CFA

Hi Saurav,
A Master's degree in Finance or a related field is recommended but not necessary. You can also have an MBA and then opt for PhD in Finance. You must however demonstrate excellent knowledge and quantitative skills, relevant experience and interest in Finance and high level inclination towards research and academics and the given subject. Assuming from your question that you are looking for a Ph.D in USA, please note that you must give the GMAT and TOEFL as a part of the admissions process. Having a FRM will definitely add a value.
Some of the best B-schools you can consider are:
1. NYU Stern.
2. University of Michigan.
3. Eli Broad College of Business.
4. University of Chicago – Booth.
5. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and
6. University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
These are some of the CFA Partner Universities and amongst the most competitive schools.
I would also request @|John64176| to put forward his valuable suggestions here. Hope this helps.

Hi Saurav,
It is good that you are considering to pursue CFA or FRM. Both are US certifications and recognized globally. But do not make a blunder to start both at the same time. So, I will straight away come to the point. If you are ready to study hard for 3 to 4 years then go for CFA. If you do not have patience and want to do something good in 1 year, then go for FRM.
If you are targeting both CFA and FRM then first do FRM and then go for CFA. Because entire FRM course covers half of the syllabus of CFA Level 1. Both CFA and FRM will give good career options as financial analyst in BFSI sector.
To know more please refer these links :
http://www.edupristine.com/blog/cfa-vs-frm
http://www.edupristine.com/centers/delhi

Hi, you have just got free with CA final. It means you have continuously studied hard for many months and now waiting for the result. So, do not rush again to a heavy course like CFA or MBA. Rather than this study a course which can develop your skill set. Getting a job for you is not a big deal. My advise for you is to consider financial modeling course. This is a short term course of 2 months which will help you to prepare your ground for CFA and MBA. Also, to gain confidence start teaching your subjects. This will give you lot of confidence. To know more about the course please go through these web links :
http://www.edupristine.com/blog/why-financial-modeling
http://www.edupristine.com/blog/category/financial-modeling
http://www.edupristine.com/courses/financial-modeling
You can do this course both in online as well as classroom mode

Dear reyansh,
Hi,
One, is the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) or the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation more difficult to obtain?
First, be aware that the CFA and CFP designations usually attract different students.
The CFA tends towards those interested in financially analytical careers. For example, investment analyst, portfolio management, and corporate treasury functions desire CFAs.
The CFP designation is geared towards people wanting to provide financial planning advice to individual clients.
Most people with a CFP title will do become Financial Planner or Independent Financial Advisor. Therefore, you can work for a bank, an investment firm or an insurance company. While you can get a job in other type of companies, the above mentioned will be the bigger employer for CFP.
Most jobs requiring a CFA title will obviously include an analytical part where you have to work with spread sheet, graphs and other data. The most common jobs are trader or financial analyst (concentrating on a specific investment category or industry)
Hope it will help you, feel free ask more. Give thumbs up or mark this answer as best if you found it helpful.