CFA CFA General Recent College Grad, and new to banking.

Recent College Grad, and new to banking.

  • Author
    Posts
    • Up
      5
      ::

      Hey everyone,

      I have recently started my career journey, and was thinking of getting my CFA (I’m 24 so I figure I should do it sooner rather than later). I have a BBA with a specialization in Finance and I took a few CFA related courses in college, I also got my CSC back in 2017 (a financial designation here in Canada). Currently I am working at one of the big 5 banks in Canada as Compliance officer for Real Estate lending and I got the job early 2020 and was thinking that getting my CFA could advance my career as time goes on. I also like the idea of doing something challenging and I have a passion for finance. A few questions before I enroll for the August 2021 seating.

      1) What additional course materials have helped you pass CFA Level 1. I’ve been looking into Mark Meldrum’s and Kaplan Schweser’s material for additional support and not sure which one to get.

      2) How has the CFA helped you in your career?

      Thanks in advance!

    • Avatar of cfachriscfachris
      Participant
        • CFA Level 3
        Up
        2
        ::

        Hey @matthewtara, I’m Chris, a recent charterholder.

        1) Third party study materials help cut through the sheer volume of CFA Curriculum to go through. It depends on your study style, I’ve not tried Mark Meldrum (he’s more video-focused), but used Kaplan myself, just the standard notes package with practice exams. Heard good things for both, so you probably won’t go wrong there, just choose what you prefer.

        2) It’s hard to ‘measure’ really, but you can’t be worse off for sure. As I’m already in Portfolio Management (apparently the most common route for CFA charterholders), it helped in terms of solidifying my reputation and made my case for promotion more straightforward. It’s pretty valuable / well recognized in the Asset management world by clients and employers hence I did it. But it is a versatile qualification for broader finance, and I wanted to have that option just in case. You’re still young and starting out, so it can be useful to have a broad certification in finance like CFA to open up options as you’re still discovering/exploring what career paths to pursue.

    Viewing 1 reply thread
    • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.