Too Old

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Atomic_Sheep

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I will be 30 this year, am I too old for CFA? Taking into consideration my career prospects?
 
I don’t know what your current job situation is, but I have had friends and colleagues receive their charter in their 40s. One guy I used to work with was 47 when he got the charter. It’s never too late.
One thing I’ve learned is that you always feel that 10 years ago is nothing in terms of time. In other words, when you are 30, you look back at 20 and think, “man, when I was 20, I thought 30 was old, but now that I’m 30, I realize how young I am.” Trust me, when you’re 40, you’ll feel the same about your age now at 30 and you’ll say, “I didn’t realize what a long time the 10 years was between 30 and 40, and how much time that really is to accomplish big things.” And so it will go until the end of your time, as conversations with people in their 50s, 60s and even 70s have revealed to me.
Today, with retirement ages uncertain and educated people living more vital lives for longer periods of time, I am actually planning on being productive well into at least my 80’s. Once you retire (and I mean truly retire, with no consulting, board memberships, etc. going on), you die. By that calculus, if you are 30, you could be still working another 40-50 years possibly…who knows. If you graduated from university 8 years ago, you’ve only been working for 8 out of 48-58 working years if you’re like me. So, no, in my analysis, you are very, very young still. Still plenty of time to do all the things you want to do in this industry and beyond.
 
at 30, your career prospects has much more to do with what experience you have than if you have the CFA or not.
You are too old to “break into” things like Investment banking, or equity research unless you have in depth industry experience (like if you were a doctor -> pharma research).
If you have been working in a corporate job processing TPS reports for 8 years, your odds of breaking into the highly desired finance jobs are very slim to none, with or without passing the CFA exams
 
While itera may be a realist, it all comes down to how much you want it. If your midset is that of a driven, educated and personable individual, age has nothing to do with it.
The only reason age comes to question imo is that the fresh-out-of-school peeps are more willing to sacrifice personal life for work, whereas the older you get, the harder the justification of that sacrifice becomes.
Just do it and don’t overthink it, but don’t expect it to be the one stop shop for getting the job you want. Network and keep learning and you’ll be fine
 
TheBigCheese wrote:
While itera may be a realist, it all comes down to how much you want it. If your midset is that of a driven, educated and personable individual, age has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...
So if my mindset is driven, educated and personable, I can still be a teenage heartthrob? my god, you are right. I’m quitting my job right now and taking singing lessons.
 
itera wrote:
TheBigCheese wrote:
While itera may be a realist, it all comes down to how much you want it. If your midset is that of a driven, educated and personable individual, age has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...
So if my mindset is driven, educated and personable, I can still be a teenage heartthrob? my god, you are right. I’m quitting my job right now and taking singing lessons.
Click to expand...
that’s a terrible comparison
 
itera wrote:
at 30, your career prospects has much more to do with what experience you have than if you have the CFA or not.
You are too old to “break into” things like Investment banking, or equity research unless you have in depth industry experience (like if you were a doctor -> pharma research).
If you have been working in a corporate job processing TPS reports for 8 years, your odds of breaking into the highly desired finance jobs are very slim to none, with or without passing the CFA exams
Click to expand...
For what it’s worth, I agree somewhat with this statement. I’m one of those who thought that I’d be in the corner office at Goldman Sach once I passed the exams, even though my degree was a BA in Spanish from a Bible university, and my experience consisted of being enlisted military and working in the call center.
That being said, having the charter will vault you into a higher-level job than you have now. Right now you may be processing TPS reports, but now you’ll get the attention of a valuation department at McGladrey, or maybe you can work as a junior-level analyst at a small firm. Granted–it’s not exactly a partner at KKR or Brown Brothers Harriman, but it’s a lot better than being a phone rep at Fidelity’s call center.
 
