Why am I taking the CFA?
Seems a good question to ask since it is consuming a fair amount of my time (which I could have judiciously used to do this and that with these and those people). Not to mention the effort and the money (Eeeps ! 55 grand !)
To state it simply, it is the gold standard for finance. The curriculum is very very good. It is comprehensive (and alas, vast!) and is the best introduction to finance one can get. However, the low pass rates and the challenging syllabus make it a tough nut to crack. But one, being a conservative south Indian, has been cracking betel nuts ever since one remembers and this too should, one hopes, be no different (apart from the requirement of a very strong pair of dentures)
One used to wander around the world of finance scared and lost. Suddenly a lot of things seem to fall into place. NPV, IRR, bonds, derivatives, Balance Sheets – terms which hitherto used to make me feel like “a cat in a strange alley with brick throwers around” (not my words – Wodehouse) now make one grin and say “Hoy! I know you!”. One feels the birds are singing and the bees are buzzing and the sun is diffusing a warm glow. One now loves finance.
I have always had a tendency to study only a couple of days before exams (an old and alas, incorrigible habit!). While this has its advantages (one can go to a movie two days before the exams with a new-born-babe clear conscience), one does have to admit that it does screw up the subject knowledge.
Through the former exemplary method, one does pass exams, but if questioned later, one just gapes like a baboon and wonders “What? Have I heard that before ?.....No Wait… I have heard it before….Dash it ! I can’t remember !”
Not so with CFA. It demands complete concentration. And in return, it makes sure you a slave. A slave to the wondrous world of finance.
But our cerebral cortex can take in only so much abuse. Even it, the poor thing, needs a break.
So one blogs. And blogs. And reads books. One hears that a shot of Jack Daniels would ease the strain, but alas, that way is not open to me.
Wish me all the best in my endeavour O Ye Fair Visitor and pray that I come out successful and unscathed.
Amen.