CFA

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass)

Alone-Supermarket-98

Here is the mechanical/CFA explanation... When analysts go to value the market or a stock, they use some variation of a discounted cash flow model. One of the largest determining factors in the resulting valuations is what's known as terminal value, which is essentially the value of the ongoing business beyond the estimatable future (5-10 years out). One of the biggest determining factors of terminal values is the discount used to value this estimated residual in their calculation. That discount is based on US treasury interest rates, so as rates move up, that discount becomes larger, which lowers the terminal value, which lowers the overall valuation estimates by analysts. From a sentiment standpoint, higher rates are reflexively seen by investors as a constriction of the economy, which would be a harbinger of slower growth, which turns investors cautious. In reality, higher rates isnt necessarily a negative for growth, to a point. It can be a result of increasing demands for funds due to higher growth. Historicly, rising rates is somewhat neutral for markets unless they spike up dramaticly in a short period of time, or long rates move materially above 6% for an extended period.

InvincibleRoman

glad i never did that.  Only helps if you want to impress another CFA who has a hiring position in the company.

niaqr

Taking CFA l2 in 60 days so my brain can mute all the garbage here

tacobellbandit

Relevant username. When I’m not losing money on Robinhood I work field service and I’m OTR a lot. Sometimes 5hrs a day just to do a 30min job. Over the years I’ve become somewhat of a fast food connoisseur because I get a guaranteed salary it’s better for me to sit at home and collect a paycheck than spend time OTR or at a site. I’ve witnessed the decline in real time. At this point I get local takeout or stop somewhere that I find the food is worth the money and the convenience, which is basically just like CFA, Jimmy John’s, Firehouse Subs, or BK and BK honestly barely makes the list but sometimes a whopper just hits. That being said now it’s either one of those few restaurants but most days I just pack a lunch.

Important_Setting840

Finally? One of my most memorable experiences in Uni was watching my CFA and CFP certified instructor talking about how AMD was a worthless penny stock then a few minutes later talked about how he was bagholding something else that was floating around $8 but he expected it to drop down to $5 before recovering. I asked why he doesn't sell and re-enter at $5. I could smell the plastic burning from the hamster wheel spinning so fast. I almost threw half of my pathetic student portfolio into AMD that day lol Was a fantastic illustration to me of how no amount of education can dig you out of the behavioral finance hole and that self awareness and grounding is key.

yuiop300

My guy, most traders don’t have the CFA, that’s more for analysts and asset managers. The traders will have the series 7 and 57.

Sandvicheater

45 year old Schoolteacher who couldn't tell you the difference between Beta and p/e ratio just Dollar cost averages market index funds and outperforms both Wharton CFA, Wallstreebets degen and most of hedge funds out there.

Ahchuu

I'll be that guy... They likely are not a CFA. Instead it would be better to say they passed the SIE, Series 7, Series 57, and Series 63

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass)

Buddah_Chillz420

Congratulations on passing the CFA.

Late_Impression_7168

I have several CFA friends and we worked on it 📈

Splenda

There's a big difference between financial advisors available to the typical middle class person with almost no assets beyond their house and those who handle money for the wealthy. The latter tend to have much more education and experience, are more likely to be fiduciaries and to hold advanced certifications like CFP and CFA. The reason is simple enough: the way to make a good living as a responsible advisor is to serve large accounts.

SunMoonBrightSky

The gentleman in the video is: “Angelo \[Zino\] is a Senior Vice President at CFRA \[Research\] and leads up the Technology team at the firm. His responsibilities include conducting research and recommending equity investments across the Technology and Communications Services sectors, specializing in mega cap technology firms, semiconductors, and social media companies. In addition, Angelo has extensive knowledge covering disruptive trends tied to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital advertising, among other areas. Angelo was previously an Industry Analyst with S&P Global Market Intelligence and worked there from 2007 through 2016. Prior to S&P Global and CFRA in 2016, Angelo was Vice President and Portfolio Manager at North Fork Bank, investing accounts through the utilization of mutual funds. In addition to that role, he was an Analyst for the North Fork Bank Trust Department, recommending industrial stocks through fundamental analysis and technical analysis-driven models. Angelo holds an MBA in Finance from Hofstra University and is also a CFA charterholder.” Source: https://www.cfraresearch.com/authors/angelo-zino/

