Life studying for the CFA exams

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Enlighten_me

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Hi. If you guys dont mind, I would like to know about your interesting lives. I am asking this because I am wondering how you guys(working 70 hours a week or even more) are still alive after so much.
Please mention what state your working in, relationship status, working hours in a week, working days, duration for eating meals, sleeping duration(assuming you guys still sleep), study hours for weekdays and weekends, and travel time from and to work(i am assuming they are different because of traffic).
 
I only work about 40-50 in my BO job. So im out of the door at 8 home by 630, eat, study for an hour or two (its only sept)
Last year was tougher as my gf always wanted to do stuff, she started grad school this year so she is studying all the time which works for me. In NYC and my commute is only like 30m so its not too bad, get to study notecards on the subway. I usually try to get like 6-7hrs of sleep a night.
Ill keep this light schedule until January, hopefully knock out some of the smaller topics. Once Jan hits, ill be kicking it up to 3-4hrs a weeknight and 10-12 total on the weekends. I can only imagine the time issues for people with extremely demanding jobs.
 
I did all 3 exams while working 65-75 hr weeks. it’s about a lot of sacrifice, determination, and a little good fortune.
 
Yayyywork wrote:
I only work about 40-50 in my BO job. So im out of the door at 8 home by 630, eat, study for an hour or two (its only sept)
Last year was tougher as my gf always wanted to do stuff, she started grad school this year so she is studying all the time which works for me. In NYC and my commute is only like 30m so its not too bad, get to study notecards on the subway. I usually try to get like 6-7hrs of sleep a night.
Ill keep this light schedule until January, hopefully knock out some of the smaller topics. Once Jan hits, ill be kicking it up to 3-4hrs a weeknight and 10-12 total on the weekends. I can only imagine the time issues for people with extremely demanding jobs.
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What is BO?
Yes. I guess it isn’t tough yet for you since its still sept (- no offense). 6-7 hours is still pretty decent. Good for you.
Just wondering? Do you have any idea how many hours equity research spend on working a week?
 
itera wrote:
I did all 3 exams while working 65-75 hr weeks. it’s about a lot of sacrifice, determination, and a little good fortune.
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Wow. Congratulations on finishing the all the exams while working that much. Does that mean you started studying early (1-2 hours) for all three exams like september too? You probably also had other activities and maybe chores. I understand that it was a lot of sacrifice(like what you said), but can you explain how your typical day was like when you were studying for the CFA.
If you don’t mind, what was your job while taking the test? I am aiming to get a job as an equity analyst. Do you have any idea how much they work in a week?
 
S2000magician wrote:
Enlighten_me wrote:What is BO?
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It’s the O in B of the FO.
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Sorry I still dont get it. What does that mean?
By the way, thanks a lot for the help a few months back. I passed CFA level 1 and you were a big help. If you don’t mind, you want to share your CFA story? (Just looking for motivation or may be inspiration or I guess preparation for when I start sleeping five hours for consecutive days because of studying for the next exam.)
 
Enlighten_me wrote:
itera wrote:
I did all 3 exams while working 65-75 hr weeks. it’s about a lot of sacrifice, determination, and a little good fortune.
Click to expand...
Wow. Congratulations on finishing the all the exams while working that much. Does that mean you started studying early (1-2 hours) for all three exams like september too? You probably also had other activities and maybe chores. I understand that it was a lot of sacrifice(like what you said), but can you explain how your typical day was like when you were studying for the CFA.
If you don’t mind, what was your job while taking the test? I am aiming to get a job as an equity analyst. Do you have any idea how much they work in a week?
Click to expand...
research analyst. working 7am - 9 pm. get home around 10pm, study until midnight or 1am. sleep. then repeat.
yes it was awful.
 
In my opinion it is sad that once you are in the CFA program you have to put in calendar all the business obligations, study sessions and private stuff. Otherwise none will realize. I really think that work-life balance is important. If you don’t find time for private stuff it looks like you don’t care. I had a girlfried (today wife) when I was L1 and L2 candidate. Today I am L3 candidate and she is supporting me in my pursuit for the certificate. However, this is a result of dialouge and mutual respect. I have a managerial position with many working hours and still have to put a lot of time in study but I always find time during weekend and during the working week to spend some quality time with my wife. Then I usualy disconnect and put all my focus on our relationship. I think that time management can help a lot and tools like TimePrep for iPhone are a true value here.
 
