/biz/ - Business & Finance

[Anonymous No.771956]

Anybody doing the exam next week?

6 days left. I've been cramming and this stuff is coming out of my ears already. I can't wait until it's finally over.

(Captcha: select all images with beer. Fuck you. I'd love to have beer but can't until the exam is over.)

[Anonymous No.771969]

Done my level 1... not that big of a deal if you understand the basic and your not just craming information in your head.

[Anonymous No.771978]

I'm writing Level I next Saturday as well; I'm just doing a lot of practice problems during every waking moment of my till then.

[Anonymous No.771996]

I've written 11 practice exams in the past six weeks. My average is 65%. I got 61% on the last one.

I've already failed it once.

Fuck my life.

[Anonymous No.772016]

What kind of job is the CFA useful for anyway? I've been told it's a waste of time and money because its so niche.

[Anonymous No.772020]

Question here. Does it helps having just level 1 or 2 in terms of employment etc, or its a must passing the third one to mean anything?

I've heard that not so many people is able to complete it (3th), so I don't know if it helps having the first levels in case you couldn't end it...

I'm interested in it by the way.

[Anonymous No.772021]

Good luck, bros. I hope we all pass it.

Level 3 here. I actually took it last year and failed. This time I've crammed more than ever because I really just want to get it over with. Been doing mock exams over and over again.

Bonus: last year I failed level 3 at band 10. That's like the ultimate fuck you. "You were THIS close to getting your charter. But naaah, come back next year faggot."

>>772016
>niche
Not really. In the world of finance it's quite common. In fact in some areas it's so common that if you don't have it, you stand out. So you need to have it because everyone else does too.

[Anonymous No.772027]

>>772020
It would be of limited use, since you either have the charter or you don't. What it can help you with is if you're trying to break into financial jobs and are still junior. Potential employers would look at you with the expectation that you intend to finish it.

Level 1 is the simplest and doesn't really say much about you. If you pass all 3 then it shows you're dedicated.

[Anonymous No.772057]

>>772027
Okey, thanks and good luck breh

[Anonymous No.772150]

>>771996
If you want a piece of advice, just relax and understand the basics and not just the answers.

>>772021
CFA helps. Nowadays anyone can graduate from a bachelor in finance to be honest... 50% of these people do not understand jackshit about what they learned. They just memorize all this stuff and puke it on their exam.

I've done my CFA 1 even though im not interested in the charter just to prove employers I actually understand finance and can apply the theory learned...

Nowadays the master in finance kinda suck as well because all the jobs are moving to programming jobs... lot's of people at this level still do not understand the underlying principles of the market and just go with whatever the math tells them... hell i was in a class with physics and math masters and once they were done deriving to hedge a portfolio of derivatives they would often mix up short and long in a position.... lol... still passed though since the dev of the question is worth more than the actual application of the answer...school nowadays, ugh

Bottom line, I went out of the field for ethical and personnal reason and now work in wholesale. Love my job, good salary and I don't have to deal with braggers all the time.

[Anonymous No.773184]

Damnit. These mock exams are so frustrating. CFAI never fails to throw curveballs at you. Damn you and your "... pick the LEAST likely" and other sneaky wordings.

[Anonymous No.773244]

Good luck guys. Earned the charter in 2012 and don't envy anyone sitting for those exams.

[Anonymous No.773251]

>>772021
L3 band 10 fail, ouch! Sorry, bro. Hope you crush it this weekend and get the February-May part of your life back next year.

[Anonymous No.773263]

Writing level II this Saturday. I feel pretty confident. I mean, I only have to score better than 60% of the other candidates.

I've been studying so much the past 6 weeks, just going over EoCs, mock exams, practice questions, re-reading chapters. There's only so much more that I can do. I've been scoring 70% consistently on mocks, including CFAI's, and I know that the mocks are typically more difficult than the actual exam. So I'm feeling pretty solid.

FRA is a bitch; I've pretty much accepted that I likely won't get more than 2/3s of these questions correct. Equity, derivatives, econ, and fixed income I feel comfortable with. I don't plan to pay any more attention to portfolio management and alternative investments.