No_Release6810

This is exactly what happens when someone with very little financial knowledge gets lucky twice. He thinks he’s a trading genius. This stock is not in good shape. It’s an OTC Pharma with one major buyer. If that major buyer stops it’s over. Also we all know profits for the generics will even out soon. You have no clue what you’re talking about and I doubt u even have a degree or have written the CFA exams.

zonk84

Sure- FWIW? I'm neither a CFP or CFA (or CPA), but even if you're transitioning to "draw" over/sans "contribute"? And even if you think a crash is coming? I'd still advise against anything even close to 100% bonds. Like I said - no pro - but especially with a 401k? Even if you are on the cusp/are in retirement? 4% draws, even higher draws? Planning for RMDs? Whatever. It's natural and proper to shift from growth to stable value - but even the cliched/bog standard 4% (whatever) rule still expects a modicum of growth. By all means - capital protection to ensure your draws, but a sizeable chunk should still be in equities/index ETFs. Might make for some ugly periods (even years), but I'd just say you still a good chunk invested to ride out storms and ensure you drain too rapidly.

misterbluesky8

VOO and chill is a great strategy, and it’s probably perfect for almost everybody. I understand were in a bull market, so I’m not saying I’m George Soros here, but I’m up about 13-14% this year and beat the market modestly last year.  If I’m being as objective as possible, I’d say it’s a combination of the luck of a good market and the skill involved in picking good entry strikes and managing expiring contracts. (I also sell CSPs on a lot of other tickers.) For me, the small gains actually do pile up over time, but I also enjoy doing it. Definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone without some kind of options background (I got my CFA charter).

RiskBiscuit

I'm a professional bullshitter. Please see my current credentials below. Professional Experience: -Bozo's clown school -CFA Level 1 Passed in August 2025, currently a CFA Level 2 Candidate Education: -University of California, Santa Barbara Bachelor of Science in Physics and Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy -CFA Program - Level Candidate for May 2026 Exam

threatening_snapshot

that CFA path is basically a hazing ritual for finance nerds, let the guy suffer in peace

General-Bad5167

Umm which part exactly hahaha ? I just mentioned passing CFA so that people can put aleast abit more trust than they would into some random tiktok expert. All I mentioned in the post is if anyone would like I would be willing to provide information and valuations for free because I love providing information and insights for free. I learnt how to do valuations from work experience not CFA and if you wanted critique my output fine but just critiquing a post for the sake of it at what maybe 40 plus years of age seems childish.

Antifragile_Glass

Haha your post comes across as you think you’re some expert or something. I’m a CFA charterholder as well with 15 years of experience and I can promise you, you are not.

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass)

CommunicationNew9520

Wrong. Source: My CFA

Wbcn_1

I have a BS in economics, a MS in finance, am a CFA charter holder, work in banking and I won’t even fuck with options. 

vedant2822

This is very helpful, especially since you work in the industry. If you were in my position and wanted to learn enough to intelligently oversee my own wealth while outsourcing areas that genuinely require specialists, which curriculum would you prioritize: CFA, CFP, CPA, or some combination/subset of them?

DoubleIntroduction25

If we're talking about a family with the wealth level that is traditionally associated with a family office which is to say mid to high 10s of millions and up I'd be very cautious here. A traditional family office isnt just investment advice, it also includes deal sourcing/networking with PE/HF/FoF companies, legal advise, entity formation, tax management, etc often across more than one country and on behalf of multiple members of the family who may be in different life stages with different wealth levels. Besides the technical complexity involved in all that there's the personal relationship element, not all members of the family are going to want you to know all of their personal financial, legal, and tax information. If you are a member of the family yourself it's also hard to remain impartial and objective. That all being said it is always great to learn something new. I work in the industry and have more certifications than I know what to do with. Some of them I very rarely use, but I enjoy learning. If you're not planning to advise anyone outside of your family there's no reason for a formal program. Grab a used set of books from a CFP or CFA or CPA program and dive in. I'd recommend course books and not test prep books. Course books tend to be more focused on teaching the ideas.

