Hi, I'm new here and want to know a few things. management, investment, department, job

andytrader

A bit about myself - I'm a recent college graduate with a math degree and a minor in economics. 3 months ago I just started a job at a bank in the asset servicing department. I'm technically a business analyst so much of my work is behind the scenes and project related. The bank I work in does asset management, but isn't really an investment bank.

Also, I'm essentially an actuarial drop out, which means I passed the first two exams but had a miserable time on the MFE exam because it was incredibly difficult. Also, I wasn't 100% focused on becoming an actuary so that affected my motivation for sure. Needless to say, I don't think studying for 9-10 near impossible exams are worth my effort and frustration.

But the CFA - that sounds interesting. Like I said before, I work in asset servicing and a couple of co-workers have taken the first 1-2 levels and passed. I borrowed the first textbook from a co-worker (which has ethics and quant methods on it) and the CFA designation sounds like something I want to try. I doubt it will help me in my current position, but I do feel ambitious enough to complete another challenge in addition to my job. At the very least, I feel like you could learn a lot of useful stuff just from studying the material. Also, my commute is an 80 minute train ride each way so I gotta do something while I'm sitting on the train

So here are some questions:

1) If I just use the official CFAI level 1 textbooks, would that be enough to study?

2) What are the main advantages/disadvantages if one was to solely use the CFAI textbooks for their material?

3) Apparently, there are 6 volumes in the CFAI level 1 textbook set, where the first volume is nearly 600 pages. How do the other 5 texts compare in length?

4) In your opinion, which topics are most difficult? How about most tedious? Why?

5) Are CFA holders truly a dime a dozen? That's what my dad says, but I don't think that's the case. It's not like getting an MBA where you can just go to any school. If you can get through all the exams, is the end result worth it? Do you at least get an incredible grasp on the finance industry?

I think that's all I have for now. It's great a forum like this exists and if anyone wants to answer my questions, I will be very grateful!

Thanks!