Credentials & Imposters
I got this email today…
I spent about £5k, three years and well over 1,000 combined hours studying for the CFA exams.
Having passed all three levels, I used the CFA designation after my name for a few years, paying roughly $300/year for the privilege. And now I’ve stopped.
I wanted to pursue the CFA designation for two reasons.
The “outer” aka “public” reason was that I was intellectually curious and wanted a firmer foundation on the theories of finance across asset classes.
The “inner” aka “real” reason was that I had imposter syndrome working in an investment role having never done investment banking. I thought adding some letters after my name would make me fit in more, or at least feel less uneasy.
In truth, I’ve forgotten 90% of what I learnt because it isn’t relevant to me and never will be, beyond a moderate head start in certain chats you get stuck in when you move in the world of finance.
The real value is proved (to myself) I can work really fucking hard on something and succeed. That’s worth more than a few letters after my name - and much cheaper too.