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| Author | Topic: Chartered Financial Analyst Benefits? |
|---|---|
| Lacoste @2006-05-23 11:34:53 |
Can anyone explain what the average salaries fot those who hold a CFA designation? And what is the advantage compared to the MBA? Will this designation assure me a job at a respectable Institution such as Meryl Lynch? Thank you. |
| GeoffChiang @2006-05-27 19:06:12 |
I have heard $22,000 per year on average compared to those without. All the big dogs will have it in the future, just like an MBA. Assure you of a job? No chance. Assuming you were a decent person with good skills, I would bet you would be above any applicants without. The advantage over the MBA is that the CFA program is all about finance and investments. An MBA in finance is 9-12 hours in finance. I don't see why so many people are getting MBA's for the investment world. An MS in Finance is 60 hours of CFA related material. How many times do you need for Organizational Behavior? |
| suited @2006-06-07 11:10:50 |
You are making a few assumptions, economics major? I had a undergrad in accounting and a MBA with finance. I guess you haven't seen the demographics for the CFA available at cfainstitute.org. Many upper level industry executives are pursuing the CFA. Anyway, not everyone that has an MBA is a liberal arts major, and not all MBA programs are the same. You need to evaluate what you get and what direction you would like to go. I wanted the flexibilty and opportunity to seize any job I put my sights on, not just being an analyst my entire life. The days of working in one field and one job all of your life are gone, flexibilty is the key. Yes, right now your heart is set in being an analyst, but that may change as you get older. |
| cfa888 @2006-06-08 15:00:08 |
I still don't know what your point is. I agree the mba is more flexible and leaves your career path more open. I never disputed that. The CFA is not trying to replace an mba. I'm not saying one is better than the other, the CFA is more focused on finance and security analysis. I've seen the demographics and the vast majority of cfa's work for banks, brokers and mutual fund companies. Any upper level executives going back and getting their cfa's are just doing it for a credential, not to help them get a job. As I mentioned in my previous post, if you can do both, more power to you, if you can't and you want to work in money management, as an analyst, wealth advisory etc..then a cfa will take you just as far as an mba. Like you said you need to evaluate what direction you want to go and decide what the best course of action is. As far as your analyst comment goes, to manage money on the buy side being an analyst for a while is just a stepping stone and judging by your comment I'm "assumming" you have no idea the kind of money sell side wall street analysts make. |
| geno @2006-07-25 07:19:54 |
According t the CFA Institute website: Impact of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Designation on Compensation The 2005 study once again illustrated that employers are willing to pay a premium for investment professionals who have earned the coveted Chartered Financial Analyst? (CFA®) designation. Among those with 10 years experience or more, those with the CFA designation out-earn their peers without the charter by 24 percent (median of $248,000 vs. $200,000). The gap is even wider among all respondents, regardless of levels of experience; those with the CFA designation command compensation levels 54 percent higher than those without it ($180,000 vs. $116,850). As for the value of the CFA designation compared to an M.B.A., the study shows that for professionals with 10 years experience or more, those with the CFA designation out-earn those with only an M.B.A. by 18 percent (median of $236,510 vs. $200,000); however, the combination of the charter and an M.B.A. ultimately proves to the most lucrative educational mix (median of $255,000). ?Employers recognize the value of the CFA charter because it?s a measure of both competence and integrity,? said Bob Johnson, PhD, CFA, managing director at CFA Institute. ?Those are difficult qualities to measure, but when investment professionals have voluntarily subjected themselves to the profession?s most rigorous examination process, and succeeded, that obviously sends an important message to employers.? |
| IBWork @2006-08-16 12:23:16 |
one of the benefits i get is that i get free dental and medical coverage through CFAI no matter what country i live in. that's a great benefit of getting CFA. |
| ibro @2006-12-07 15:23:29 |
There are a 1001 chief excutives with MBAs but come to think of it CFAs still report to them! So i'll say MBA or CFA it all boils down to what you want and where you want to be! |
| ravieria @2007-04-27 19:35:00 |
Hi, I am also a Software Professional for past 14 years. I would like to know the prospects on completion of CFA ? What kinda value add i can expect ? Any one with similar experience pl., guide. Thanks |