MalignComedy

This would be a career spanning project, not a long weekend of study. The CFA will get you started. Assuming you keep it super simple with only ETFs, you need multi-year training in each of a dozen separate underlying asset classes, plus expertise in market microstructure and trading, portfolio construction and allocation strategy. If you will hold any private assets then you also need deep expertise in fund evaluation for each type you might invest in and the network in several different domains to even source those opportunities in the first place. If you will be investing directly in companies you’ll have to learn a tonne about corporate finance, corporate strategy, valuation, modelling, debt and equity markets, negotiations and contracts…there’s a good reason it takes a team of multiple experienced professionals to do it well. And despite all of that you cannot objectively manage the family wealth as a member of the family yourself. Disputes will happen, they always do, and you will be inherently biased. An objective third party would still be a better fit.

Cool_Ad_5101

A lot to unpack. Start with your investor policy statement    Return objectives: What financial return the investor needs to reach their goals (nominal or real, absolute or relative). Risk objectives: How much risk the client is able and willing to bear (ability is objective based on financial situation; willingness is subjective based on psychology). Time horizon: The length of time money will be invested, split into short-, medium-, or long-term stages. Tax concerns: The specific tax environment and bracket of the individual or institution. Liquidity requirements: The need for cash to cover near-term spending or unexpected emergencies. Legal and regulatory factors: Any laws, codes, or rules that restrict certain types of investments. Unique circumstances: Personal values, ethical choices, ESG preferences, or specific family/institutional restrictions. [ 1,  2,  3,  4 This is important and taken from the CFA program. Also, opportunity cost is real. What is your cannabis allocation? If it’s more than 15% that’s a problem. A 30% loss is easily recoverable over time through good financial decisions. Heck dividend payors could get you there easily 

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass)

haze_from_deadlock

CFA had some wonky chicken in the 2010s as well in my experience

GNLSD

CFA quality has divebombed since they relaxed standards on their chicken. I can eat around the edges of a sandwich but the middle seems to always bite like rubber.

malignantz

Everyone panicking needs to read this analysis from Karsten Jeske, Ph.D, CFA: [Building a Better CAPE Ratio - Early Retirement Now](https://earlyretirementnow.com/2022/10/05/building-a-better-cape-ratio/) >CAPE has been elevated for such a long time, people wonder if this measure is still relevant. In the comments section, people ask me all the time what kind of adjustments I would perform to “fix” the CAPE. Can we make the Shiller CAPE more comparable over time, to account for different corporate tax environments and stock buybacks and/or dividend payout ratios over the decades? Yes, I will present my ideas here today... So, what do I find? The adjustments certainly lower the CAPE, but don’t get your hopes too high. Even after the adjustments, the CAPE is still a bit elevated today! Let’s take a look at the details…

citygeek

Starbucks and CFA both do this by “forcing” customer to load money into the app in $25 increments

ManForSomeMarkets

Global inventories still at decent levels. Low, but not close to Currie’s “Tank Bottom” that I’ve seen paraded around. Having said that, you might be interested in futures calendar spreads if you are worried about inventory levels. Lastly, and this might be like trying to give CFA guides to crackheads, but I highly recommend the Virtual Barrels YouTube page. It’s run by a long time energy quant and cover a lot of interesting topics in the space.

Ahamadrayasbaboon

Or CFA

No-Comfortable9123

I suddenly feel way better about transferring into a CFA degree.

GTRari

Must be why CFA is straight booty in comparison.

Anxious_BookKeeperBe

Vine based market. Goes up +1% based off the promise of negotiations of our lunatic Prez. Goes down -1% based on the threats of our lunatic Prez. Goes up +2% because Meta decided to buy AI computing power from Open AI who decided to buy ram from the bum under the bridge. Goes down -1% because inflation is rising because of oil prices (see lunatic Prez above). Fuck reading a financial statement. Fuck profitability and cash flow. Fuck your CFA. Long live the vibes.

