CFA vs phd in terms of difficulty? difficulty, example, terms, guess

trogulj

Just curious any charterholder has a phd? How do you rank the difficulty of completing a CFA with phd?
For example, for me, I guess completing CFA is twice as hard as completing my undegrad degree

Unforseen

MBAs are better for finding a job. CFAs are better for keeping it.

bdavi77962

Just cause its useless for investing doesn’t mean its useless in life…..and I was being a bit harsh, its not “useless”, just not very useful for my style…i’m sure there are tons of ppl out there that have applied academic theories and done well in investing….but I can’t name any except those guys at LTCM….
academia teaches you how to think and how to interpret the world around you…it sets a framework for you to build on….its unfortunate though that lots of PHDs don’t ever end up doing that…they just end up being nerds….

Zestt

I think he means that only academic masters’ have any weight, because only academic study is real study. The rest is just “networking,” which “everyone” knows doesn’t have any value.
Of course, he also points out that academic knowledge is useless for investing.
So, putting those two together, clearly, a masters degree only has value if it is, in fact, valueless. At least for investing.
Please pass the joint. I want summa dat. v=.~

Zesty

most ppl i know think the CFA is pretty basic…..MBA is different from a MA academic fields…

DoubleDip

yes, and its become a CFA > MBA argument again.
The question was something along the lines of, “How does the workload of PHD compare to a CFA Charter.”

busterbluth

Yeah, I still strongly disagree with people saying MBA’s, MA’s, etc are more prestigious than a CFA charter. Unless you have a top tier MBA from Harvard, Wharton or the like, the CFA will get you more attention hands down. I live in the Northeast U.S., and everyone and their brother has a Master’s degree here. There is no differentiation, it’s the standard. A CFA is not standard, although the charter is now becoming a focus of many people since just the MBA or equivalent doesn’t stand out anymore.

Windjammer

They’re also different career paths. PhDs generally lead to academia, government jobs, or quant funds. If you want to wind up in one of those fields, more power to you.

bcp901

top 3 in Canada which isn’t “elite” compared to your MITs, Harvards, etc……however, grad work is grad work (advanced macro, econometrics and micro should not be terrible different, however i did hear U of Chicago is a step ahead of everybody) ….

Iginla2011

Frankarabia, did u do ur ms in a ultra elite school? Maybe that explains for the toughness?