itera wrote:
TheBigCheese wrote:
While itera may be a realist, it all comes down to how much you want it. If your midset is that of a driven, educated and personable individual, age has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...
So if my mindset is driven, educated and personable, I can still be a teenage heartthrob? my god, you are right. I’m quitting my job right now and taking singing lessons.
Click to expand...
hahahahaha yeah, that’s exactly what im saying -__-
while age may have a lot to do with a lot of other things, taking an exam is not one of them
 
escape-from-alcatraz wrote:
itera wrote:
TheBigCheese wrote:
While itera may be a realist, it all comes down to how much you want it. If your midset is that of a driven, educated and personable individual, age has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...
So if my mindset is driven, educated and personable, I can still be a teenage heartthrob? my god, you are right. I’m quitting my job right now and taking singing lessons.
Click to expand...
that’s a terrible comparison
Click to expand...
actually it’s not at all.
When senior research analysts or bankers are looking to hire an entry level person, and a guy clearly in his 30s walks in (assuming he even makes it into the interview, bec his resume most likely would have been screened out already), there’s little chance he’s going to look appealing next to the super hungry younguns with no tie-downs, recently graduated from a top school, and will sacrifice anything for their early career.
I’ve hired dozens of entry front office finance folks.
All you have is an accounting background no?
 
itera wrote:
escape-from-alcatraz wrote:
itera wrote:
TheBigCheese wrote:
While itera may be a realist, it all comes down to how much you want it. If your midset is that of a driven, educated and personable individual, age has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...
So if my mindset is driven, educated and personable, I can still be a teenage heartthrob? my god, you are right. I’m quitting my job right now and taking singing lessons.
Click to expand...
that’s a terrible comparison
Click to expand...
actually it’s not at all.
When senior research analysts or bankers are looking to hire an entry level person, and a guy clearly in his 30s walks in (assuming he even makes it into the interview, bec his resume most likely would have been screened out already), there’s little chance he’s going to look appealing next to the super hungry younguns with no tie-downs, recently graduated from a top school, and will sacrifice anything for their early career.
I’ve hired dozens of entry front office finance folks.
All you have is an accounting background no?
Click to expand...
I have a background in both accounting and finance. If the OP has no background in finance at all, then it might be tricky, but still possible, and there are always smaller firms / lower profile roles to start. I mean this stuff isn’t rocket science, you can learn how to be a good analyst pretty quickly. I felt the learning curve tailing off before I even finished the CFA exams.
 
Based on the OP’s other posts, it may be too late for him just because it doesn’t seem like they know what they want.
I don’t think it’s the case with everyone. You can have a 30 year old that’s hungry with no tie-downs as well that will crush it in an entry-level role and move on . While not as likely, it’s not too far fetched either.
I agree with itera that the biggest downside to hiring older folks is their ability to sacrifice their personal lives for work, but that’s a personal choice and not one that can be answered on a forum.
 
never too old to study. Even If nothing material comes out of it, you have it in your head. You’ve learned the material and used your brain power. It is for you to keep and no one can touch it or take it. This is how I see it. My cousin got his MBA at 33 few years ago. Loves his new career and salary. Never too late man. Time will always go. Sooner the better.
 
escape-from-alcatraz wrote:
itera wrote:
escape-from-alcatraz wrote:
itera wrote:
TheBigCheese wrote:
While itera may be a realist, it all comes down to how much you want it. If your midset is that of a driven, educated and personable individual, age has nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...
So if my mindset is driven, educated and personable, I can still be a teenage heartthrob? my god, you are right. I’m quitting my job right now and taking singing lessons.
Click to expand...
that’s a terrible comparison
Click to expand...
actually it’s not at all.
When senior research analysts or bankers are looking to hire an entry level person, and a guy clearly in his 30s walks in (assuming he even makes it into the interview, bec his resume most likely would have been screened out already), there’s little chance he’s going to look appealing next to the super hungry younguns with no tie-downs, recently graduated from a top school, and will sacrifice anything for their early career.
I’ve hired dozens of entry front office finance folks.
All you have is an accounting background no?
Click to expand...
I have a background in both accounting and finance. If the OP has no background in finance at all, then it might be tricky, but still possible, and there are always smaller firms / lower profile roles to start. I mean this stuff isn’t rocket science, you can learn how to be a good analyst pretty quickly. I felt the learning curve tailing off before I even finished the CFA exams.
Click to expand...
You do? Huh. That’s not what you said in previous posts.
And OP already said he has no background in finance
 
Again there’s nothing wrong with learning at all. More knowledge > less knowledge even in accounting Jobs, or back office jobs, or Corp finance, etc
But if the goal is to land a big shot front office job, the odds are very very poor
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I’ve signed up so I’m going to do it!
 
Do it. 30 is the new 20 and whatever the effect on your career, there is never any harm in learning new stuff. It highlights your intellectual curiosity to any potential employer.
 
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