Is it prudent to leave a job mid career to pursue CFA course overall, because, currently, experience, position

brk1yn

Hello,

I'm a Bachelor of Commerce & Accountancy (Honors) and currently working full-time with a MNC bank at a junior managerial position in India. I have overall experience of over 6 years various back office roles (Fund Administration, Portfolio Valuations, Fund Reconciliations, etc). My job requires me to spend around 10-13 hours in office around 5 days a week.

I have in the past 6 years come across a lot of opportunities where I was told that I was ineligible because I merely hold a Bachelor's degree & do not have a Professional Qualification. I want to take my career forward from here and after doing my research I have come to a conclusion that a CFA or ACCA could better my chances at securing a middle office position in a Hedge Fund/FOF firm in India or abroad.

I have been planning to prepare myself for higher studies however my current job role would not allow me to study over the weekdays. On weekdays I'm leave home at around 9am and return around 11pm. Finally I've decided to pursue further education.

Therefore I'm planning to sit for the CFA Level 1 exam this December. I also want to quit my job and enroll with a good coaching center. This way I will have enough time to prepare as I have been out of studies for about 6 years now.

Now I have a few concerns regarding this.

Q1> If quit my job now to pursue the CFA course for the next 1.5-2 years will it affect my career adversely due to discontinuity?

Q2> What are the real chances of me securing a much better job after completing this course than what I'm already doing?

Q3> As I would be out of job for about 1.5-2 years would I have to start my career from scratch again or how easy/difficult would it be to secure that dream job post completion of the CFA course?

My thanks and regards to all those who can share their advice/feedback/suggestions.

cityboy

many people here work 10 to 13 hours/day. Pursuing the CFA Charter is a major time commitment, but still very possible with a demanding job.

There are 24 hours in a day. If you work 13 hours, sleep 7 hours, do other things for 3 hours, you still have 1 hours to devote to CFA studying every weekday. Most people get the bulk of their studying done on the weekends due to their demanding job schedule.

If you spend 15 hours per week studying (10 hours over the weekend, and 5 hours during the week spread across 5 days which is just 1 hour per day), you could do the minimum amount of CFAI recommended studying in about 17 weeks. Since you have much more than 17 weeks until the December exam, you have plenty of time.

Time is not the issue. Its the motivation and drive to keep studying week after week. You really have to be willing to give up your social/family life if you want to do this, but just know that many before you have done it before. Also some people have gone through it while trying to raise a family.

bodhisattva

Don't quit your job; there is little payoff to the CFA - it is simply a personal goal

Dont make the mistake of assuming the CFA opens doors; it does not but may allow you to go further internally

Colum

At least you don't have an IT job and looking to "breaking into finance" by getting the CFA

cjs238

Don't quit your job! It will look horrendous on your resume and you will have little chance getting even back office jobs.

Almost all CFA candidates have busy schedules and they make time to study. If you tell a CFA charterholder that you quit just so you could study, you'll instantly lose her/his respect. These are professional designations that supplement your skills WHILE you are working.

Think hard when choosing between CFA and ACCA. ACCA is broad and offers many different ways to succeed, whereas CFA is very limited and if you are not in the field it's virtually useless regardless of how "prestigious" it is. Also, remember that these are just a small part of your overall professional profile.

svgleeson

Get up at 6am and study M-F before going to work at 9am.

Muddahudda

If you want to change jobs, need a degree and have financial resources to do that, just apply to a decent 1 or 2 year Master program. That's practically 100% guarantee that in 1 or 2 years you will be more employable than now with a higher degree you have now.
The probability you get CFA charter in 2 years is much lower. Besides, I think, CFA only makes sense if your company pays for the program and the annual member fee.

jarobi04

Don't quit. Start today.

eoin

Prudent ? No. Quitting one's job to become unemployed is never prudent.

Wrong ? No. What's wrong is to sit there being unhappy.

Relevance of your thread ? Not much. Many people here combine CFA with a full-time demanding career.


About the ACCA, some former colleagues were taking it.
From what I saw, it looked rather easy and is really a second- tier accounting qualification (below CA).
However, I believe in some jurisdictions it allows you to audit, while the CFA doesn't allow anything.

mp3bu

Stick with your job. You have enough time to study till Dec. You really don't 'need' classes.

Also: CFA > ACCA!