CFA Level III Topic Picks

Question

This is an evolving post of useful CFA topics discussions for Level III. As new and awesome discussions are created, I will be continually adding them here to create a quick reference guide for Level III members to dive straight in!

Topic AreaTopicDescriptionGeneralEssay and Itemsets@vincentt gets some tips on topics in essays and itemset formats.GeneralIPS Inflation Rate@Ajfinance clarifies the role of inflation in required real return in IPS questions.GeneralMy Level 3 Tips@MattyJ - having passed Level 3, shares his L3 tips!GeneralPractice Exams! Who Wants Practice Exams!@marc shares an archive of (mostly) Level 3 practice exams available from CFA Institute.GeneralSchweser for Level III@jimmyg wonders if it is as effective as it was for Levels I and II.Alt InvestmentsConvenience YieldCFA questions can be tricky, as @lakshya25 finds out in this commodity forwards and futures question.Behavioural FinanceInvestor Types@marc asks if we really need to commit all investor types to memory.Capital Market ExpectationsTobin's Qonfusion@padniaki questions what is Tobin's q, and why it seems to be contradictory when viewed at firm and market level.DerivativesDerivative Formula Memorization Needed?@marc wonders what we all do at Level III - how much do we need to know about the various derivative types?EthicsGIPS  Recommendations vs RequirementsHow does GIPS get tested? @marc discusses possibilities.EthicsGIPS Carve Outs@AJFinance investigates the cash allocation component of carve outs in GIPS.EthicsLevel 3 Reading 1 - CODE OF ETHICS AND STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT@sankrutimehta shares her tips on L3 Ethics.FRAMy question is by reducing the weightage of tax exempt accounts how can returns be increased??@Aswin clarifies another FRA tax issue.Portfolio MgmtHow to Tackle IPS Questions?@lakshya25 meets the Level III million-dollar question head on, and @Sophie rises epicly to the occasion. If you're Level III, you must read this!Portfolio MgmtLinking Pension Liabilities to Assets@AJFinance thinks about nominal and real return bonds as pension investments.Portfolio MgmtLong & Short Positions in Interest Rate and FX Swaps@artyeasel clears up what exactly are the long and short positions of these swaps.Portfolio MgmtNegative Duration and Positive Duration in Swaps and MBSFor principle-only and interest-only MBS, why do they have +ve and -ve durations respectively? @adossa3 finds out.Portfolio MgmtRetail IPS - Return objective calc@adossa3 asks a question on return requirements.Portfolio MgmtThe Ultimate Guide to Int. Investor IPS@sophie shares lessons learnt in Institutional Investor IPS questions.Portfolio MgmtWhy is the 30,000 support to sporting league not considered as expense and net PMT will become 5000?@Aswin goes through a wealth management question example.

Zee Tan · Answer

Newly updated!

Jwa · Answer

Just reading through the topics fills me with bile; vast majority absolutely useless to majority of finance professionals IMHO.