quote:

Originally posted by exstasie Fixed... But that's awesome though! Very rare for people to pass all 3 exams on their first try... I know some people who've dedicated 6 months straight to study for the first one and still failed...and I considered them to be really smart.

Ya they say you need 250 to 400 hours of study for each exam as long as you stay on top of it though it shouldn't be a problem. I'm gonna be taking the prep course through U of T. The prof is amazing who runs it.

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Originally posted by SniFFleS Ya they say you need 250 to 400 hours of study for each exam

This is probably heavily dependent on your finance/accounting/business background, if you have a b.com you probably wouldnt have to study this much for the first exam (from what I hear)

However if you are starting from nothing it could be a huge pain in the ass

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Originally posted by teufel-man This is probably heavily dependent on your finance/accounting/business background, if you have a b.com you probably wouldnt have to study this much for the first exam (from what I hear) However if you are starting from nothing it could be a huge pain in the ass

Oh ya, have a B.com, CSC, CFP. I guess I will find out, I usually over study anyways but gotta wait until next June anyways.

Make sure you get these....

http://www.schweser.com/products/packages.php#

I've heard from a few people who have taken it that level 1 is the hardest. I've also heard that studying is one thing....but getting through 6 hours of exam in one day is a whole other ball park.

I'm studying for my level 1 right now. Are you registered for an exam? Wait til they send you the box of materials - it's enormous. I'm writing in June.

It isn't *necessarily* true that you don't have to study as much if you have a business degree - I have an HBA and am almost done my MBA and at the moment, I'm still finding it a lot of work. That said, my education is and always has been case based, open book style, so memorization of this magnitude is something I haven't done for a long time. However, I would say I have a leg up on someone who has no knowledge of level 1 concepts whatsoever.

Just curious, why are you considering it? Career change? Job requirement?

quote:

Originally posted by slingshot Make sure you get these.... http://www.schweser.com/products/packages.php# I've heard from a few people who have taken it that level 1 is the hardest. I've also heard that studying is one thing....but getting through 6 hours of exam in one day is a whole other ball park.

As of the June 2008 test, the CFA institute actually sends you all of their own materials. (for an increased registration fee, of course). Too many people were buying the Schweser notes and not buying materials from the Institute.

I'm still considering buying the Schweser notes though (going to check out a friend's tomorrow before I decide), since the material from the institute is so, so brutal to get through.

The money i've spent on standardized testing makes my head hurt.

quote:

Originally posted by Skipper Just curious, why are you considering it? Career change? Job requirement?

Pretty much a change career paths a bit. Wanna get away from personal planning and advising and more into portfolio management. So many people getting into financial services right now. Theres just too many people that have no knowledge or training that are in financial sales industry, advising people inappropriately. Especially when it comes to debt management. The banks push so many huge credit lines on people, if the housing market goes down like in the states a lot of people could be getting into negative equity. I may have an opportunity at Ontario teachers pension(sounds like they need help). So thats why I am looking into the CFA program.

Teachers is definitely a good place to make that career change to!

quote:

Originally posted by Skipper Teachers is definitely a good place to make that career change to!

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan faces $12.7B shortfall
TheStar.com - Business - Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan faces $12.7B shortfall

Fund has only 1.6 active teachers for each pensioner

April 01, 2008
THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's managers, the provincial government and the federation representing 278,000 active and retired teachers are faced with a daunting math problem � how to resolve a $12.7-billion shortfall between assets and liabilities.

The shortfall, which has long been anticipated but not resolved, will have to be dealt with through higher contributions from employers and employees, reduced benefits for retirees, a revision of the plan's underlying assumptions or a combination of these.

The shortfall arose despite the plan's 4.5 per cent return on its investments for 2007, a solid result by one of Canada's largest and most-active capital pools in difficult markets.

Teachers said Tuesday its assets at Dec. 31 were $108.5 billion, up by $4.7 billion on the year but representing a $12.7-billion shortfall between the plan's assets and its liabilities � in essence the payments it's currently obliged to make to retirees in future.

Last year, the fund paid out $4 billion in benefits while receiving $2.1 billion in contributions from active teachers and employers .

Jim Leech, chief executive of the Teachers fund, said a balanced valuation plan must be filed with the provincial regulator by September and work on that is already well progressed.

"The fortunate thing is � we've seen this coming for a number of years and we spent the last year getting more and more intelligence and informing ourselves better," Leech said in an interview.

He said the plan that he oversees has been "doing very well" at making money and the asset shortfall, while important, has to be put into context.

