# Advice on career change... CFA??



## infojunkie2008 (Oct 24, 2012)

Hello, 

I have been working as a medical laboratory technologist for the past 4 years. Stable job with a decent salary and some benefits (Insurance and Union). However, I have always been interested in economics and financial markets. I was thinking about going back to university and doing bachelors in finance, but a friend of mind suggested doing CFA program instead which is offered by the CFA institute.
After reviewing the website, I found that they admit those who have four years of professional work experience (not necessarily related to investment). 

I just wanted to know if anyone in this forum has done the program and what are the chances of a holder of professional diploma like me making it?? 

I could use some advice please

A little about me: 
Age: 28
Education: Diploma in Biomedical Lab Technology (Pathology)


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Easiest way to find out is to register for the first course (the Level 1 CFA) and see how you fare. Pass rates are just under 40% for the Level 1 exam in 2012. There's a ton of good information, including practice exams and sample questions, on the CFA institute website: www.cfainstitute.org


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## Square Root (Jan 30, 2010)

i don't want to discourage you but the effort required to get your CFA is quite considerable. Also, without a background in the subject material(experience or education) I would think your probability of passing would be much lower than the average. Good luck though.


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## Young&Ambitious (Aug 11, 2010)

I would recommend keeping your job for the immediate near-term BUT enrolling in a night class in investing or securities analysis through your local college or university. Take that and decide from there.


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## Khlark (Nov 4, 2012)

infojunkie2008 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have been working as a medical laboratory technologist for the past 4 years. Stable job with a decent salary and some benefits (Insurance and Union). However, I have always been interested in economics and financial markets. I was thinking about going back to university and doing bachelors in finance, but a friend of mind suggested doing CFA program instead which is offered by the CFA institute.
> After reviewing the website, I found that they admit those who have four years of professional work experience (not necessarily related to investment).
> ...


Before making this choice you should know the four years of professional work experience MUST be in the investment/finance profession and the qualifications are very strict. Take a look at the website and you will see that their list of acceptable work experience is very narrow.

http://www.cfainstitute.org/about/membership/process/Pages/work_experience.aspx
_
"Evaluating or applying financial, economic, and/or statistical data as part of the investment decision-making process involving securities or similar investments, which includes, but is not limited to, publicly traded and privately placed stocks, bonds, and mortgages and their derivatives; commodity-based derivatives and mutual funds; and other investment assets, such as real estate and commodities, if these other investment assets are held as part of a diversified, securities-oriented investment portfolio; etc"_

Also, just a word of warning, unless you have a background in finance or math, you will have a difficult time with the quantitative analysis (stats) section and the fixed income (bonds) section in particular.


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## VJ99 (Apr 24, 2012)

To get your CFA designation, you must have at least a couple of years of relevant work experience. 
To get relevant work experience, you must have at least a bachelor's and quite likely a master's in a related field (eg. finance, business, math, etc.) also.


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## leviathan (Oct 30, 2012)

VJ99 said:


> To get your CFA designation, you must have at least a couple of years of relevant work experience.
> To get relevant work experience, you must have at least a bachelor's and quite likely a master's in a related field (eg. finance, business, math, etc.) also.


CFA will take at best 2.5 years to complete provided you write the Dec/June/June exam. CFA is a great return on investment. They admit anyone, but in order to have the CFA designation you need to have four years direct experience in the industry. 

I have completed my Level 1 and am engaged in a Masters of Finance. It may be a good idea to check out M Fin programs. As it gives you a designation in 10 months and access to the university career center.


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## Robillard (Apr 11, 2009)

Please don't take this negatively. Given your current educational credentials, I think you would that earning a CFA charter will take a long time. It is not something to be taken lightly. At best, in your current situation, I think it would take 7-10 years. 

To earn the charter, you need to have at least a bachelors' degree, you need to pass all three exams, plus you will need four years of experience in the finance industry in which you spend at least 50% of directing or informing the "investment decision-making process". 

Given that you have a diploma (I'm assuming it's a 2-year diploma from a college), completing a bachelor's degree program would probably take another 2-3 years if you did it full time. While you don't need to study finance in university, it will certainly make the first CFA exam much easier. Once you graduate or are near graduation, you would need to start on the exams while (hopefully) landing a job in the finance industry that can count towards the experience requirements. It should be noted that the CFA Institute can be rather stingy when it comes to fulfilling the experience requirement.


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## infojunkie2008 (Oct 24, 2012)

Thank you guys for your valuable comments.
I have decided to go back to University doing bachelors of commerce (Finance Major) part time, while keeping my full-time job. I might even take one year off eventually to speed up my university. Will decide on CFA exam from there.


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## leviathan (Oct 30, 2012)

infojunkie2008 said:


> Thank you guys for your valuable comments.
> I have decided to go back to University doing bachelors of commerce (Finance Major) part time, while keeping my full-time job. I might even take one year off eventually to speed up my university. Will decide on CFA exam from there.


Good call. I would work towards the CFA as you complete your bachelors of commerce, there may be a lot of parallel material. 

I would not forgo income by taking a year off.


