OK, I got the CFA charter, what now?

Posted on July 25, 2021 by TheFinanceNerd

As someone who got the CFA charter six years ago, I recall that when I was studying the curriculum, I came across a lot of advice on forums where discussions were centred around passing the exams but after passing my level III exam, I felt that I needed more guidance on reaping the rewards of my hard work. If you passed the level III exam, chances are that you studied over 1000 hours (this is a rough calculation based on the study hours that CFA Institute estimate). Having had six years of experience as a professional with this designation and having changed jobs a number of times, I would like to share some thoughts that I am hoping newly qualified charterholders might find helpful.

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Level 2 of the CMA (Certified Member Analyst) Exam

Posted on July 11, 2021 by TheFinanceNerd

On 6th June 2021, I sat level 2 of the CMA exam. For those of you who are not familiar with this exam, CMA which stands for Certified Member Analyst is a financial analyst exam administered by the Securities Analysts Association of Japan. There is a big overlap with the CFA exam and the qualification is very well respected in Japan. I would say that most financial professionals in the industry possess this qualification. I introduced level 1 in a past post which you can access here.

Candidates who pass level 1of the exam can apply to receive the learning materials for level 2 and will then have three attempts to take within three years. Should a candidate not pass the exam in the 3 attempts, they will need to re-apply to study the level 2 curriculum otherwise they will need to re-start from scratch by having to retake level 1. This is a very important point to be aware of if you are registered to take this exam.

Exam Day: the exam took place at TKP in Ichigaya Conference Centre

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Exam Preparation Tips

Posted on July 4, 2021 by TheFinanceNerd

Dear Reader, if you are reading these words, chances are that you have an important exam coming up and that you are looking for some helpful content online. Or maybe you are just looking for a good excuse to put off your revision. If you have been kind enough to read other posts on this blog, you might have seen that I have sat a number of finance exams so I hope that you can let me get away with me referring to myself as a self proclaimed test taker. The whole point of this brief post is sharing what I’ve learned through years of test taking, hoping to make these 5-10 minutes worthwhile for you.

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