CFA advice

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by joel66, Mar 31, 2010.

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  1. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    Once I complete my CPCU I am looking to study for the CFA Chartered Financial Analyst designation. I am mainly interested on getting the first 2 exams completed, because I want to transition from claims adjusting into either Risk or Financial analyst type of job. With no direct Risk/Finance experience, I'm assuming I would have a better chance of transitioning to that field once I get 1 or 2 exams done, along with studying for MBA.

    As for CFA studying, I am looking to getting the Schweser Study programs on ebay and the material that comes with registration. One thing I just realized, is that Risk/Financial analysts often use statistical software and spreadsheets in their job. Is there any programs that get you familiar with these type of tools?

    In the other post I made, I mentioned I am spending around 9,000 that includes books for MBA at Chancellor University. The program has both Corp. Finance and Advanced Corp. Finance. I thought about going to NCU, but including books would cost me around 17,500 to complete the degree. Not sure if it's worth the additional 8,500 to go that route and still have to study for CFA, or learn this on my own in addition to MBA.
     
  2. friartuck

    friartuck New Member

  3. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    That looks like an awesome program. I want to go the MBA route with options of getting into management and do CFA training to gain finance knowledge. Of course, doing MBA at Chancellor and MS in Finance at CFFP would be very attractive than MBA in Finance, because it's so focused on CFA track. Not sure if getting MS in Finance at CFFP would open more doors than completing the first two exams on CFA and having an MBA.
     
  4. sshuang

    sshuang New Member

  5. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    College for Financial Planning is regionally accredited by HLC, but they don't offer financial aid.

    I noticed a lot of study material for CFA, but I was curious what software/tools I should get familar with.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 31, 2010
  6. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

  7. ideafx

    ideafx New Member

    Some AACSB accredited MBA programs offer a finance track that covers the material you'll find on the CFA exams. Here's an example of one: http://www.ut.edu/mba/finance/

    But I noticed you're in Canada, so AACSB may not be that important.

    The finance guys at my company simply use Excel. I'm sure there are some obscure or proprietary software titles that certain companies use, but they likely learn on the job.
     
  8. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    I'm from California and I'm not looking at AACSB programs. Once I get 1 or 2 CFA exams completed, my initial search for finance job is going to be within the insurance environment on the Property & Casualty side. I'm hoping with my 18 years in claims and CPCU will give some weight on having insurance knowledge, and MBA and CFA exams for finance side. When I spoke with some of the upper management in my company, they mentioned AACSB would not make any difference with my background if I want to get into business analyst, strategic planning, and some finance jobs. Of course, going outside of insurance or risk management, I don't know if AACSB would make that much of a difference.
     
  9. ideafx

    ideafx New Member

    Never mind. I was looking at the wrong post.

    If that's the case, go for the most reasonably priced MBA program available. I would completely rule out NCU though. For $17k, you could surely find a better school.
     
  10. sshuang

    sshuang New Member



    Hi joel66,

    Since you mentioned that you are going to stay within the insurance environment on the property and casualty side, don't you think the Casualty Actuarial Society exams are more suitable for you?
     
  11. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    I was looking at that yesterday and really liked it, but it seemed that prospective employers are looking for people with insane math skills and computer programming skills.
     
  12. Spinner

    Spinner New Member

    Joel66:
    I completed the CFA program in the early 2000s. At that time, there was no work with computers. We did learn a lot about statistics but it was treated as (1) statistical theory such as regression assumptions and (2) black-box applications. What I mean by black box is that we covered the inputs into a model and then interpreting the statistical output a computer would generate. In sum, we were a consumer of stats rather than a generator of stats. Perhaps this is a better approach to learn in the shortest time.
     
  13. macattack

    macattack New Member

    I would not recommend studying for the CFA and doing anything else simultaneously (if you work full-time). Unless you have a very recent finance undergrad degree and work in investments, your probably looking at 400-500 hours of study. Unless our going into investments I would not do it, period. And if you're going into investments, only the CFA will matter. Masters degrees wont matter a bit. Especially if not from the TOP 10 Full-Time programs (ie Columbia Business School).

    The CFA program is not a cake-walk. If you simply memorize things you will fail even with hundreds of hours of study. MUCH harder than the CPA exams to give you an idea. Level II is even harder. MBAs from Stanford can easily fail a CFA exam without adequate preparation.

    Also, read the experience requirements carefully. You need to have 4 years of specific experience to obtain the charter.

    Good luck. ;)

    Disclaimer: I'm a CFA Level I Candidate (re-taker that passed all 4 CPA exams with flying colors but failed first attempt CFA L1).
     
  14. Spinner

    Spinner New Member

    400-500 hours of study might be on the light side. I spent 150 hours on Level 1 and 250 hours each on Levels 2 and 3. YMMV.

    I agree that the CFA charter has narrow practical use in job market. The knowledge is interesting if you're in finance, accounting, or economics. Comparable knowledge to a MFinance in my view without the cost. But the CFA charter itself has meaning in only a few industries with investments being the center such as equity/credit analysts, portfolio managers. In this economy those sorts of jobs are scarce. If you want an idea of the job market for CFA-types, look at some of the messages on analystforum.com
     
  15. ideafx

    ideafx New Member

    Just curious. What do they consider specific experience?

    I was under the impression that you needed four years of experience only if you don't have a degree. If you were working in accounting, would that count towards the experience? Or does your job have to relate specifically to investments?

    Anyway, if the OP works in the insurance biz, there's another certification available that might be more relevant called FRM (Financial Risk Manager). It's put out by GARP: http://www.garp.com/

    The Analyst Forum (http://www.analystforum.com) deals with the CFA, CAIA, and FRM exams specifically.
     
  16. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    This is one of the reasons why I am also considering taking 3 to 4 courses per semester instead of 2 once I complete my CPCU in August/Sept time frame then focus on my other designations.
     
  17. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    FRM and CFA were the two designations I was looking at. The reason why I was learning toward CFA because FRM is still new and it appears there is more study material to get with CFA and it is more recognized. I did find a good board on FRM called bionic turtle that gave some info on FRM.

    I also checked out Professional Risk Manager (PRM) and was getting excited until I read the topics were covered under EXAM II: Mathematical Foundations of Risk Measurement. 21% deals with Calculus, 21% on linear and matrix algebra. The rest of exam 2 and other exams looked really good.
     
  18. macattack

    macattack New Member

    You can read all about the experience requirement for the Charter here: http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/charterholder/membership/work_experience.html

    You don't need the experience before you begin testing if you have a bachelors degree, but you'll need it before your a CFA Charter holder.
     
  19. friartuck

    friartuck New Member

    I was reading the WSJ tonight and noticed a pretty good article on the subject of risk management certifications, apparently they are all the rage. According to the article the PRM is quite a bit cheaper than the FRM and it states that they are identical. There are also other risk certifications of a more general nature:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304370304575152212605720290.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_careerjournal

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304370304575152224119009394.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
     
  20. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    Thanks for the links, those are good articles. The article that I read that got me to seriously look at Risk/Finance management was an article called "Businesses at Risk" When I read this, I realized that I can transition from claims to risk management and feel like my claims background would be meaningless, because there is some overlap.
     

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