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## Khlark (Nov 4, 2012)

I would just like to clarify something... To meet the entrance requirement you need either a bachelor's degree or any 4 years of professional experience (doesn't need to be investment related). So you could likely sit for the first exam while doing the B.Comm, as your lab tech experience may qualify. Then, you will need an additional 4 years of professional experience (investment related) to earn the charter.



leviathan said:


> Good call. I would work towards the CFA as you complete your bachelors of commerce, there may be a lot of parallel material.
> 
> I would not forgo income by taking a year off.


I must disagree with you here... I'd say it is next to impossible to work full-time, complete your B.Comm AND work towards the CFA. I personally worked full time as a senior analyst in the investment industry while studying for the 3 exams and can attest to the level of difficulty and the amount of time devoted to this program (and that's with a degree in finance (B.Comm)).


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## Andrew (May 22, 2009)

Khlark said:


> I must disagree with you here... I'd say it is next to impossible to work full-time, complete your B.Comm AND work towards the CFA. I personally worked full time as a senior analyst in the investment industry while studying for the 3 exams and can attest to the level of difficulty and the amount of time devoted to this program (and that's with a degree in finance (B.Comm)).


I agree with this comment 100%. I am writing level III this year and it is difficult to do while working a full time job (60-80 hours a week). Add a B.Comm in there and you'll be over extending yourself.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Khlark, leviathan, Andrew, please decist with the quoting. This is a thread, we can see what you're responding to! Please stop copying and quoting everything.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

the-royal-mail said:


> Khlark, leviathan, Andrew, please decist with the quoting. This is a thread, we can see what you're responding to! Please stop copying and quoting everything.


Can one of the mods please get rid of this troll?


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

That was a bit harsh FP.

TRM is CMF's quote moderator/police, even if self-appointed.  However, his intention is not to harass/pick/ provoke, hence not a troll; all he is doing is pointing out that unnecessary quoting is just that. 

The repetitive requests are no less annoying than some of the avoidable quoting.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

But there is an agreement in society that the police have a monopoly on the use of force. In this case, there is no agreement about how quotes are to be used, so the existence of "quote police" is very annoying. 

I think that people should use this forum in the way that works for them. It would be very tedious to have to say, "I agree with the earlier quote - that one that said, 'I must disgree with you here' - but NOT the one that said, 'Good call'." 

Quoting the post you are referring to is much easier. And last I checked, there is no limit on the amount of scrolling we have available as a society. 

The forum benefits when people participate, bringing multiple points of view. It suffers when people feel constrained in participating because there are arcane "rules" to which they never agreed, that were never explained or presented for approval, and which they are going to encounter when they use the forum in ways which work for them. 

Note that I am not speaking for anyone but myself, and I'm not easily intimidated. I'll quote all I please! You people can just scroll on by if you like. :02.47-tranquillity:


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

MoneyGal said:


> 1. the existence of "quote police" is very annoying.
> 2. Quoting the post you are referring to is much easier.
> 3. I'm not easily intimidated. I'll quote all I please!


1. I used the word 'annoying' as well.
2. Of course, but there are times when it's completely avoidable. 
3. Neither am I! I would not give the power to anyone here to intimidate me; it's not about intimidation at all though.

Anyway, off-topic now; should have stayed silent.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

There are a couple of easy (easi*er*) solutions to scrolling.

- Increase the screen resolution. I run 1600x900 and everything fits nicely and I don't have to scroll much.
If that resolution is too small for someone's current monitor, get a larger monitor and/or a different video card that can support the higher resolution.
The days of 16-bit video cards, 32-bit colors, and 800x600 screen sizes are long gone.

- Increase the number of posts per page.
This is under general settings, I believe, under user profile.
I have it set to 40 posts, which is the max. I think.
This avoids unnecessary paging, which is just as annoying as unncecessary scrolling.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I have my posts set at the max as well but the summary screens seem to ignore that setting and use 15 posts.

Perhaps TRM is concerned about his download quota. Seeing the same stuff in multiple posts cetainly impacts that.


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## Young&Ambitious (Aug 11, 2010)

And returning to the original reason for the post..perhaps the OP should look into the Canadian Securities Course before diving into the CFA to test the waters.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

kcowan said:


> I have my posts set at the max as well but the summary screens seem to ignore that setting and use 15 posts.


It is under _Thread Display Options_, called _Number of Posts to Show Per Page_
Try changing it a couple of items and see if that makes a difference



> Perhaps TRM is concerned about his download quota. Seeing the same stuff in multiple posts cetainly impacts that.


That would apply if he were using a mobile device where the data plan is a constraint.
On a regular DSL or cable connection, a few hundreds KBs more or less make no difference.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> That would apply if he were using a mobile device where the data plan is a constraint.
> On a regular DSL or cable connection, a few hundreds KBs more or less make no difference.


If someone was using AOL dialup, it might be a concern.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> hence not a troll


Unfortunately, t Gal, you are very wrong. I have extensive experience dealing with people like him and he is definitely a troll.


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## Khlark (Nov 4, 2012)

the-royal-mail said:


> Khlark, leviathan, Andrew, please decist with the quoting. This is a thread, we can see what you're responding to! Please stop copying and quoting everything.


You certainly make people feel appreciated for responding to questions. Good job!


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