"Certainly, you wouldn't want to frighten people to think their pensions are not secure. I mean, we have $108 billion in assets. . . . We can pay pensions for a long time. But you want to solve the problem and make sure (the plan) is in balance, forever."

He said it's up to the sponsors � the Ontario Teachers Federation and the Ontario education ministry � to decide in the coming months what to do about the contribution and benefits.

It will be up to the plan managers to reassess the plan's assumptions and maximize returns on investments.

But Teachers is being hampered by low after-inflation interest rates, which were 1.9 per cent at the end of 2007 and are now down to 1.7 per cent, and by increased longevity of retirees.

"That raises the costs. People live longer and you're paying the pensions for longer and that's one of the factors that has led to the deficit," Leech said.

"The other factor, of course, is interest rates. The higher the interest rate, the lower the cost of providing somebody with a pension."

For example, to provide a pension paying out $40,000 per year it would cost of that stream of payments is $855,000 if real interest rates are two per cent. It would cost only $585,000 if the real interest rates were five per cent.

"All defined-benefit pension plans worldwide face this challenge."

Teachers said its public and private equity holdings totalled $50 billion at year-end after a negative 0.1 per cent investment return during 2007.

Inflation-sensitive assets such as infrastructure and real-return bonds were valued at $39.3 billion, returning seven per cent.

Fixed-income assets amounted to $18.7 billion after a 5.4 per cent return.

Overall, Leech said, "our fund cannot afford the investment risk that it once did." He noted that equities have declined to 47 per cent of total assets, compared with 65 per cent in 1995.

"Diversification has always been a hallmark of our investment program," he added, "and our real estate, private equity and infrastructure assets led the way with our tactical asset allocation and absolute return strategies in producing a 4.5 per cent total fund return, decisively outperforming the 2.3 per cent composite benchmark."

Yeah, I was thinking of that as I posted...it doesn't change what I said though.

I think someone from teachers is coming in as a guest speaker in my portfolio management class this week. That should be interesting!

All my clients have their completed the CFA designation and are registered as investment counsel portfolio managers. Honestly, if you're dedicated you can pass it but bottom line you absolutely have to devote some real hardcore time for studying. It's definitely not a joke in any way and the first two levels (2nd is probably the hardest) are tough but the third is smooth sailing.

But I would strongly advise you not to waste your time if you do not have the appropriate experience or have a way to get into a real job where you'll use the designation. Toronto has way too many CFA charterholders that are useless without any solid experience and many hiring managers I've seen have purposely overlooked CFA candidates/charterholders that have little/no real experience in favour of others that do. The CFA institute recently has become a lot more lax into allowing candidate's qualifying experience than years ago.

I personally would ONLY do it if I had to...i.e. if I went to work for an ICPM where they required me to have it.

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Originally posted by riskytrader But I would strongly advise you not to waste your time if you do not have the appropriate experience or have a way to get into a real job where you'll use the designation. Toronto has way too many CFA charterholders that are useless without any solid experience and many hiring managers I've seen have purposely overlooked CFA candidates/charterholders that have little/no real experience in favour of others that do. The CFA institute recently has become a lot more lax into allowing candidate's qualifying experience than years ago. I personally would ONLY do it if I had to...i.e. if I went to work for an ICPM where they required me to have it.

Don't you need to be working in a certain type of job to write the CFA???

sorta like how you have to work for a CA firm to write the CA exams?

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Originally posted by teufel-man Don't you need to be working in a certain type of job to write the CFA??? sorta like how you have to work for a CA firm to write the CA exams?

CA is a lot more stringent about experience. CFA Institute will grant discount reps the charter when they clearly don't have real experience managing portfolios or real trading for that matter. Anyone can write the CFA so long as you have a degree or 4 years work experience in the industry or a combo.

quote:

Originally posted by riskytrader CA is a lot more stringent about experience. CFA Institute will grant discount reps the charter when they clearly don't have real experience managing portfolios or real trading for that matter. Anyone can write the CFA so long as you have a degree or 4 years work experience in the industry or a combo.

Do you know any comparable designations or charters from say CSI?

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Originally posted by SniFFleS Do you know any comparable designations or charters from say CSI?

C.A.I.A. is quite comparable to the CFA program. It's probably slightly more tuned to the hedge/mutual fund industry than the CFA is.

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Originally posted by slingshot C.A.I.A. is quite comparable to the CFA program. It's probably slightly more tuned to the hedge/mutual fund industry than the CFA is.

Thanks

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