Back to brushing up on fixed income and statistics though.

[Anonymous No.773269]

Can anyone recommend some good books/programs/tips for someone interested in starting the process for the CFA in the next year or so?

[Anonymous No.773560]

>>771996
Without sounding like a dick, how? As someone else mentioned, relax ad try to understand the reasoning and logic behind things. I'm still in school, actually looking for an internship/part time finance job now. But I've taken full practice exams 8 times and passed 4. Now that's still shitty odds, but considering I havn't read any of the material before aside from school books I'd say that's not too bad. My advice, breath.

[Anonymous No.773618]

>>773244
>>773244
>52% of participants passed
Pleb tier qualification much? Anything less than a 70% fail rate lets too many retards through to mean anything.

[Anonymous No.773637]

>>773618
this.
what you did is the equivalent of winning a coin toss

[Anonymous No.773964]

>>773618
>>773637
I know these are bait, but that's just L3. L1 pass rate last June was 42%, L2 was 46%, L3 was 54%. Naturally, the pass rates get higher with each level because a lot of people get rooted out earlier in the program.

[Anonymous No.774004]

>>773251
I feel much better prepared this time around. I just did the CFAI mock exam and got 70%. I hope that's a good sign. Also half of the ones I got wrong were because they were "gotcha" questions.

>>773263
Yes, fuck FRA. I can never get them right. Unfortunately they are still very much part of Level 3. If I have to calculate one, I use the strategy of "look for the answer with the middle/round number, the correct answer is a little bit less/more than that because that's the gotcha answer if you forgot to discount".

[Anonymous No.774030]

>>774004

>Yes, fuck FRA. I can never get them right. Unfortunately they are still very much part of Level 3.

Haha, I was referring to Financial Reporting and Analysis. But I agree, Forward Rate Agreements can be a bitch for me too ><

[Anonymous No.774714]

>>773964
The /biz/ equivalent of teenager virgins lurking camwhore threads calling girls fat and ugly.

[Anonymous No.775372]

>>772150
man my thoughts exactly

I have a masters in finance and I'm writing lvl 1 this saturday and I feel like I can't do shit with what I learned, even though I understand it. I'm thinking of applying at fidelity for their customer service (can transition to selling fidelity products to brokers). Financial analysis is nice and all but I think I'd kill myself making huge reports nobody cares about or reads. Any tips on how to get a nice spot in something related to finance but that's not boring as fuck/slavery?

[Anonymous No.775378]

Is it possible to pass even if you get a just a little below 50% in one or two sections?

I always get 75% overall in my mock exams with most sections above 70% but sometimes I'll get one or two sections close to or slightly below 50% and I'm scared they'll fuck my shit up just because of this. It's usually those sections with 6 questions where each error drops you 17%.

[Anonymous No.775409]

>>771956
>>771956

I'm sitting level 2.

Still seeing formulas I haven't seen before.

Fuuuuu

[Anonymous No.775412]

>>773263

I've skipped fixed income, derivatives and econ, hoping to get a 33% on those.

I'll kill ethics and equity.

FRA- ehhhh. Pensions are giving me problems but intercorporates and multinationals aren't too bad.

CF is pretty cake- but I keep forgetting the molgadinia and miler formulas.

and i'm an alcoholic.

[Anonymous No.775417]

>>773263
>>774004

I got a 58% on the 2015 CFAI a.m. mock and a 53% on the p.m. Schweser hasn't been much better for me. If I can fail band 8, that will be a win in my books. The CFA is just being kind and giving me another year to study level 2 :)

What do you guys think the MPS for level 2 will be? I've heard everything from 64-68%

[Anonymous No.775444]

>>775412
>>775417

>and i'm an alcoholic

I know that feel. I was pretty much a functioning alcoholic all last year as I was studying for Level I. Had to give it up though as it was getting too expensive.

>What do you guys think the MPS for level 2 will be? I've heard everything from 64-68%

I've heard the MPS can be as low as 58% but is generally in the low 60s. I'm shooting for a 70% just to be safe.

[Anonymous No.775470]

>>775444

Are you me?

