help me:cfa aspirant currently, regarding, american, nothing, average

YouCanDoIt

i am currently undergoing C.a from india(icai)..i was looking forward to CFA now and i have certain confusions:
1) i basically get mixed reviews regarding CFA here(not manypeople know about it here)some say its one of the best courses..some say there is nothing great about it and i should just concentrate on my C.A…so how is CFA for a course?like what can i expect to earn as a C.a+CFA? does the pay of an american CFA put him in the rich,average or poor class?..i would want generalisations here as offcourse there could be answers like “ur pay depends n what u r,a CFA might be rich or poor depending on his capablity”.
2) can i apply for CFA without having a graduate degree but if i have a certificate that says i have 2 years of experience in a Stock brokerage firm?
3) ok what am asking here is illegal but can any1 provide me a link(here or via personal msg) where i can download free CFA level 1 books.i just wanted to look into the study material and assess the difficulty level etc.
thanks

Halawiz

This may be very basic, but based on your question, I’m assuming that you are very new to this industry.
C.A.s would be comparable in their roles to our CPAs here in the U.S. What this means is that the focus is on accounting, not on investment analysis and formulating investment ideas and recommendations as is the requirement when involved in asset management, which is largely the focus of the CFA Body of Knowledge.
If you have trouble distinguishing between the areas of accountancy and investments, I implore you to look at the tens of other threads on this forum where this distinction is discussed. As for your questions;
1) The “pay of an American CFA” (and this is the AVERAGE person with a Charter – mind you, of course there are failures in every industry who earn much less) would put him in a higher income bracket than others in comparable roles without the charter. The range is too wide to quantify with any degree of value, but it is a higher average. CFAI last put out their income survey in 2007, and I think that everyone is waiting for an update.
2) You don’t need a graduate degree at all to pursue the CFA. To become a charterholder, all you need is a 4-year degree.
3) No.

NakedPuts

Bad idea to ask for illegal stuff on a public forum. One of the first things that happens as a CFA candidate is that you become bound by the CFA’s code of ethics. In theory, if it is discovered that you are soliciting illegal materials, you could have your charter revoked or your candidacy terminated. Maybe you won’t get caught, but we could suffer the same fate for helping you on that.
Here in the US, CPA+CFA is a good combination for early and mid career positions, but it’s not usually enough on its own to break in to the industry if you are no already here.

Zestt

Ok, I wasn’t thinking accounting was the target, but yeah, if you want to do accounting, there is a need for lots of accountants, and a CPA can help you break in there.
I just meant as an investment or valuation analyst, CPA+CFA is good to have and puts you in front of others who don’t have it, but experience (I.e. already being in the industry in a similar role) seems to trump things much of the time.

cfalevel2011

1) taking both an accounting certificate (CA) and finance certificate (CFA) means that you don’t know what you want to do and focus more on studying instead of job hunting and work experience. I think BOTH certifications are useful (i.e. CA for accounting jobs and CFA for many finance jobs).
2) I don’t remember sorry; check the website: cfainstitute.org
3) GOOGLE.