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Originally posted by jerZ07002 oh - sorry, i din't realize that the bet was simply that they would survive. i thought you were trying to make money also.

I just might, but it would be speculation. My algorithms have GKK as having the highest possible upside potential of all the hundreds of stocks I've analyzed. But with the 300%+ upside potential comes the enormous risk which you just outlined very well. So thanks for that..

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Has anyone of you taken Series 7 Exam? Or planning to take it? How tough is it? How much time it should take to prepare? And is it worth taking?

w.go

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Originally posted by Kinezi Has anyone of you taken Series 7 Exam? Or planning to take it? How tough is it? How much time it should take to prepare? And is it worth taking?

it is worth taking if you plan on selling securities (i.e., becoming a broker). If you don't plan on selling securities, the CFA cred is becoming more and more desirable so you might consider that cred. as for difficulty level, it's not like taking the bar exam or medical board exams, but its improbable that you can simply coast through it, so moderate studying is advisable.

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Originally posted by jerZ07002 w.go it is worth taking if you plan on selling securities (i.e., becoming a broker). If you don't plan on selling securities, the CFA cred is becoming more and more desirable so you might consider that cred. as for difficulty level, it's not like taking the bar exam or medical board exams, but its improbable that you can simply coast through it, so moderate studying is advisable.

Thanks, CFA is too time consuming, did I say expensive (cos you have to take coaching classes, because of obvious complexity of the program) and little bit tough to pass.. more so when I am also doing my MBA side by side, so wont be able to cope with all the syllabus at one time.. I checked Series 7 curriculum.. and looks pretty easy.. I think will sail through it with 3 months effort... dosent harm to have a certificate.

Last edited by Kinezi on Aug-11-2008 at 18:08

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Originally posted by Dervish Doing ok with RBS myself, bottled ditching some then buying in a drop. Which "cost" me about $4000 (at this point a bit more soon). But aside from that I think this is no longer a falling knife and 145 was the bottom (my bottled trade would have sold at 180 and bought at 150 ). I see £3+ within 3-4 months easy from £2.20ish today. Will sink with profit taking tomorrow I'd suspect maybe down to 2.05 at points but will rally later in the day.

Just looking back this is now at 2.50. Or up 13.6% in just over 2 weeks.

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Originally posted by Kinezi Thanks, CFA is too time consuming, did I say expensive (cos you have to take coaching classes, because of obvious complexity of the program) and little bit tough to pass.. more so when I am also doing my MBA side by side, so wont be able to cope with all the syllabus at one time.. I checked Series 7 curriculum.. and looks pretty easy.. I think will sail through it with 3 months effort... dosent harm to have a certificate.

CFA is almost worthless anyway if you have a top MBA.

you are right, creds don't usually hurt, except when it comes to opportunity costs.

quote:

Originally posted by Kinezi Has anyone of you taken Series 7 Exam? Or planning to take it? How tough is it? How much time it should take to prepare? And is it worth taking?

Yes. It's a lot of material, but it is pretty easy. It is generally required for people in the equity side of the financial services industry to take, and unless you are employed by a financial services firm you won't be eligible to take it because someone (not yourself) has to hold the license for you. You could prepare plenty in a couple of months.

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Originally posted by Shakka Yes. It's a lot of material, but it is pretty easy. It is generally required for people in the equity side of the financial services industry to take, and unless you are employed by a financial services firm you won't be eligible to take it because someone (not yourself) has to hold the license for you. You could prepare plenty in a couple of months.

I got the sponsor.. the company is not exactly sponsoring, but just willing to put its name in form.. they gave me two options:


Option 1
You would be responsible for your study materials, exam registration and all processing fees which total $900.00. When you feel you are ready, we will sponsor you for your exam.

Option 2

You will be responsible to pay only for your exam registration and all processing fees which will total approximately $650.00. Keep in mind that if you are a foreign citizen, other fees will apply. When you feel you are ready, we will schedule your exam for you...


I think I should go with option 1?

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Originally posted by Kinezi I got the sponsor.. the company is not exactly sponsoring, but just willing to put its name in form.. they gave me two options: Option 1 You would be responsible for your study materials, exam registration and all processing fees which total $900.00. When you feel you are ready, we will sponsor you for your exam. Option 2 You will be responsible to pay only for your exam registration and all processing fees which will total approximately $650.00. Keep in mind that if you are a foreign citizen, other fees will apply. When you feel you are ready, we will schedule your exam for you... I think I should go with option 1?

You definitely need the study materials. You'll fail miserably without them.

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Originally posted by Shakka You definitely need the study materials. You'll fail miserably without them.

I think I will visit their office in NY and see if they provide study material in option 2.. I coudnt exactly get the difference between 2 options.. I thought i will buy the relevant books, register myself and fees which would cost me 900 USD.. will see if they provide relevant books in second option than will go for that..

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Originally posted by Kinezi I think I will visit their office in NY and see if they provide study material in option 2.. I coudnt exactly get the difference between 2 options.. I thought i will buy the relevant books, register myself and fees which would cost me 900 USD.. will see if they provide relevant books in second option than will go for that..

I'm not sure if Bisys still provides the course materials, but usually there is a large binder that has all of the material in it that you receive when you register for the exam. Additionally, there is usually a weeklong crash course that goes with it right before the exam. There were plenty of people in my class that had failed multiple times but when I saw their poor attendance record in the class it wasn't hard to see why. I passed on my first try but I didn't have a superb score by any means.

Once you have your license you are required to do "continuing education" which is like once every 1.5 years or so.

I have an analysis on 9 sectors. The sectors are ranked by their marketgrader grade adjusted by my own scale. I compiled each sector by making an index of the top 30 market cap stocks for each sector and each stock is listed on the NYSE.

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE = 62%

Consumer Goods = 68%
Industrials = 66%
Basic Materials = 65%
Healthcare = 65%
Technology = 65
Telecommunications = 62%
Consumer Services = 61%
Utilities = 56%
Financials = 50%

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