I would say that in many cases, the CFA is better. Look through job listings for roles you might be interested in and see what they require.
Cfa is a waste of time unless you are already in the industry. Then it will help you move up or at least keep you inline wit your peers. No one will hire you with a cfa. A cfa is basically the first three finance courses in an mba.
Wow that's interesting to know. Our company heavily promotes the cfa, and we are allowed paid study days, etc... I always thought it was more respected but like you say, i've already been in the finance field for several years and am looking to make a bit of a change. Good to know for people starting out. Thanks for the replies both you and Bob.
And here's me dreaming about becoming a corporate pilot if I in some way could be able to finance it with my trading. The tough job market (already back then) and stories of guys with huge amounts of debt driving a taxi and living on their girlfriends is mostly what stopped me from taking the leap. Age: I'm fairly sure that for certain career paths and companies, you're simply too old. That's just how it is and it's something even I have been thinking of as I'm taking my own education at an older age. Job satisfaction: Most people I talk to seem to loathe their jobs. Lol. Especially if you find yourself being ambitious, trying to climb the ladder and work 80 hour weeks.
For someone wanting to make the full time transition into trading, a background in aviation is almost perfect. With your type of work, my understanding is that you get quite a few weeks off when not airbound, which gives you the time to build and develop a trading strategy without the pressure of earning an income. You're also used to keeping a clear head and understand the importance of being disciplined and keeping calm under pressure situations, attributes that will be required when and if you develop a profitable system. My advice - learn to program and don't take the finance courses. If you want take a course, start with a programming course, but you could equally learn to program in your own time. Take a look at the free online programming courses at Coursera:- https://www.coursera.org/ They also offer some finance courses if you still desire, although I doubt these would help you make money trading. It really depends on what your ultimate motivation is.
Your best bet is to network interally at your firm to get someone to hire you. You already meet a certain standard if you are in the firm. After that, its just about getting some hiring manager to take a chance on you. Ask them what they want to see in a candidate like yourself. I doubt it's a CFA.
This is great advice for the OP. I got somewhat lucky: while I was trading for a prop firm, I did the CFA and an MS in Statistics. Fast forward, now work for small asset management firm. But compliance? Huuuuuge opportunity. Maybe even investment reporting (cipm, though I'm not well versed). Also, I have a PPL with instrument rating and fly most weekends. Not to rub it in (note: I'm about to rub it in), but I have best of both worlds at this juncture.
Only on ET would someone advise a person switching to a finance career not to take any fiance courses! Let me explain how that sounds to a pilot. So, you want to be a pilot? I advise you not take any flying lessons or aerodynamics or meteorology classes. Spend some time on MS flight simulator until you feel comfortable, then just jump into a plane and start flying. If you want to take classes, I'd take some CFD classes so you can do a better job designing the airfoils on the plane you're going to design and build from scratch, then fly every day to earn your living. There's a saying in aviation that there's old pilots and there's bold pilots but not many old bold pilots. We tend to like to learn everything we can about a risky endeavor before jumping in, and remaining puposely ignorant of major aspects of your profession would be anathema to any professional pilot I've ever know. I will give a thumbs up for coursera and a number of other great MOOCs you can take for free from some of the best universities in the world.
At your stage of life, going back to school take too much of your time, and at the end, there is no guarantee that you will become a portfolio manager, market strategist, or a financial analyst. You might end up doing something you do not like. The best bet is to go try out at a proprietary trading firm. No studying required. All you need is be able to make money. If it doesn't work, you can either go back to a pilot job or take that as an opportunity to try something new. Just make sure you are financially stable and have the support of your family. PA
Maybe I should refine what I wrote...you shouldn't take any PAID finance courses. Don't spend tens of thousands on finance courses mid career where you learn about how efficient the markets are when you could be taking a more direct route to career as trader. I don't say don't read any books or educate yourself on Elite Trader about TRADING...that's something you can whilst you keep an income coming in as a pilot. Read voraciously whilst your sitting in the airport lounge and during breaks. But FINANCE in general...that's an extremely inefficient route for someone looking to transition into trading mid life. Learn about the mechanics of the futures markets reading one of Hull or Schwager's books, but learning in depth about Black-Scholes option pricing is a bit pointless if you end up day trading futures and never trade options. There's a lot of option theory on these finance courses. There are finance Professors with twenty years experience who never made a dime in the markets, and never will. One of the smartest mathematicians I met (far smarter than me) told me in person he believed it was "impossible" to make money from high frequency trading. So that's why I ask what is the real motivation? Is it fill the intellectual void due to years of boredom in aviation? It is to work in an investment bank or hedge fund? Or is it to make consistent money working trading from home in your boxer shorts using an approach you developed yourself? BTW (and not to boast) I have three degrees from three different universities, so I clearly believe in education, and I took my fair share of finance courses over the years. They were useful in terms of initially securing employment in the industry in my early 20s. But in terms of earning a living from trading since 2008 (sole source of income), none of my success was been due to anything I learned at university. My main method is a little niche that I found by myself. I have plenty of room for improvement as a trader but I'm pretty sure more courses on Efficient Market Hypothesis and the Capital Asset Pricing Model wouldn't be the answer. Out of all the traders on this forum who I believe have a better batting average than me... I don't believe any attributed their success to taking a course in finance. None of them will teach you to trade, you just learn to bullshit a bit better about what you do.