CIMA?

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JeffAtl

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So I have the CFA and Series 7. I have never been in a true analyst role. I skipped that in route to becoming a portfolio manager. Now I’m unemployed and very concerned that my skillset isn’t strong enough, specifically, spreadsheet and sales skills. I need to overcome this or my career will not recover. So my question is, should I go after the CIMA, and if so, is there a way to get a grant to do it? I’m really at a loss after 18 years in this field and not being successful.
 
I’m curious what securities were you managing? Was performance really bad? Did the market changed and skillset change so much that you couldn’t keep up?
I notice alot of people in PM working as product specialist and sales jobs after. Also noticed actual portfolio management experience is highly valued in investment consulting.
 
If you’re already a charterholder I don’t see how pursuing a CIMA helps … incremental at best IMO … and not of help in the areas of weakness you identified that you think you need to fix. If you’ve survived 18 years in this field, you’ve already proven yourself a success. Hang in there, bro.
 
Bipolarboy, no, performance didn’t suck, and I’ve kept up with the market. I usually had a dedicated research team and I built the portfolios and managed the trading. However, now its all about sales, and for the jobs that don’t have sales responsibilities, you better be an Excel expert. Well, I know basic Excel, but don’t know how to do regression analysis or VLookups, etc. So where does that leave me? Maybe I can get into the Trust area of a bank, but they now have aggressive sales goals in addition to managing portfolios. I can’t apply for an analyst position because of what I’ve already said. I could be a back office operations guy or trader, but there’s no money in it and it would be a waste of my CFA. So now what?
Another option is going to a school like Creighton and getting a Masters in Portfolio Management and Analysis. But that just follows the CFA curriculum and is very expensive.
What am I missing here? What are my options? I’ve looked at institutional consulting, for example, but no clue how to break in.
 
JeffAtl Wrote:
——————————————————-
> should I go after the CIMA, and if so, is there a
> way to get a grant to do it?
…
> Another option is going to a school like Creighton
> and getting a Masters in Portfolio Management and
…
I really doubt that the CIMA or a master’s from Creighton would help you out.
You already have the most prestigious designation in investment management. Adding a second (and far-less-recognized) designation like CIMA or a Creighton degree is unlikely to provide you with any benefit.
(In fact, outside of AnalystForum, I think you’ll encounter very few people that have ever heard of either CIMA or Creighton.)
 
The only folks I see walking around with the CIMA designation are product wholesalers (MFs, SMAs, etc…) I’m not sure how much it would help you seeing how it’s mostly a “watered down CFA” (Those words come from a CIMA buddy of mine). I don’t know how a CIMA would improve your sales skills?
 
what kinda of portfolios were you managing? balance stock/fixed income?
i wouldn’t get a master or mba at this point, you have way too much experience.
can always be a client service/sales guy at a shop (nothing wrong with that), if your interested in investment consulting shoot me an email, bipolarboyboston @ gmail.com
 
Wendy Wrote:
——————————————————-
> JeffAtl Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> (In fact, outside of AnalystForum, I think you’ll
> encounter very few people that have ever heard of
> either CIMA or Creighton.)
Your wrong on the Creighton front…Just saying
 
Don’t do CIMA.
I can’t see anyone viewing the Creighton program as giving you much more than the CFA (I have a ton of respect for the program and the faculty, but I’d say it’s pretty similar to the CFA material, granted with more depth - from my perspective). I certainly don’t think it has better national or global recognition than the CFA charter. It’s definitely better than CIMA IMO.
Dude, if you don’t know how to use vlookups and can’t teach yourself this skill, you might have bigger issues. Get some Excel books and brushup on your spreadheets, google ‘excel financial modeling’ and firming these things up will be better than CIMA/Creighton (my opinion again).
I’m guessing you’re not a ‘salesy’ type dude (based on your writing) - you might look for a product specialist type role, otherwise why can’t you get another PM role???
I think there are 2 questions:
1) Why can’t you get another PM role?
2) What do you want to do?
 
I would think that you would be better served by reading a few books on advanced spreadsheet modeling rather than doing more of the same thing which is miles below the intensity of the CFA. Here are a few examples:
http://www.amazon.com/Financial-Modeling-Simon-Benninga/dp/0262026287/re...
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft%C2%AE-Analysis-Business-Bpg-Other-ebook/...
I learned most of my excel skills through these books, on the Job, and in my MBA. I don’t think you’re going to acquire them in a watered down version of the CFA.
 
Let me get this straight:
You say you were a PM, you had your team of research people, and performance didn’t suck. Does that mean you made money? If you have a track record of making money, there is no reason why you can’t go out into the market and either pitch your strategy to an existing group and get backing, or raise money on your own and start your own small group.
If you can’t, then I think you’re lying to us about “performance not sucking.” I’ve been in PM long enough to know that people who make money have no problem getting backing.
 
CFA Jay Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Wendy Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> > In fact, outside of AnalystForum, I think
> > you’ll encounter very few people that have
> > ever heard of either CIMA or Creighton.
>
> Your wrong on the Creighton front…Just saying
Perhaps if you’re looking for a job in Omaha Nebraska, then a degree from Creighton might help you out.
Anywhere else in the world, 99% of potential employers will have never heard of Creighton.
 
Why not just put the time it would take to get the CIMA (or masters) into learning regression analysis and VLookups? You should be able to find college courses on both. I learned regression in a couple classes in undergrad.
 
ManMythLegend Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Let me get this straight:
>
> You say you were a PM, you had your team of
> research people, and performance didn’t suck.
> Does that mean you made money? If you have a
> track record of making money, there is no reason
> why you can’t go out into the market and either
> pitch your strategy to an existing group and get
> backing, or raise money on your own and start your
> own small group.
>
> If you can’t, then I think you’re lying to us
> about “performance not sucking.” I’ve been in PM
> long enough to know that people who make money
> have no problem getting backing.
OK, let me clarify sionce you don’t believe me. When you work for a bank managing money (I managed $350 million), they don’t break out your client performance from any other PMs. There was no such report that I could run in my area. Plus, they went from open architecture to models over time, so nobody could really deviate and do their own thing. After I left the bank, I made a series of bad choices going to work for small firms. I have no performance numbers from those firms. Then I was an analyst/trader, so was out of the day to day managing. Anyway, its been sort of a nightmare. I would love to start my own RIA, but I don’t have a clue how to raise the money. So back to square 1. I think the best I can hope for is to get in with another bank or go the consulting route IF I can break into it.
 
Jcole, I’m sure I can teach myself better Excel skills, I’ve just been lazy about it because I don’t really like Excel. But if I can get through the CFA program, I think I can do anything. There’s no learning issue here, just looking at the quickest and best way to tackle it. Of course, I have to get motvated as well. Might as well since I’m not working.
Palacio, great book suggestions. Thanks. I think I’ll get that first one you listed.
 
I’m totally confused on how you were a PM and have the CFA charter, and don’t know how to use the vlookup function on excel.
 
iteracom Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I’m totally confused on how you were a PM and have
> the CFA charter, and don’t know how to use the
> vlookup function on excel.
LOL, this is really funny!!
JeffAtl, you didn’t happen to work for US trust bank of American, did you? Anyway, DON’T WASTE your time on CIMA, it is competely useless after you already have CFA. We have a guy in our group who has a CIMA, he is constantly being looked down (by rest of the CFAs).
 
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