5 Reasons to Become a CFA^® Charterholder

By: Kaplan Schweser

December 31, 2024

If you’re interested in a finance career, odds are you are considering the alphabet soup of financial certifications. If you’re looking for a cost-effective certification that will give you global recognition and a deep understanding of finance, you should consider the Chartered Financial Analyst^® (CFA) designation.

Preparing for the exams can be a rigorous and demanding process, for good reason. The CFA charter is one of the highest distinctions you can earn in the investment management profession. If you’ve considered advancing your career by adding those three letters to your business card, we’ve outlined five good reasons you should enroll in the CFA Program and take the first step toward becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst.

5 Benefits of Earning the CFA^® Charter

Better Job Prospects for CFA Charterholders
The CFA Charter is Affordable
Career Advancement Opportunities
The CFA Charter is Globally Recognized
Applicable Real World Expertise

Reason 1: Better Job Prospects

While nothing on your resume guarantees you a job (even the CFA charter), the charter will boost your finance credentials. People in the industry know the time and discipline it requires to become a CFA charterholder. Earning the charter demonstrates your work ethic, analytical abilities, and ethical grounding to employers.

The CFA charter is not the golden ticket to landing your dream job; however, it will give you deep knowledge in the areas of investment analysis, asset management, and ethics. It will also speak volumes to your credentials and work performance. Firms that focus on the “buy side” (investing institutions like mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance firms that buy large portions of securities for money-management purposes) prefer CFA charterholders to MBAs. And that’s powerful motivation to ask how to become a CFA.

According to CFA Institute, the top ten employers of Chartered Financial Analysts are:

JP Morgan Chase
PricewaterhouseCoopers
HSBC
Bank of America
Merrill Lynch
UBS
Ernst & Young
RBC
Citigroup
Morgan Stanley
Wells Fargo

Considering the CFA charter? Before you choose your CFA exam date, download this free, Before You Decide to Sit for the CFA Exam, eBook.

Reason 2: The CFA Charter is Affordable

While an MBA can cost over $100,000, the CFA charter only costs between $3,090 and $12,000, depending on when you register, what study materials you buy, and how many exams you end up taking. For a professional qualification, that is quite a bargain. You also don’t have to quit your job, unlike in some full-time MBA programs. While hectic, it is manageable to study for the CFA exam while you work.

How Much Will the CFA Program Cost Me? >>

Reason 3: Career Advancement Opportunities

Completing the CFA Program allows you to become a CFA Institute member, which is a global network of over 135,000 investment professionals. That’s a pretty impressive club to join for the networking opportunities alone. The charter prepares you well for a variety of investment-related jobs, such as portfolio manager, risk manager, and research analyst. Seven percent of CFA charterholders even go on to be chief-level executives.

Finance professionals who are active CFA charterholders can be rewarded with significant earning benefits such as:

Performance-based bonuses
Access to high-net-worth clients
Consulting and advisory roles
Opportunities in alternative investments
Entrepreneurial pursuits

Respondents in a recent Kaplan Schweser CFA Program Survey believe pursuing the charter improved their career competency and skill sets:

68% feel that they’re capable of handling more challenging projects
61% feel like they perform their job better
56% feel like the quality of their work has improved

Secondly, pursuing the charter helps them deliver greater value in their role:

79% of candidates and charterholders say that the CFA curriculum is valuable in their career
70% feel more valuable to their employer
67% state that they regularly apply the concepts learned through the CFA Program in their role

And those positive sentiments only improve as candidates move through their CFA journey to completion. We found that CFA charterholders were more likely to see their pursuit of the charter as contributing to improved competency and feeling valuable in their roles compared to those earlier in their journeys.

Join Kaplan Schweser’s Expert CFA Instructors for a Series of Free Webinars Discussing the Career Benefits of the CFA Program

Reason 4: The CFA Charter is Globally Recognized

As we said, CFA Institute has a global network of over 135,000 investment professionals. The CFA charter is recognized by regulators, universities, and certification programs in at least 30 countries and territories. You’ll gain unmatched career resources and relationships, as well as access to jobs around the world that require a CFA charter or candidacy.

Reason 5: Real-World Expertise

A CFA charter is considered niche in the larger business world compared to the MBA, which addresses a broad array of topics with less depth. Getting your CFA charter allows you to gain analytical skills and expertise in quantitative methods, economics, financial reporting, investment analysis, and portfolio management. This set of skills and knowledge you will develop as you become a CFA charterholder will serve you well throughout your career.

When you study for a CFA exam, you'll gain some significant knowledge benefits such as: