Colum

Studying for CFA exam is definitely a big sacrifice of own time. If you like all around corporate finance, investments etc., it may even be interesting for you to go through all the study materials and prepare for the exam. However, I would not recommend to do the exam just for the sake of title or increasing job opportunities.

Getting a decent job is more often a matter of one's personality (the latter is in my opinion not primarily being developed by preparing for the exam). I don't agree with the statement that you can lose max. 1000 $ --> you may also use a substantial amount of time that you would otherwise put into something else.

On the other hand, preparation for the exam requires a lot of discipline and committment. If you are normally lacking this, enrolling for the CFA programme may be a good option. To sum up, my opinion is that what you learn in the programme is for sure useful, however you should weigh whether the ratio 'Expected benefits / Invested time' is favourable in your case.