I swear I passed level I due to the ethics adjustment. I didn't do well at all. Only got Ethics and Equity above 70, everything else was 50-70. I am nervous for the exam as we've spent the last 6 months of our lives doing EOC's learning the LOS, doing mock exams, qbank, cfai practice item sets, reading through secret sauce, watching the presentations, etcs.

but fuck it man, at the end of the day we're alive.I hope you pass my brother- it's hard for regular people who don't take this exam to understand the sheer difficulty and scope of what we're dealing with.

I work with this broad and she's doing the CMA and she thinks shes tough shit. She acts like its harder than CFA. I told her I might not pass level II and she laughed like I was an idiot. Fuck that bitch.

Good luck my brother, I hope in 8 weeks on that fateful tuesday we'll get the "congratulations" email.

[Anonymous No.775476]

Anyone else doing lvl 1 just to get a better shot at interviews? I understand that it's important to know all those things but it just drains me of all happiness. I think I'll kill myself if I do the 2 and 3.

[Anonymous No.775483]

Lets just say I have an engineering degree.

If I just take (assume pass) this exam am I a CFA?

[Anonymous No.775484]

>>775483

Pass all 3 levels of the CFA exam and have 4 years of work experience making financial decisions.

It's pretty hard. Doesn't matter how smart you are, the scope is huge and will take about 300 of your time per level.

[Anonymous No.775486]

>>775476

I passed Level I and I realized nobody cares.

The type of interviews you get for a Level I pass will be with people who don't hold the designation or will even know what it is.

[Anonymous No.775487]

>>775483

3 exam levels, once a year (except level 1). If you fail you wait. Each exam is 6 hours long. First one is 2 x 120 multiple choices for example.

Then you need 4 years of relevant experience.

Then you can call yourself a CFA

[Anonymous No.775490]

>>775486

Im taking the first one this saturday and I already signed in IB for september.

>mfw nobody cares

Worst part was when the MDs and VPs during my intership thought it was funny when the associate failed the level 3 because obviously he couldn't study. No single fuck was given that day.

[Anonymous No.775559]

>>775490

Good luck man, you got this.

I'll be failing level 2 saturday, so maybe we'll cross paths next year.

[Anonymous No.775575]

I've made a living trading options for my own account for the past three years after I was an advisor for 5. I am signed up for Level 1 in December also. I would have liked to take the exam this weekend but my passport didn't come in time. Either way I've already studying more than 400 hours and am ready right now. Do you think its a good idea to get the FRM and take both levels in the fall before level 1? Also will employers look down on me because I havent actually had an employer in so long? I've made 240k, 100k, and 140k the three years just trading for myself. I'm gonna wait to start applying for analyst roles not in IB after I complete level 2

[Anonymous No.775583]

>>775470

Thanks for the encouragement. I plan to spend tomorrow and Friday going over the CFAI mock one last time.

>I work with this broad and she's doing the CMA and she thinks shes tough shit. She acts like its harder than CFA. I told her I might not pass level II and she laughed like I was an idiot. Fuck that bitch.

Why am I not surprised that this attitude came from a woman?

Hope you pass too. Cheers.

[Anonymous No.775597]

>>775575
I don't know how people trade stocks. I know how to conduct due diligence and what to look for and how technical analysis works to then compare the current price positioning with the actual value but no matter the amount of analysis I do, I think I'll never be confident enough to drop the dosh and pay all those transaction fees.

How do you do it? I inherited 100k and still I can't be assed to try it. I feel like I'm just gambling and paying to gamble.

[Anonymous No.775621]

>>775597
I trade options only only and I trade mostly on volatility. I learned for the most part by starting off small and I lost a lot of money at first. I was doing it part time when I was still working as an advisor. I've read so many books about both technical analysis and options pricing I can't remember. The options market is so much different than the stock market the price of the stock is one of the last things I consider. Its also so easier to lose your money and way more complicated than you think to make steady money there but it all just kind of clicked for me after a while. I'm trying to get into an analyst role right now that's why I'm getting the CFA

[Anonymous No.775628]

>>775621
don't you think you could live off of it? Those amounts you've listed are pretty fucking impressive. I know I wouldn't look for a job with those returns.