Comfortable_Rock4513

Sigh…yes shaa1034 I understand how it works. I have 3 degrees in finance & economics and am working on a CFA. I don’t need a lecture on a difference of opinion from some random redditor

danisanub

You can’t win here. I’ve gotten downvoted for saying RKLB was overvalued at $150 and explaining why, while I have 12 years of investment management experience and am a CFA & CAIA charter holder. The average redditor would rather downvote experts and go off their vibes. For what it’s worth I agree with you on AI. It’s been successfully rolled out at my firm and at my girlfriend’s hospital. It’s quite literally saved her over an hour a day on patient note write ups. It’s helped my company’s deal flow and investment evaluations. When I worked in VC we say the cost of startups decline about 90% due to efficiencies from AI. This will take time to roll out across the economy.

CharlesBeckford

Please read my extensive reply below. I’m 38 and a portfolio manager who manages £500m and a CFA charterholder. My personal portfolio return was 2000% last year and 350% YTD. My medium risk clients returned 15% last year and 12% YTD.

CharlesBeckford

1. ⁠Intelligence and labour as a resource. AI is the commoditisation of labour and intelligence itself. Previously we have had to pay a salary to a person for both and we have a limited pool of people that provide it. This turns both labour and intelligence which are significant economic variables into subscription based services that can be bought or sold as required - it is not dependent on a limited pool of capabilities, skill, expertise, or experience as with people. The global annual labour cost is $60trn and AI will not only take an increasing piece of this pie but also expand it as I mentioned with the ability to scale beyond what is physically available in human providers. 2. ⁠The rate of acceleration. The capability of AI models, use cases, hardware development and operation efficiencies leading to economic feasibility in marginal token cost decreases means not only that this is advancing at an absurd rate but that it will make it absurd to go back to doing it the old way when you can have a million strong digital labour force for the price of what was previously one salaried employee. You can see this in various figures not just the model benchmark improvements themselves but also the efficiency stats from new hardware developments which are both publicly and freely available. The number of job opportunities has decreased by 40% for entry level roles since 2022 which is when chat-gpt was released. 3. ⁠The rate of adoption. The majority of AI models are now touching 1 billion weekly active users, this is a phenomenal increase in a short space of time and if you compare it to the internet or smart phones it is the quickest adoption for a new technology in human history. This does mean that there are people being left behind who are not using or interacting with the technology in any meaningful way as others are using it constantly, or using it to its full potential and automating workflows or gaining access to skill sets that previously they would have to trained years for and expertise they would have to paid handsomely for. 4. ⁠The rate of earnings increase. The rate of adoption and earnings growth are the two components that caused the dot com crash as we can see the best companies of the last 20 years were the ones who dominated the internet it’s just it took time for the earnings and use cases to become socially integrated (think of people using Amazon, it didn’t happen over night). Samsung just had its Q2 revenue and in 3 months it made more profit than it had done in 40 years of business, its earnings increased 2000% which has never happened to a company that size which is highly indicative that something has changed not just for the general market but for that company and the demand for its products and services - memory has long been a cyclical industry but this shift suggests a structural paradigm shift. If you look at the P/E ratios of all the AI beneficiary companies they are trading at 10 year valuation lows due to how much the earnings has grown but the share price has remained the same - look at the P/E ratio for Google, Nvidia, Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron - they’re all the cheapest they’ve been in years and yet we’re talking about a bubble, it doesn’t take a CFA charterholder to tell you it can’t both be cheap and in a bubble. 5. ⁠Preoccupation with temporary macro-geopolitical events in the face of a multi-decade era transition. No one will be talking about the US Iran conflict in 10 years time in fact it is boring already, AI is the next Era and to not recognise the transition period we are in is a massive mistake. To use an old play-book when times are changing is a fatal error. 6. ⁠AI disruption. Many companies and industries have relied on being the only ones able to provide what they sell digitally - well that all changes with an agentic AI workforce that can build and code anything. Software itself becomes exposed as their business needs to compete with ever decreasing prices for ever increasing service levels and product services (Adobe, Salesforce, WPP, Chegg) and proprietary data or analytics that is at risk of being simulated in the abundance of availability it becomes worthless (Experian, Relx, Factset, MSCI) and the same for market aggregators (Auto trader, Bookings.com). 7. ⁠The psychological factor. Human’s are typically afraid of change as it means uncertainty and relearning what is safe or how to exist in a new environment. But There is no rule based on how much things can change at any one point in time and it is human nature to initially anchor yourself in the experience of your own life to base ideas of future potential out of comfort but that is pure fallacy. Just because it feels uncomfortable in the face of volatility or speed change reflected in share price movement or innovation or companies expenditure increasing it is all actually meaningless, a human feelings on the matter has no impact on what is possible or what is happening in front of them. The market doesn’t care if it feels uncomfortable or if you don’t understand it simply is what it is and you can either accept or be in denial. The truth always is revealed in time.

