Owner: PhD MBA CFA - Top Credentials in Finance URL:http://phdmbacfa.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:54:38 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: I am a PhD student at the Top Tier University. I share the stories from The City of London (The World's Center for Investment Banking). I write about top credentials in Finance like MBA, PhD, CFA. Site statistics:Click here
And what about the CFA? 2007-08-05 05:56:00 [CFA vs. the rest of the world]The second deadline for the CFA Exam in December 2007 is approaching soon. If you want to enroll to this program you shall be fast. The exam fee will rise to 465 if you pay for it after 15th of August.The CFA Institute is advertising the CFA designation as the most prestigious designation in finance. Is it true? Yes. That is true. All other (strictly investment oriented - so excluding ACCA for example) certificates like PRMIA, FRM, ACI etc. are definitely less prestigious, and less popular. The CFA designation, however, does not give superior money earning power as some people think. In terms of money earning power some credentials seem to be much more interesting.In order to see which are most powerful credentials on the financial markets I conducted small research. I analysed the job offers on the efinancialcareers website. I was looking for the offers in which employers explicitly stated that they look for certain designations/certificates and educatio
Why they give more to PhDs? 2007-08-03 06:39:00 Lately, I had an interview in one of the investment banks in London for the position in the Fixed Income Research. The position was not an entry one as I had some experience with the stuff they were doing. I said that I was a Master's student at my university, as if I started working from September I would have only Master's degree (I need at least one more year to finish my PhD).The guy I was speaking with told me that although he thinks I deserve at least associate position (I had prior experience), he can offer me only a second year analyst. He told me that this is because they don't offer any entry level associate positions to Master's students. Only MBAs and PhDs are eligable. I told him that I am sure that after 1 or 2 more years I need to finish my PhD I will not be more clever then I am today. What is more, I will probably forget a lot from this what I learned in finance (as I am doing PhD in Economics and I had MSc in Finance before). He agreed with this, but told me that
When it is worth to get online MBA 2007-08-08 06:18:00 The number of online
MBA programs has exploded recently. Many established schools (but also new ones) offer online or distance MBA education. All programs differ considerably in the quality, length and prestige.Of course online or part-time MBA courses are considered to be less prestigious than well established full-time MBA courses. Chicago MBA will be by far more prestigious than any part-time MBA course, unless its part-time MBA of... the Chicago GSB. Yes, Chicago GSB has its part-time MBA program! And it's not written on your degree that it was earned part-time. It is absolutely the same degree as standard Chicago GSB degree.And what about other, less popular part-time or online MBA degrees? Is it really worth to pay bucks for any less popular online program?The answer is as always: it depends.If you are not working full-time, or you want to make a break in your work full-time is probably the best investment for you if you think about the managerial position in the future. Full-ti
PhD in Economics or PhD in Finance? 2007-08-11 06:53:00 If you are interested in finance and economics and you want to do a PhD you need to decide whether you want to have EconPhD or PhD in Finance. Many universities have both degrees in their offer. In this post I will write why, in my opinion, going for an EconPhD seems to be a wiser route then pursuing FinPhD, even if you want to work in finance after completing your PhD program.First, while doing a PhD in Economics
you can write you thesis on financial topics. Economics Department are usually so large that you can find many finance oriented professors in them. To give an example in Department of Economics at Harvard University you have Andrei Shleifer, Efraim Benmelech, John Y. Campbell, Jeremy C. Stein, who are very much finance oriented. There are many other examples of top finance profs in top economics departments, so even if you are doing your PhD in Economics Department, you can write PhD thesis which are finance oriented. On the other hand, finance departments are usually quite s
Best excuses... 2007-08-14 13:08:00 After writing all this serious stuff about job hunting and various degrees its time for something much lighter!On the efinancialcareers website I found quite interesting text. I think you may be interested as well :)"How can you disappear from your desk without broadcasting the fact that you're looking for a new job?With analyst bonuses about to be paid, now's the time when investment banks' greener employees are liable to nip out to have a few words with alternative employers. Bearing this in mind, The All Nighter is offering handy excuses for getting out of the office without revealing what precisely what you're up to. Here they are, distilled:• Dentist, doctor, home delivery (only good for one interview, hard to pull off twice – unless you're having root canal treatment).• Complain about back pains from sitting in front of your PC – out of paranoia about law suits, banks will first replace your chair, then (if you keep complaining) pay for chiropractic sessions which wi
Qualifications of Investment Banks' CEOs 2007-08-17 19:13:00 For sure there is no easy and universal way to the top positions in investment banks or similar institutions. Each success case is entirely different. What is more, most of us will never become a CEO or even a Managing Director (what a pity ;) ). Getting on the top of the financial world is not just a matter of qualifications and hard work. What counts most is the luck. Luck of being in the right place at the right time. I think, however, that it is still worth to study the qualifications of people, who currently rule the financial world. I collected all available data about education of the top managers in financial industry in the table below.First conclusion of this analysis is that qualifications of top managers differ a lot. We have guys, who completed MBAs at Harvard, but at the same time many of CEOs graduated just with BA degrees. This indicates that a degree is probably not the decisive factor for the success in the Investment Bank. Degree seems to be only entry level requirem Read more:Qualifications
Which degree/certificate for specific devision in Investment Bank? 2007-08-26 15:13:00 If you want to have successful career in the investment bank you have to carefully tailor your education to your goals. Some degree