| billa @2007-09-23 16:29:19 |
Hi, I am an indian staying in mumbai. As i am planning for further professional studies, is these CFA progam right to choose to develop in my carrer. I have completed Graduation from Mumbai Unversity. Can i do the CFA course. Please advice. Regards, Billa Bhai |
| gaur @2008-05-30 03:48:10 |
MBA is by far a better stamp on your resume...as long as its from a top tier instt. Herein lies the key point, MBA courses differ substantially with colleges. A good MBA program would require you to go to a company, meet with their execs, understand the problem they are facing, analyze it and present your solution in a clear and concise manner. What it teaches you is that quant skill is all good an well as long as your career aspiration is to be an "analyst" (not that there is anything wrong with it), but to get ahead, you need to have that general mgmt expertise. If you ask me, in an ideal situation, you should get your CFA right after your college, work for a few years as ana analyst and then supplement your resume and your skill set with an MBA from a tier 1 school. Ever wondered why all the big dogs in finance, consulting, PE clamour to the recruitment events of a big B school. |
| badgers @2008-06-06 20:32:09 |
Another option is to go to an MBA program that is a CFA Partner. There is no reason to have to choose between a CFA designation and an MBA anymore. The CFA Institute has a program where it partners with universities (http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/university/partners.html). There are 30-40 partners and some of these universities have partnerships through their MBA programs and a few have student investment programs (e.g. www.uwasap.org) that focus on training students to perform investment research. When I hired analysts (as Director of Research of a firm that managed $50 bil) I often hired out of good MBA programs; however, if a person did not have an MBA or investment experience then I looked for someone with accounting experience or progress toward the CFA charter. I reasoned that if someone was going to go through the pain of studying for the CFA exams then he/she was serious about investments. The three most important factors in who I hired included: 1) intelligent (everyone in investment reseach is smart), 2) hard worker (hours can be high but so is the pay), and 3) passionate about investments (thus the hours are actually fun). Given all that is said above, it is best to have the CFA designation (the gold standard for investment research) and an MBA (since investments is a competitive field to enter). The CFA Partner program provides you with several good schools to pursue both. |
| HockNDock @2011-04-04 12:04:11 |
Hi everyone, I've been reading stuff from this forum for the past few days and I think it's time I joined and started contributing back. So here I am, and I look forward to being part of this forum. Cheers, HND |
| wheereido @2012-09-19 21:18:37 |
Hello There Just wanted to Stop in to say hi and also to introduce myself here! The Forums look extremely interesting and i cant wait to become a member of the community! |
| Shaad @2013-02-05 22:16:22 |
Hi Experts, I am into IT services sector since more than 5 years now. I do not plan to change my career line at this stage, but i was just checking out options to bolster my career by a professional certification apart from a technical one. Few of my collegues suggested me CFA, which i then studied about and found it bit irrelevent to my prefessional experience. But on a second thought ,i am in Business Intelligence and CFA might help be to gain more Domain knowledge on Investment and Finance. Please help me by corroborating my understanding here and guide me for other options if CFA is not a fit for me. Many Thanks Shaad :) |
| papajeff @2014-02-17 19:28:40 |
In my humble opinion, most of you need to figure out where you want your career to go before you start debating the pros and cons of an MBA or CFA. If you are looking to increase your skill set and open doors in the finance world, as I am, it may boil down to a question of whether you have time (and dough) to sit in a university class, or would benefit more from studying on your own. Stating for a fact that one is better than the other when you have neither (let alone both), and no idea what the overall career goal your hard earned credentials are working towards immediately identifies you as an asshole. Go buy a hat, write "asshole" on it with a sharpie, and wear it to the test so the rest of us can spot you. As for those of you with IT backgrounds looking at the CFA, I think (and this is just some dude's opinion), that you are sitting right at the intersection of information and finance, and that will be a great place to be. Don't worry about what the guy in the cubicle next to you makes, just crank through this thing, get better at your job and let's kick some ass. Pep talk over. |
CFA Discussion Topic: Chartered Financial Analyst Benefits?
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