CharlesBeckford

1. Intelligence and labour as a resource. AI is the commoditisation of labour and intelligence itself. previously we have had to pay a salary to a person for both and we have a limited pool of people that provide it. This turns both labour and intelligence which are significant economic variables into subscription based services that can be bought or sold as required - it is not dependent on a limited pool of capabilities, skill, expertise, or experience as with people. The global annual labour cost is $60trn and AI will not only take an increasing piece of this pie but also expand it as I mentioned with the ability to scale beyond what is physically available in human providers. 2. The rate of acceleration. The capability of AI models, use cases, hardware development and operation efficiencies leading to economic feasibility in marginal token cost decreases means not only that this is advancing at an absurd rate but that it will make it absurd to go back to doing it the old way when you can have a million strong digital labour force for the price of what was previously one salaried employee. You can see this in various figures not just the model benchmark improvements themselves but also the efficiency stats from new hardware developments which are both publicly and freely available. The number of job opportunities has decreased by 40% for entry level roles since 2022 which is when chat-gpt was released. 3. The rate of adoption. The majority of AI models are now touching 1 billion weekly active users, this is a phenomenal increase in a short space of time and if you compare it to the interest or smart phones it is the quickest adoption for a new technology in human history. This does mean that there are people being left behind who are not using or interacting with the technology in any meaningful way as others are using it constantly, or using it to its full potential and automating workflows or gaining access to skill sets that previously they would have to trained years for and expertise they would have to paid handsomely for. 4. The rate of earnings increase. The rate of adoption and earnings growth are the two components that caused the dot com crash as we can see the best companies of the last 20 years were the ones who dominated the internet it’s just it took time for the earnings and use cases to become socially integrated (think of people using Amazon, it didn’t happen over night). Samsung just had its Q2 revenue and in 3 months it made more profit than it had done in 40 years of business, its earnings increased 2000% which has never happened to a company that size which is highly indicative that something has changed not just for the general market but for that company and the demand for its products and services - memory has long been a cyclical industry but this shift suggests a structural paradigm shift. If you look at the P/E ratios of all the AI beneficiary companies they are trading at 10 year valuation lows due to how much the earnings has grown but the share price has remained the same - look at the P/E ratio for Google, Nvidia, Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron - they’re all the cheapest they’ve been in years and yet we’re talking about a bubble, it doesn’t take a CFA charterholder to tell you it can’t both be cheap and in a bubble. 5. Preoccupation with temporary macro-geopolitical events in the face of a multi-decade era transition. No one will be talking about the US Iran conflict in 10 years time in fact it is boring already, AI is the next Era and to not recognise the transition period we are in is a massive mistake. To use an old play-book when times are changing is a fatal error. 6. AI disruption. Many companies and industries have relied on being the only ones able to provide what they sell digitally - well that all changes with an agentic AI workforce that can build and code anything. Software itself becomes exposed as their business needs to compete with ever decreasing prices for ever increasing service levels and product services (Adobe, Salesforce, WPP, Chegg) and proprietary data or analytics that is at risk of being simulated in the abundance of availability it becomes worthless (Experian, Relx, Factset, MSCI) and the same for market aggregators (Auto trader, Bookings.com). 7. The psychological factor. Human’s are typically afraid of change as it means uncertainty and relearning what is safe or how to exist in a new environment. But There is no rule based on how much things can change at any one point in time and it is human nature to initially anchor yourself in the experience of your own life to base ideas of future potential out of comfort but that is pure fallacy. Just because it feels uncomfortable in the face of volatility or speed change reflected in share price movement or innovation or companies expenditure increasing it is all actually meaningless, a human feelings on the matter has no impact on what is possible or what is happening in front of them. The market doesn’t care if it feels uncomfortable or if you don’t understand it simply is what it is and you can either accept or be in denial. The truth always is revealed in time.