itera wrote:
Enlighten_me wrote:
itera wrote:
I did all 3 exams while working 65-75 hr weeks. it’s about a lot of sacrifice, determination, and a little good fortune.
Click to expand...
Wow. Congratulations on finishing the all the exams while working that much. Does that mean you started studying early (1-2 hours) for all three exams like september too? You probably also had other activities and maybe chores. I understand that it was a lot of sacrifice(like what you said), but can you explain how your typical day was like when you were studying for the CFA.
If you don’t mind, what was your job while taking the test? I am aiming to get a job as an equity analyst. Do you have any idea how much they work in a week?
Click to expand...
research analyst. working 7am - 9 pm. get home around 10pm, study until midnight or 1am. sleep. then repeat.
yes it was awful.
Click to expand...
That is awful. Anyway, I will try doing that to see how many days it will take for me to sleep that late consecutively until I give up. Thanks for sharing.
 
Wekko wrote:
In my opinion it is sad that once you are in the CFA program you have to put in calendar all the business obligations, study sessions and private stuff. Otherwise none will realize. I really think that work-life balance is important. If you don’t find time for private stuff it looks like you don’t care. I had a girlfried (today wife) when I was L1 and L2 candidate. Today I am L3 candidate and she is supporting me in my pursuit for the certificate. However, this is a result of dialouge and mutual respect. I have a managerial position with many working hours and still have to put a lot of time in study but I always find time during weekend and during the working week to spend some quality time with my wife. Then I usualy disconnect and put all my focus on our relationship. I think that time management can help a lot and tools like TimePrep for iPhone are a true value here.
Click to expand...
Work-life balance is exactly what I was aiming for when I made this post. I will try the timeprep. Thank you for sharing.
 
i studied after work for 2 hours and crushed it on weekends. I was very motivated for cfa unlike now with gmat.
 
I had it pretty good when I was studying. I was fortunate enough to be living with a supportive girlfirend when I was studying. It’s easier to spend quality time with your significant other when you live together. She was pretty understanding as she was, and still is, in a doctorate program.
I had a good amount of time to study. I usually worked 50-55 hour weeks and would study over lunch and after work (averaged 3 hours a day until April then upped it to 4-5 hours/day). I would put in 10-15 hours in over the weekends as well. My work is supportive of CFA so that helped.
I lived 4 blocks from work and this was a nice advantage. Would usually sleep 6-7 hours a night.
Hardest part was having to say no to doing some fun things especially as the weather got nicer in April and May. But you just have to prioritize. Friends and family were understanding. No one really wants to study on Memorial day but they could recognize that it was important if I had to skip out on the festivities for 3 years.
 
Itera, was your Analyst flexible in allowing you some extra time to study if the day wasn’t too busy?
 
Goldy7 wrote:Itera, was your Analyst flexible in allowing you some extra time to study if the day wasn’t too busy?
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Unfortunately in research, it’s technically always busy, because a lot of the work is self generated (or boss generated I should say). Unlike bankers who actually can find themselves bored at their desks with nothing to do for 3-4 hours at a time.
in research, it’s very highly boss dependent. I’ve met seniors who totally respected CFA exams and gave their underlyings time by letting them go home early, cutting back on work, etc.
Personally, mine didn’t give a crap about the CFA (I suspect he was bitter bec he failed L2 twice and gave up in defeat), so he never gave me any extra off time, or lighter work load. I had to suffer through it
 
infinitybenzo wrote:
i studied after work for 2 hours and crushed it on weekends. I was very motivated for cfa unlike now with gmat.
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It seems like everyone does 2-3 hours on weekdays and do more than that on weekends. How does gmat compare with any level of the cfa?
 
Larry Bird wrote:
I had it pretty good when I was studying. I was fortunate enough to be living with a supportive girlfirend when I was studying. It’s easier to spend quality time with your significant other when you live together. She was pretty understanding as she was, and still is, in a doctorate program.
I had a good amount of time to study. I usually worked 50-55 hour weeks and would study over lunch and after work (averaged 3 hours a day until April then upped it to 4-5 hours/day). I would put in 10-15 hours in over the weekends as well. My work is supportive of CFA so that helped.
I lived 4 blocks from work and this was a nice advantage. Would usually sleep 6-7 hours a night.
Hardest part was having to say no to doing some fun things especially as the weather got nicer in April and May. But you just have to prioritize. Friends and family were understanding. No one really wants to study on Memorial day but they could recognize that it was important if I had to skip out on the festivities for 3 years.
Click to expand...
You have the ideal CFA experience. Understanding employer and family + 6-7 hours of sleep. Awesome.
 
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