overviews, etc. into one complete package that you can bang out in a year. The CFA program’s alternatives-related components are incomplete. No university program currently does that job. Pure and simple, even if I couldn’t display the “CAIA” after my name, the program would have been worth it for the useful industry knowledge that I have gained from the program.

+1

[monkeyCFA]

If it wasn’t so damn expensive I’d be doing it now, since I don’t plan on starting CFA L3 til January. No way I’m paying that though, especially for a certification which (I’m under the impression) is only marginally helpful at best. Not to mention, I’d be super pissed if I payed and then got a job a little later that would have payed for it.

Edit: just realized I grave dug this thread, woops. I thought it was current since it was on the front page, lol.

[Janto2013]

LOL. I’m torn between CAIA 2 or FRM 1.

[PistolPt]

@converts

CAIA both levels are easy. Period.

Its about the society coining it. They saw how much CFA were making and copied. Same thing happens every other part of finance. That is why they have such a high pass rate. It’s a joke. How can you take it seriously when 75% of test takers pass. It’s not about the quality of test takers, it’s about building a captive audience of charterholders who will have to pay annual dues. They may as well go the whole hog and securitise the stream of future dues and cash themselves out. Sounds just like a PE business plan to me.

The fact that there are so few charterholders and its so expensive yet you still have to exaplain absolutely everyone what it is says to me it’s not a serious qualification.

To most it seems like a cheap CFA. Couldn’t hack the CFA so did CAIA just to get something on your cv. I sat both levels only because I was doing the CFA at the same time, there was significant overlap and someone else was paying for it.

While both CAIA and CFA may be expensive lets be honest, anybody would rather have CFA on their business card than CAIA.

+1

I agree - it is a cheap wanna be CFA. The second my employer stops paying dues I am out. I look at it as just as bad as all those goofy mutual fund wholesaler designations now.

95% of the people I see have it are in client relations/marketing. Good for them, but I don’t want to be lumped with that group.