misterbluesky8

u/Winter-Shopping1111, you probably don’t want to hear this, and nobody here does, but if you’re consistently losing money trading options, it’s not random luck. It’s because you’re buying lottery tickets and trading without an edge.  The vast majority of people on this sub would do well to put their money in SPY/VOO for the rest of their lives and never touch options.  I took classes on options in college and went through the CFA program, and it STILL took me years to become consistently profitable. Try this instead: save up and buy literally one share of SPY at a time until you have 100 shares. Then sell OTM covered calls against those shares. Use those premiums to fund whatever degenerate YOLO trades you want. That’s how I did it. This will make you a lot more money than what you’re doing. 

ApathysEdge

Its nice but I dont want to unnecessarily play up financial advisors. There are good ones and there are sleazy ones. I have my CFP license so thats my feather in the cap that says I'm going to be more than an index/stock picker/portfolio manager. Im hoping 2nd half of year slows down so I can evaluate CEPA and CFA on some type of timeline. To me those and CFP mean something. Not just passing your standard SIE, Series 7, and 66

nohandsfootball

Isn't that what a CFA is for?

Dozendeadoceans

As a self-certified quack CFA, the answer you seek is in the name of the company itself. questions to ask yourself is ‘how do people who own this stock feel right now’ and ‘will this stock ever go up’. Answer is sad and no. Put those words together and read backwards. Pretty simple when you have a CFA.

Zipski577

99% of CFAs I know suck at investing. I also work in investment research It’s a pretty useless practice and waste of time, and the amount of tedious dog shit they include and ask about in questions make it so charterholders don’t even remember the useful information it contains, let alone how to apply it in real life. I can stack up the 50 best books about investing and you could still be horrendous at investing. Investing isn’t physics… being a good investor/ trader is an “art” rather than a science. There isn’t laws to the universe about how prices must move to subsequently make money. Especially in modern equity markets, the best investors are able to combine a mix of psychological, fundamental, quantitative, and emotional analysis. U have to have an extreme passion/ obsession with markets (a lot of CFAs I know don’t miss a beat in leaving work as soon as they possibly can to not think about anything investment or finance related until the work day and don’t care about it outside of a means of making a salary). Every fund manager, strategy, and stock picker that I know (both professional + retail) that follows a CFA-style, fundamental high-quality approach has underperformed their benchmark/ the overall market most of the last 15 or so years. Gotta be able to understand, interpret, and adapt to modern market dynamics and the reasons why or why not “this time (might be) different”

LA-Aron

Here's what an analyst does...price goes up, raise price target. Price goes down, reduce price target. Please do not hang your hat on \*anything\* an analyst has to say. Smart people take the CFA and then forget how to use their brains. Lord only knows what's happening behind the scenes and what drives certain decisions. Thinking for yourself > analyst.

fire_alarmist

Its not about anyone believing them, its about the financial system not being set up for nation wide complete and total corruption from the highest level down. The fake numbers are all about manufacturing forced buyers. There are pension funds, CFA's , all kind of institutions that have rules they have to follow. "If this then buy" type shit. Mango is trying to defraud every single one of those rules by fudging the numbers exactly to the point where they have to buy and keep the scam going. When I say this is the most manufactured and fake rally of all time, it really will go down in the history books and never be beat. Its basically the leadership of the country taking the financial system and retirement accounts of the entire country and using it as a hostage while waging war against reality.

