| Topic Name: |
CFA advice |
| Message Name: |
Easy question |
| Date Posted: |
09/10/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
According to the BLS, CFP's tend to earn a higher salary than CFA's. Is this true? I am going to start toward a designation in either or, but would like some objectivity on behalf of the board members. I am currently 1 year out of college and work for an insurance company at an entry level position. What are the + and - of each designation? I am not exactly 100% positive on what field I want to pursue(leaning towards applying for positions at REITS) as of yet but know I can no longer stay idle while figuring it out and waiting to gain experience before applying to an MBA program. Please give some advice and thanks! |
| Message: |
This is actually one of the easiest questions on the board. If you want to be a financial planner go for the CFP. However, the designation is pretty much worthless outside of working with retail investors.
If want to be a financial analyst (research, IM, corp finance) the CFA is the way to go. If you want to look at working at a REIT the CFA designation is far more applicable. Also, work experience at a REIT will most likely fulfill the requirements of the CFA, and I don't imagine it will work for the CFP.
As for salary, I can't speak about the money available to people with the CFP, but I read a statistic about the CFA that stated financial analysts with 10 years experience and the CFA designation averaged $180,000 salary versus $120,000 for people in comparable jobs without the designation. The CFP would be held by retail brokers and their salary is a lot more dependent on individual performance than on any designation that they have.
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