Hi, I’m Alexander Law, a CFA Charterholder. Back in 2017, I managed to pass the CFA Level 1 exam with just five days of study. My scores were over 70% in all subjects except Alternative Investments and Financial Statement Analysis (those were in the 51-70% range). Luck definitely had some role to play in this, but …
CFA and CAIA designations can appear very similar at first sight, especially since the introduction of the CFA Level 3 Specialized Pathways, as they both target investment and financial professionals. However, there are differences in global recognition, breadth and depth of topics studied, career focus and exam difficulty. They could even be a complementary set …
There is understandably a lot of comparison and confusion between different financial qualifications. CFA vs CPA is no exception – they even sound similar! We have had chartered accountants share their CFA experiences before, but in this article we will specifically compare the CPA and CFA charter in all aspects: career paths, exam formats, exam …
Aside from the time commitment, there is a considerable cost to pursuing the CFA charter, especially for students. Level 1 enrollment and registration fees alone can be as high as $1,600, not including any third-party materials you might need. Luckily, there are a variety of CFA scholarships available for candidates, allowing you to reduce the enrollment and signup …
Should you take the CFA exams? What are the benefits of CFA program? Each year, hundreds of thousands of professionals ponder about this. Here’s a straight-to-the-point, frank list of reasons why a CFA designation could be useful to you (even at Level 1), compiled by us here at 300Hours (we are charterholders, by the way). …
I was feeling really poor back when I was attempting CFA Level 2. I had just been let go in my finance role and I wanted to switch careers into advertising, yet still continue pursuing the CFA charter as a safeguard just in case my career switch was a misguided detour. My previous finance employer …
If you currently or aspire to work in finance, and have evaluated if MBA is worth it to you, a natural follow up comparison question could be: CFA vs MBA which is better for me? Like most comparisons, the answer is – it depends. Firstly, it’s not straightforward to compare a CFA charter and an MBA …
I recently graduated with my Masters in Business Administration. Finance classes were by and far my favorite, and after gaining work experience as an intern in investor relations, I flirted with the idea of obtaining CFA after MBA graduation. The CFA society of my region spoke to my class the first semester in, and I …
Will your salary increase as you go through the CFA Program?Yes, it does. In fact, you don’t even have to wait until you become a CFA charterholder. Proper, reliable CFA salary data are hard to come by, so we started our own years ago to help our readers. The key differentiator of our CFA salary …
The CFA charter costs between $3,570 and $8,970 to complete—assuming you pass all three levels on your first attempt. That range is wide because two decisions drive your total cost: when you register (early vs standard deadlines save $350 per level), and whether you buy third-party study materials ($0-$1,500 per level). Most candidates land somewhere …