Road to CFA Level 1

I PASSED CFA LEVEL 1!!!

2008-07-29T21:40:00.001+08:00

I PASSEDD!!!

June 2008 Pass Rate : 35%

Congrats to all passers!

Seeya all in Level 2!

Finally completed book1! Phew!

2008-03-16T10:37:00.002+08:00

Woah. After 4 weeks, I finally finished book1, which consists of study session 1,2,3.

2 problems I faced.

1) Procrastination. I had been caught up with some other stuff, that I neglected studying CFA consistently.. Bad. Need to be more consistent in the coming weeks.

2) Some of the study sessions, I have learnt before in university. However, I don't know what I did not learn before, thus I had to manually flip each page. It is likely I will attempt to go through the curriculum faster without reading every single page. One reason is because I managed to cover the end of topic questions fairly easily. Will see how that goes.

Moving on to book2, economics!

Stuck on procrastination.

2008-03-08T14:31:00.008+08:00

Ugh. The problem of not getting the study notes.
The truth is, I have studied probabilities, and statistics before. And when you have a CFA study text that is 400 pages thick, that is aimed to cover a broadbase of topics, it can get very very boring very very fast.

90 days left, and I am still stuck on study session 3 (out of 18 in total.) Hopefully, I'll get pass study session 3, as well as 4,5,6(which are on economics) fast.

This-Is-Not-Good.

How to register for CFA Level 1 exams?

2008-02-28T10:25:00.002+08:00

How to register for the CFA Level 1 exams??

Short answer? Go to http://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/register/index.html

There are a few things you might want to take note though. Firstly, you got to be in your final year of university, or have already gotten a degree. Next, the registration fees for the CFA exam actually varies as time passes.

For example, if you wanted to register for the June 2008 CFA Level 1 exam, registering before 3rd Oct 2007 would have gotten you the cheapest fees of US$600. Registering before 15th Feb 2008 would have gotten you US$688. And the final deadline is on the 17th Mar 2008, which would result in a big jump to US$930.

However, thats not all! Being a first time enroller into the CFA program, theres an application fee involved. US$390 for the first 2 dates, and US$465 for the final date.

3 Oct 2007:
$390 + $600 = $990

15 Feb 2008:
$390 + $688 = $1078

17 Mar 2008:
$465 + $930 = $1395

I registered just before the 15th of Feb deadline. So I paid a total of US$1078, which is inclusive of the 8.1kg worth of curriculum books.

I don't remember reading about any extra waiver, so I would think if someone does fail the exam, they would only need to pay the exam fees, which is US$600.

Completed CFA Study Session 2, Quantitative Methods

2008-02-27T16:24:00.002+08:00

Wow. That took a long time.

I planned to finish it on 22nd Feb and then finish up study session 3 mid this week. But looks like I got delayed by 5 days.

It was horrible.

The problem was that there was tons of words. And most seemingly unimportant. Thats the problem when you have taken statistics before in university, and you don't have study notes.

I didn't want to skip any of the pages, because I never know what is important or things that I didn't learn. For example, I have never learnt semi variance or target semi variance before. Same goes for kurtosis and chebyshev.

In any case, its over now. I noticed a lot of study guides tend to recommend skipping book 3 and keeping it last. ie, you will study book 1,2,4,5,6,3

Most likely I will follow that method. Another way I've heard is doing it in reverse order (6,5,4,3,2,1). Reason being the final books are the thinnest ones.

How would you do it?

Which calculator for the CFA Level 1 exam?

2008-02-24T17:43:00.005+08:00

For the CFA program, there are only 2 models of calculators allowed, the Texas Instrument BA-II Plus (including the BA-II Plus professional) as well as the Hewlett Packard 12C (including the HP 12C Platinium).

One of the main disadvantage of the HP 12C is the reverse polish input format. (At least from what I read online.) Another 2 issues with it is that it is quite an old calculator, so in a way, its counted as previous generation. Thus, the processing speed may be a little slow. And even being previous generation, it is still significantly more expensive than the TI BA-II Plus.

Also, most people I know, tend to be using the TI BA-II Plus. Therefore, I just bought one!

