Hello everyone, I am Lianrongbao, and welcome back to my channel!
In today's video, I want to talk about is the CFA exam worth it?
I passed the CFA Level I exam in Dec, 2015
the Level II exam in June, 2016
and the Level III exam in June, 2017
Me and my fiancé have been thinking about switching jobs since the beginning of this year
My fiancé is American
and it took him almost 6 months to find a new job
During this period of time, we always discussed was the CFA exam really worth it
How much did the CFA really help us find a job?
so in today's video, I want to share with you my thoughts on this topic
if you are thinking about whether or not to take the exam
or if you have the same questions
I hope my video can give you some insignt
In short, I think the CFA exam is worth it but it might not worth as much as you think
and I think the CFA exam is not for everyone
I am going to explain my reasoning
My first reason is passing the CFA exam does not guarantee you a job
This is especially true if you try to find a job in America
it's great if you have the CFA
but CFA is not a golden ticket to investment banking or private equity
Even if you have CFA, you probably still can't find a job
one of the reason is the CFA program is not well known
lots of people know the CPA exam
they think it is impressive to pass the CPA
We have some friends and coworkers who passed both the CFA and CPA
and they think the CFA is a lot more difficult than the CPA exam
I also think CFA Institute controls the number of people that can pass the exam
Therefore if not a lot of people pass the exam then fewer people will know of it
I also think the CFA Institute doesn't do a good job of marketing
This is another reason many people have not heard of it
When you look for a new job, the HR does not know it is impressive to pass the CFA exam
and they will not know the value of the CFA charter
so if you are expecting that the CFA will bring you lots of job offers
and insure you to get a job in investment banking or private equity
you are wrong!
people place a higher value on networking when it comes to job searching
so the CFA exam is great to put on your resume but it will not guarantee you a job
Next, if you take the CFA exam out of vanity, I suggest you to reconsider
I know some people sign up for the exam because they want to put the CFA Candidate on their resume
and they think that HR will be impressed by that
The CFA Candidate can help you a little bit by showing your dedication in finance
but only people who have taken the exam appreciate it
so if you sign up for the exam just out of vanity
please save your money and time
personally I think it is not very useful if you only pass the Level I or II portion of the exam
The CFA charter is what will add value to you
I think you need to reconsider taking the exam if you have a family
The Level I exam is offered twice a years
but the Level II & III exam are only offered once a year
Assuming that you can pass all the exams on the first attempt
it will still take you 3 years
if you have wife/husband and kids
and you need to work during the day
it is difficult to make time to study for the exam
and this will also put pressure on your family
because you need to focus on studying
and you probably will not have enough time with your family
so you should evaluate
if the exam is more important than spending quality time with family and friends
If you need to take care of your kids
or your spouse requires lots of attention
I think you need to reconsider taking the exam
and talk to your family
because when you spend more time studying for the exam, it is your spouse who will share the burden to take care of the household
so don't underestimate the difficulty of the exam, and communicate with your family
If you work over 60 hours per week, you should reconsider taking the exam
if your work schedule is from 8AM to 8 PM
It is very hard to study after getting off a whole day of hard work
so if you are already in a stressful work environment
or if you are starting your own business
you can reevaluate to see if now is a good time to take the exam
because you need to put in lots of time and effort into the exam
That's my reasoning that CFA might not be for everyone
I know lots of my subscribers are taking the CFA exam
I think CFA candidates often make 2 mistakes, one is underestimating the difficulty of the exam
second is signing up for the exam out of vanity
they think that if their classmates or coworkers sign up for the exam, they want to do the same thing
The Level I exam is very basic
some people will assume the Level II is easy as well
It is a lot more challenging to pass the Level II exam
and the Level III exam is even more difficult
especially for us international studnets
The CFA exam is in English
lots of American think the CFA exam is very hard and English is their first language
so you can imagine how much more difficult it is for international students
CFA exam is not only time consuming but also expensive
so I want y'all to think through it before signing up for the exam
This is a big decision to make
It is not just a simple exam
I don't think it's smart to give up once you passed the Level II exam
I have some friends who wanted to take a break after passing the Level II exam
and then they never go back to take the Level III exam
My advice for you is if you decide to take the CFA exam, please do it early
because when you start a family, you have other things to worry about
you don't have as much free time as when you are single
That's it for today's video
I have plans to make more CFA related videos
and please check out How I Passed the CFA Exam playlist
It has lots of useful information
feel free to leave me a comment down below if you have any exam related questions
Thumbs up if you like my video
and don't forget to subscribe to my channel
See you next time, bye!