s/certificates may be useful in certain division and completely useless in different ones. Below, I created a list of the certificates/degrees that are most useful in various IBank divisions. [You can find detailed information about various certificates under: examhub.org]. Of course the list is subjective - if you have suggestions please let me know.Investment Banking Division: MBA should be considered as a top choice for all who target this division. IBD is mainly about general business knowledge, and MBA is great for that. I've heard about some IBD people with CFA, as CFA is quite prestige designation, and you need prestige if you are willing to work in IBD.Sales: No specific degree or certificate is required. What counts most is your energy and ability to talk with people. MBA may be quite good for this division anyways (as MBA is about networking, and
CQF - Certificate in Quanitiative Finance 2007-09-06 14:37:00 CQF is a specialized certificate for all those who are interested in becoming Quants in Investment Bank. This certificate was launched by Paul Wilmott, who is considered by some as a guru in this field. The company that is organizing the exam and classes (which are integral part of the certification process and you cannot be awarded CQF designation without spending many weekends in the classroom) is 7City, which is also preparing students for CFA and other certificates.CQF designation is not very popular, but due to the fact that it is very focused it is quite prestigious in the quant environment. It has simply no competition. CFA or CAIA are by far more general and do not cover asset pricing (etc. Ito's Lemma, Interest Rate Models) deep enough to prepare a candidate to very technical field of quantitative finance. If you are thinking about becoming a Quant CQF certificate (or more broadly - a CQF Course of Studying) will prepare you to that role. You need to remember, however, that y Read more:Certificate
Sankaty Advisors vs DEShaw - MBA vs PhD Hedge Fund 2007-10-31 19:11:00 Recently, I had an nice opportunity to attend company presentations of Sankaty Advisors (which is part of famous Bain Capital) and DE Shaw. These two companies are considered to be best Hedge
Funds in their classes. Sankaty Advisors has very fundamental oriented investment strategy, whereas DE Shaw is considered to be purely quantitatively driven. Both companies generated superior returns in recent years.I am writing about these hedge funds just to show how different opportunities Hedge Fund industry offers. Comparison of the profiles of these two companies shows that there is place in HF industry for both business major students with MBAs or CFAs (Sankaty Advisors) and also for those who have scientific background like PhD (DEShaw).Sankaty Advisors invests in leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, distressed/stressed debt, mezzanine debt, structured products and selected equities. Sankaty Advisors puts great emphasis on fundamental analysis. They claim they always need to understand the b
Slowdown - a good time for education 2008-01-01 20:17:00 It seems it will take a while for the financial markets to get back to a healthy state. Currently, the banks have decreased their recruitment efforts significantly. It appears that getting IBank job may be a very difficult task at the moment. Probably this is good time now to go back to school. Doing additional certificate or degree, when the market is stagnant, may be an extremely good investment. Not only will you get a powerful credential when the market is back to healthy state again, but also you will NOT lose too many opportunities. The alternative cost of studying is now smaller than usual.The big question is, however, how long will the current crisis last. If it is short, you’d rather not start PhD program for example. You don’t want to be stuck preparing your dissertation when Read more:Slowdown
CFA or MBA (or both)? 2008-04-04 06:25:00 Number of readers of my blog ask me whether it is a good time now to start CFA or MBA degree. In this post I will discuss pros and cons of starting any degree program at the moment.As you know markets are stagnant now, there is informal hiring freeze and in fact short-term prospects are really bad. No one knows when markets will be back to previous state again. It maybe a year or even three. This timing is the biggest risk for your decision whether to move into further education or not.If the markets rebound quickly, its pretty save to start let say 1-year MBA. When you finish your degree you will be in a good position to get on board in major investment bank. On the other hand if you decide to quit your current job and start your MBA now and if the markets are stagnant when you graduate y
When the situation improves? 2008-06-17 09:19:00 I think that's the question a number of people is asking right now. The mood in Investment Banking is very poor, and that translates directly into lack of employment opportunities... The sad truth is: the banks are not hiring.In the worst situations are people, who quite recently invested in their education, and now are not able to find a job (example from Investment Banking Forum - please gives y
Which parts of the market are still alive? 2008-06-19 12:56:00 If you are brave you may still fight for the job even in this very bad environment. What you need to know at this stage is which parts of the markets are not dead. Surprisingly there are some areas which are still hiring and these are:- Risk management (FRM type of jobs)- Distressed debt (MBA) *- Equity underwriting (MBA)- Emerging markets IBD (MBA)Unfortunately the competition for these few spots
The world outside investment banking. 2008-06-27 12:02:00 This is a blog about careers in investmentbanking
, but nowadays, when investment banking is in crisis, you need to be aware that there is plethora of lucrative opportunities also outside finance industry. Not surprisingly, some of these opportunities are more life-friendly than any job in investment banking could be.Investment banking is very special industry. People are lured to it by above aver
Is the era of Quant Finance over? 2008-06-20 05:58:00 After recent losses suffered by Quantitative Hedge funds (like: Goldman Sachs Global Alpha and many others) some people wonder, if the era of quantitative finance is over. The quantitative funds are not considered to be money making perpetuum mobile any more. Number of people finally realized that it is impossible to make 20% profit every year without bearing any significant risk. This will now di
Banking in the dark... 2008-08-13 10:27:00 It the banking industry is still under the water and it seems that near future will not be better. Reading the Financial Report of UBS from Q2 2008 I came across a apparently gloomy forecast of the chairman and CEO of the company:Outlook: In the second half of the year we do not expect any improvement in current adverse economic and financial market trends. We will continue our program to reduce p
Recommend Site To A Friend