Between the TI BA-II Plus and the Plus professional, the professional version is supposed to have functions, as well as a metal covering case and a silver colour. Pricewise, the TI-BA-II Plus is about S$60, and the professional one is around S$90. For me, I took the non-professional version. Reason being that I don't foresee myself using the calculator outside of the CFA exam. If anything, there is microsoft excel available on computers. Even a tiny one like the Asus EEE PC.

Are there people actually using the HP financial calculators?

Is a CFA Charter useful?

2008-02-20T14:33:00.002+08:00

Before registering for CFA, there are 2 main schools of thought about the CFA exams that I have heard.

1) It's prestigious and it will definitely help in your career
2) It's a waste of money, and employers don't even bother with it. (ie, there is no inherent benefit in terms of salary comparing a person with or without a charter)

One of the things I found out was, CFA is NOT a replacement for a MBA, nor is it a replacement for a specialised masters such as Masters in Financial Engineering.

In an MBA, you learn much more than in a CFA. Things such as strategies, organisational management, supply chain, marketing, etc.

That said, CFA is a useful professional designation within the financial analyst/investment community. In particular, it can be very useful for 2 groups of people. The fresh graduates (or early career people) and the people looking for a change in industry.

The main benefits that a CFA charter bring is not really the knowledge that you gain. While the knowledge IS useful, the main benefits is the career searches available and the networking. This generally allows someone new to find their way up the ladder faster.

Whether a CFA can help u in personal investments or getting an edge in finding a job in corporate finance - The answer is almost surely NO.

So, know why you are taking the CFA.

How do you study for the CFA Level 1?

2008-02-17T17:00:00.001+08:00

Before this June 2008 papers, the cirriculum were separate from the CFA exam fees. Thus, most of the people I know use study notes instead of buying the cirriculum.

Now that the cirriculum is free. Do you guys still use the study notes? And are you taking a study course at any of the private institutions (including paid online sites)

Or any other way of studying for the CFA Level 1?

Do share!

Completed! CFA Study Session 1, Ethics.

2008-02-17T16:33:00.003+08:00

Finally finished up probably the most boring chapter in CFA Level 1. Ethics, Professional Standards, and Performance Standards.

Lucky for me, I have taken CMFAS Module 1A before, which basically talks about what you should do as an advisor in a capital markets context.

Not too different from the ethics and standards portion of CFA Level 1. In a 1 liner, put your clients and employers concerns first. However, some questions look tricky.. you've gotta know in a complex scenario, which standard exactly might have been compromised.

Moving on to the less wordy, more calculative portions. Quantitative Methods!

Since I've got some knowledge of time value, probability, statistics and technical analysis (which is essentially probability anyway) I hope to finish up study session 2 and 3 before 24th Feb

Financial calculator for CFA Exams?

2008-02-17T05:44:00.005+08:00

Anybody has any good deals for the CFA approved financial calculators? I'm looking for the Texas Instrument BA-II plus and I am located in Singapore.

Preparation schedule

2008-02-16T14:00:00.000+08:00

On the CFA website, they recommend spending 10-15 hours a week, to cover 1 study session every week. And since there are 18 study sessions, that would mean you gotta spend 18 weeks.

After you've done that, they recommend you spend 4-6 weeks on revision and doing practice exam questions.

Right.

Between now till 8th June 2008, I've got 113 days. Thats around 16 weeks.

Just great.

My aim, to cover 1 study sessions a week. So that would take 9 weeks of effort, leaving me 7 weeks to do final revisions and preparations. Someone save me.

Registered for CFA Level 1 June 2008 Exams

2008-02-15T18:00:00.002+08:00

I've done it. I registered for the CFA Level 1 June 2008 exams. (Which is on the 8th June 2008)

Registered on the 12th Feb 2008. Curriculum and books arrived on the 14th Feb 2008. What a fantastic valentine's day present.

I've got 114 days to prepare. 6 curriculum books to go through. 18 Study sessions, consisting of over 2700 pages.

This blog will document my journey on this road to CFA Level 1.

Wish me luck.