[Anonymous No.775633]

>>775628
I know I could. I know the fist year was a little luck and that I made more that year than the last two because I took bigger risks but I want to really work on wall street . I miss working with people and its not really about the money

[Anonymous No.775634]

>>775412
>and i'm an alcoholic.
Me too. I've now managed to put down the bottle for 2 weeks. I've also taken some time off work. I seriously hope the sacrifice will be worth it in the end.

When I passed level 2 I received pretty much the lowest scores ever. It was amazing how I could get a pass with so many <50% scores. It must have been the ethics adjustment because I killed that section.

[Anonymous No.775640]

>>775634

Mind sharing your section-by-section scores? I'm curious.

[Anonymous No.775656]

>>775640
I just dug this up and couldn't help but cringe at seeing it again. Oh well, a pass is a pass.

[Anonymous No.775659]

>>775656

Damn. Good job passing! This gives me renewed hope.

Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous No.776031]

Another day, another fugged mock exam. And tomorrow is the last panic review day. Good luck everyone ;_;

[Anonymous No.776041]

>>776031
Yah good luck guys and get the fuck off fourchan till you're done

[Anonymous No.776063]

>>775372
>>775378
You got a masters in finance and you want to work Fidelity customer service? Did you go to a really shit school or what? Is there some alumni network you can use for help? You don't even need a Bachelor's degree to work customer service at a brokerage.

Yes, you can pass if you get <50% in some of the smaller sections. I think I had <50% on at least one or two sections in each exam that I passed. I never really studied derivatives. You just want to make up for it by getting >70% in the sections with the most questions.

[Anonymous No.776068]

>>775656
My L2 was pretty rough too, but somehow I passed. I think I probably got close to 100% on Equity and FRA.

[Anonymous No.776089]

>>776063
well the customer service would eventually lead to sales after a year. Fidelity looks for people with a master's degree and even the CFA now for this.

[Anonymous No.776173]

>>776089
I don't know man, seems like you'd really be selling yourself short. What would that job pay, like $40k? I was making a lot more than that straight out of college (B.A. in Finance from a big state school).

[Anonymous No.776212]

>>776173
They say good salespeople are very well rewarded (some interns from fidelity I've talked to said people really don't look like they're paid cheap). I don't know. I just feel like sales would be more fun while still using what I've learned. Most other finance jobs seem so competitive and exhausting (72+hours/w). I don't mind working my ass off for 2-3 years to make a name for myself but at some point I'll want to maximize my free time for sure. I just don't know what job I'd want out of the hundreds of positions you can have in finance so sales look good.

Are there any really nice jobs in finance? As in 100k salary with some free time (basically 9 to 5 and that's it)? I'd be happy with this.

[Anonymous No.776249]

>>776212
Try to get into wholesaling. They usually pay around 50k base but you get commissions and bonuses on top of that monthly. I was gonna work for a REIT firm doing that straight out of college

[Anonymous No.776836]

Okay, peeps. Last day! Don't forget to go through the CHECKLIST!

> *** PRINT YOUR EXAM TICKET ***
>check your name, date of birth, passport number
>plenty of writing utensils
>CFA-approved calculator and spare battery
>passport
>go to bed early
>plan to be at exam center plenty early
>set up at least two alarm clocks

And make sure you know the contents of the 5-6 page "Schweser quicksheet" for your level. If you don't have it, torrent it.

Let's go for the kill! It's almost over!

[Anonymous No.776856]

>>775412
Honestly, you're fucked.

[Anonymous No.777735]

so i got a second BAII-plus calculator unopened in case mine breaks. If it doesn't, I'll just return it to staples since it's not opened. Do you think there's a possibility to scalp it for 100$? Would be pretty nice.

[Anonymous No.777891]

All right. Time to get going for the exam. Good luck everyone!

[Anonymous No.778657]

>>775412
i wanna hear from this guy...how did it go?

[Anonymous No.778921]

Who /hungover/ here?

