As a finance professional, you may be curious about the best ways to grow your career. With so many different career options, it can be hard to find a viable path. One of the best things you can do to boost your career is earn your CFA certification.
Earning your certification requires time, money, and quite a bit of patience. Once you are certified though, you will open yourself up to plenty of opportunities to grow or change your career completely.
Keep on reading to learn why finance professionals should consider getting their CFA certification!
What is a CFA certification?
A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification is earned after completing a rigorous examination that tests your knowledge of investment and economics. Earning your CFA can be extremely beneficial to your career, but because the test is so long and complicated, many busy finance professionals shy away from becoming certified.
If you feel that you have too much on your plate to worry about studying for the exam, enrolling in a top rated CFA prep course is a great way to alleviate some stress. Many finance professionals enroll in CFA prep courses to help them prepare for the exam. Prep courses offer practice examinations, guided study material, and sample questions to give you the greatest chance of passing the real exam on your first attempt.
Why should you earn your CFA certification?
Earning your CFA demonstrates your understanding of finance and will earn you plenty of recognition while applying to high-profile jobs in the future. Becoming a CFA is one of the best things you can do for your career as a successful finance professional.
It’s actually fairly affordable
Even though it takes hours of preparation and practice, earning your CFA certification is actually fairly inexpensive. Considering all the benefits that come with earning your CFA, you will definitely see a good return on your investment.
Since the CFA is so affordable, many finance professionals consider it to be a sort of alternative to an MBA. The CFA is much more specialized than an MBA, though, meaning that you will develop a very specific, highly sought-after skillset that will help you earn more money in the future of your career.
It will give you more career opportunities
Since the CFA provides so much specialized information, you will have access to a lot of niche career opportunities in the future. Many CFAs go on to become high-level executives or pursue careers in portfolio management, research, financial consultation, risk analysis, or investment strategy.
The wide range of career paths you have ahead of you means that you will always be able to find high-quality, stable employment with a successful financial firm. The most popular investment management sectors include asset management, private wealth management, commercial banking, investment banking, and insurance, but you can find employment in nearly any niche you can imagine!
You will get real-world experience
One of the best parts about becoming a CFA is the real-world experience and knowledge you will gain in the process. The information you get while earning your CFA is highly specialized, meaning that you will develop an extremely specific skillset. This skillset can help you land high-level jobs in the future that were previously off-limits.
The experience you get will also help make you a much more valuable employee to your company. With your CFA experience, you will be much more likely to receive internal promotions to executive positions or pay raises that can help make you a more successful financial professional.
You will have access to a network of other financial professionals
A big perk of earning your CFA is the access you will gain to a massive, global network of other finance professionals with CFAs. Building a network of other professionals in your field will allow you to earn more money in the future, and possibly even help you secure executive positions later on in your career.
The CFA network is all over the world. Present in more than 70 of the world’s largest cities, you will be able to find another financial professional no matter where you are in the world; where there are financial professionals, there are more opportunities for CFAs to find stable employment with a high salary and good benefits.
You will get ahead of the curve
The number of CFAs is massively increasing every year, so get ahead of the curve and become a CFA before the job market becomes oversaturated with underemployed investment professionals. Earning your CFA now will allow you to take advantage of the already massive CFA network to quickly secure a high-profile investment career.
If you wait too long to take the exam to earn your CFA, you might have difficulty later finding a place to put your certification to use. You do not want all of your time and energy spent earning your CFA to go to waste, so commit to a program as soon as possible to secure a career path in finance.
You can earn a higher salary than people without a CFA
One final advantage to earning your CFA is the increased salary you will see when compared to other finance professionals. On average, CFA-holders report earning $60,000 more per year than non-holders. This means that your CFA certification will be more than paid for in just one year after you complete the certification exam!
People with CFAs are likely to earn so much more money because of the types of companies that employ CFAs. The world’s biggest and best companies all include CFAs in their staff, and you can be sure those CFAs will all enjoy a nice salary and strong benefits to go along with it.
Conclusion
Becoming a CFA is one of the best moves you can make as a financial professional. Not only will you become an expert at investment and finance, but you also will open yourself up to hundreds of career opportunities with excellent benefits and salaries. As a CFA, you can also expect to have connections all across the globe that can help you develop your career even further.
