CFA

The biggest debate keeps hindering around 2 gigantic names, CFA or MBA? A million dollar question indeed.Masters in Business Administration-Finance, where students are introduced to various areas of business like accounting, marketing, human resources, operations management, and majorly to finance. The career path after MBA depends on a lot of factors, including your area of interest, previous work experience and business acumen of a specific domain. What you learn from an MBA is a broad understanding of how all the different bits and pieces fit together, so you can talk to all the key managers and operators and understand what they are saying. It proffers you the skills to be able to strategize and harness all the resources accessible to you to achieve your goal.These are the advantages of MBA in finance over CFA. But with everything, there are some demerits. You really don't get the full application out of an MBA programme unless you go into it with five to seven years of work experience. So, to find a well-paying job, you need experience as MBA is not very much industry oriented.

Hello,
CFA stands for Chartered financial analyst. It is one of the top professional courses that is used in the real time world. It is also competitive and tougher exam to crack.
It has three levels namely 1, 2 & 3. If you have cleared all the three, then you would be a complete CFA whose standard is huge.
After completing CFA level 1, there are not many job opportunities, to be frank. Some prospects are there but you need to possess many skills to get those jobs. In this market, you can survive only if you have additional skills as well as a stand out quality.
You need to improve your presentation skills and Interpretation skills. You need to be different from others even if you sail in the same boat. If you have just passed the level 1 CFA exam, your presentation skills have a larger impact on the quality of the job you can land than your academic credentials.
The following are some of the preparation tips for CFA level 2:
A plan of rigorous study effort is required. You need to remember that, Level II is only held once a year, so you should wait for one whole additional year if you don't make it.
Hard work only pays off and there is no way out. You need to be preparing according to a planned schedule and yes, a long term effort is required for level 2.
You need to prepare in such a way that you could answer the tricky questions in the right way. For that, practice is the only key. The examiner would expect the candidate to have a broad thinking, so that the questions would obviously be tough.
It is important to assess yourself often, so that you can know where to improve and also your current state of preparation. So, you need to have a specific method of preparation.
Finally, taking practice exams, quizzes, or practice questions, really help you increase your answering efficiency staying power of the material that you learn.

CFA is a moderate level exam and you can pass it with 4-6 months of preparation.
Most important is having a proper plan and sticking to it.
Start with how many hours you have on week days. Try to study at least 1-2 hrs on week days.
You have to dedicate your weekends completely to the preparation and avoid the temptation of relaxing on those days. I would suggest minimum 6-8 hrs on weekends at least. Actually the time required will vary from person to person depending n his intellectual capability.
Make sure you use trusted resources and focus on solving more problems and not only reading the theory.
If you are using Schweser's material then make sure that you attempt at least three tests from that in real like exam situations. So keep on studying and give some tests.
Most importantly utilize your weekends properly. All the best!

1.L3 topic weights are not like L2.
2.Leaving topics is not recommended at any level. More so at L3.
3.Seen in totality, except for Ethics, there's only one topic! (Portfolio management)-a lot of synthesis of readings across study sessions is required to answer questions.
So a fixed income or risk management (Risk and derivatives) question is also colored in the portfolio context.
For whatever it is worth, the following may help.
4.Portfolio Management-Fixed income which is roughly equal to ethics (ethics not tested in AM till now, fortunately). Risk management+Derivatives may be covered more than equity or AI. Though not always.
5.Economics is often tested in the morning session and has now been specifically included as a topic, unlike earlier, and mostly has direct questions based on formulae, in AM. Together with performance evaluation/attribution/Indirect transaction costs (All Book VI) if tested and solved correctly, may prove to be high scoring compared to qualitative sections.
6.Six out of eleven questions may be directly from portfolio management.

Hi,
You can prepare for CFA Level 1 within 6 months or even earlier depending on your style of study.
A good preparation is a function of time, knowledge, practice and commitment.
Time: The earliest you start, the more time you'll have to cover all the topics from top to bottom. The more familiarized you are with the curriculum, the better, and for that you need time. Official statistics say that you need on average 300 hours for level I, I needed 600 hours approx. If you take it in June, some people start studying in February. For me, that's not enough. I think that 6 months is ok. I would recommend that you to take some time off, let's say, two weeks before the exam (when possible). Ask your boss early if this is possible. Do exercises.
Knowledge: It's a long exam and they ask everything. Study well and know the curriculum, you'll have 15 minutes on an average to answer each question, you have to be quick. To be quick, you will need practice and for that read the next point. For studying, I used Schweser's study notes, and for some specific readings also read the official curriculum, they also offer video classes and online courses. Know the different topic weights for the exam, also know the exam format.
Practice: You are not going to pass the exam if you read only. The truth of the matter is that it is a practical exam. You will learn, remember and get the required exam rhythm by doing exercises. Of course that you have to memorize some theoretical concepts, but you don't do that at the beginning (like ethics, and even in ethics you need to do a lot of exercises). You have to test yourself with exercises. The most important are the practice exams. If you get a package like Schweser, you'll have 6 exams. You should be able, at the end of your preparation, to do 3 exams in "real exam conditions", that is strictly by the clock, two blocks of three hours, no materials, no google, no phone, with the approved calculator and pencils and no interruptions. The similar situations to the real exam conditions.
Commitment: Make a study plan and commit to it. Follow it and make the correct adjustments when necessary. Try to be honest on when you can study and for how many hours and be real on your estimates. It's a long process and it is really easy to say once in a while "I'll check that later".
All the best.

Charted Financial Analysts is a complete professional course in its own. One doesn't requires any additional courses with it. But still if you really want to make your resume much more attractive in front of employer and want to have a slight edge over other students then following programs are for you. These programs are:
1. Certified Public Accountants (CPA)- For the ones who have interest in US GAAP.
2. NCFM course- If you have interest in stock exchanges, this course is for you. It is conducted by NSE Mumbai.
3. Certified Financial Planner (CFP)-Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is an international certification program being conducted in the country by Financial Planning Standard Board (FPSB), India.
4. Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA-India): The course of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) is regulated by ICFAI (Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India) University. It is basically a distance education programme. This course is suitable for students who want to pursue a career in investment industry.
And there are many more. Basically, do what you love and options will automatically come to you.

Candidates can prepare for the CFA 2023 certification course by reading many reference materials mentioned below-Name of BooksAuthorsInvestment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers & AcquisitionsPearl and Rosenbaum2021 CFA Level IKaplan SchweserStrategic Value Investing: Practical Techniques of Leading Value InvestorsStephen M. Horan, Robert R. Johnson and Thomas R. RobinsonWhen Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital ManagementRoger LowensteinThe Cartoon Guide to StatisticsLarry Gonick and Woollcott SmithCFA Level IBhupesh AnanadThe Handbook of Fixed Income SecuritiesFrank J. FabozziNote- The information is sourced from external sites and may vary.