Fuck that was hard. I thought I was well prepared, but this exam just kept throwing curveballs. Even if I had all the time in the world and could have used the materials, I still wouldn't have got a few of those questions.

Back to drinking now.

[Anonymous No.778926]

I have forgotten what I used to do with this much free time.

[Anonymous No.779078]

>>778921

Exactly... The worst part is the feeling you get after the exam.

You feel like you weren't prepared enough even though you've spent the past 6 months studying. Feels bad man.

[Anonymous No.779112]

>>771996 here
I feel much better about Level 1 this time than I did when I failed it last year. Pic is my failure results.

I only had to guess 5 questions in both sessions. I may end up in band 10, but I can't even consider the possibility of being back in band 9 or worse.....

[Anonymous No.780358]

>>779112
Good luck, bro. I hope you'll get the congrats email in a few weeks. This thread will die soon, but I think we should make a /results/ thread once it's about to come up.

[Anonymous No.780661]

Did they put anything unexpected on level 1 that you would have studied differently for?

[Anonymous No.780757]

I wrote Level II. I feel like I passed. I found the AM section very easy, and the PM section a little more challenging but still pretty easy. The real test was significantly more straightforward and concise than the mock exams.

I was internally trying to track which questions I got right/wrong, and if I scored myself correctly I got over a 75%, which should be more than enough to pass. I got slaughtered on Alternative Investments and PM Fixed Income though.

[Anonymous No.780771]

was about what i expected. don't feel strongly enough about my results to say I passed or failed so just have to wait and see

[Anonymous No.780773]

>>778657

Hey, surprised I found this topic.

AM wasn't too good, guessed on FI and derivatives as i previously estimated.

PM was a breeze. I'd say I'm on the border of passing. I'm expecting below 50 in FI, Der, but over 70 in ethics, FRA, equity.

QUant was weird as fuck, but I think I did well.

Without violating the standards, did you guys get tripped up on quant?

[Anonymous No.780780]

>>780757

Did you get that weird question on Corporate Finance that everone on analyst forum was talking about? I don't want to violate the standards but I thought they left out information

[Anonymous No.780820]

Wrote Level 2

This is a conservative estimate of how I think I did

50 questions I know 100% i got right
20 questions I guessed(half educated, half random)
50 i was conflicted between 2 answers or wasn't 100% confident with the choice.

Statistically, I would have got 81 questions right.

50 + 6.667(18*.33) + 25 (50*.5)= 67.5%

The PM sections and a few of tricky questions, however, still makes me doubt some of the questions i thought were straightforward.

[Anonymous No.780892]

I came home thinking i did great on level 1 but i did a google search of cfa and came across some cases of SUSPECTED CHEATING

Now i am tripping balls because i did stretch a little bit and my test center was near an airport on a sunny day so frequent shadows startled me as i was already anxious about the exam...made me look to my left like someone came over .... fuck fuck fuck

[Anonymous No.780911]

>>780780

I think I know exactly the question you + AF are talking about. If we are indeed talking about the same question, I struggled with it for probably 10-15 minutes, gave up and moved on, and then came back to it toward the end of the AM section while checking over my answers. I still couldn't figure it out so I just randomly guessed.

When I got home after the exam I looked up the material in the Corporate Finance book. I'm pretty sure enough information was given, and the answer/calculation even seemed obvious to me after reading up on it. If my post-exam calculations were correct I think my random guess was the correct answer.

[Anonymous No.780912]

>>780773

Everyone's saying QM was hard, but I felt it was pretty easy. To me, nothing except for one question seemed out of the ordinary. I feel pretty confident that I got >70% and likely even 100%

[Anonymous No.780920]

>>771956
whats CFA and why should I learn this over my CCIE ?

[Anonymous No.780939]

>>780920
those are two completely different fields so no probably not.

[Anonymous No.781050]

Level 3 ethics was a total bitch this year.

[Anonymous No.781185]

>>772027
Actually here in the Netherlands it does help to have level 1. The official government certification you need in order to give clients investment advice (called DSI-registration) automatically makes you a "senior" in case you have the L1 exam cleared.

This should result in a better pay and/or better chances at career progression.