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass)

Little_MasterJI

Crowdsourcing restaurant recommendations is one thing. Crowdsourcing advice for a $1M portfolio is another. I’d consult a fiduciary financial advisor. Around here, the next comment could be from a CFA… or a high schooler who just bought their first share of NVDA.

Illustrious_Ad7630

Good start, I would say: The CFA curriculum provides basics in quantitative methods. The next step would be to choose a programming language. My suggestions would be Python or R. You can use Excel, but I wouldn't recommend it. If you're planning to go this route, keep in mind that in data science, people say "garbage in, garbage out." That means that if you load bad data, all the work you do will come out as bad too.

KnarfNosam

CFA is ass

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass) said: Regardless of what happens tonight, he’d be a buyer of tomorrow - BTFD

MightyEagle8614

Thank you so much for this comment. I had, or rather have been awfully scared of my upcoming CFA L2 exam, and this is just what I needed to read. This is so glorious

Yellowpainting52

Thank you. That is the first correct answer to the question. Good luck with CFA and your career plans.

Yellowpainting52

Thanks for sharing. I have been an active individual investor since 1965, before index funds existed. I read The Losers Game article while studying for my CFA in 1982 and have invested in Vanguard index funds both for myself and in various accounts that i have managed. My overall results have been quite similar to yours. Passive investing works. Active investing sometimes seems like an obsession or addiction. I guess I resolve this dichotomy by doing both.

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass)

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass)

JGLip88

People wait in line at new CFAs for a chance to win free CFA for life.

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass) said today’s developments are quite bullish

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass)

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass) Said this is why he keeps on saying BTFD

WocketWaccoon

Tom “fat cuck” Lee, CFA (Certified Fat Ass) Implores you to buy more of his BMNR scam so he can dilute more

MonYverse0609

Wendy’s only make money when chick fil a close on Sunday imo 🤔 they just sadly can’t compete their price with McD even the quality is slightly better and even Chick Fil A more expensive but the quality not even close. Cuz chicken is sell easier than beef. And their chicken just not good enough to compete with CFA 🤔

Liquidate-Me-Daddy

Damn dawg I guess my lapsed CFA can go fuck itself

Maximum-Side-9391

When CFA goes public that is the top

iiiiiiiiiijjjjjj

Truth. FIL’s nephew is in that field. Dude has a PHD in physics from a top university and completed the CFA. You gotta really be cream of the crop.

Tricky_Let2806

No one cares about CFA in IB or PE lol.

TreeLord9

Not one mention of the CFA designation thus far. Disappointed but not surprised.

TurnoverParty604

My CFA basically said wait 3 weeks, this stock is at 110x value. Its going to Pump/Dump at first then settle out. I mean if you are trying to day trade it... maybe the first 5 minutes after 930 but ive always listened to my CFA.

DoctorNezuko

A good CFA will get you 2x~3x more than what their fees are charging, but they are doing that by being connected. Most however will barely even break even.

CharlesBeckford

Global cost of labour is $60trn. Ai is digital labour, even if it takes 5-10% of that it is a behemoth. It isn’t cyclical, you’re parroting all the typical bearish sentiments that have been disproved, circular financing too right? It’s a structural update for the entire economy, we are leaving one era and entering a new era, all the signs are there. An era lasts between 10-30 years and the transition period is one of high dispersion, disruption, and volatility. Look at how many industries are finding new expanding markets, memory, photonics, electricity and power, interconnectivity. Physical AI will completely change the way we operate and the investment comes first. I’m not overconfident I’m well read. I’m a CFA charter holder and a portfolio manager who manages £500m of assets. I have been telling people about AI and Nvidia since 2018 or $2 a share. I never have to work again because I have been right for so long. What astounds me is that people STILL don’t understand what is happening but I don’t mind becuase I get to accumulate more shares in the companies of the future. How about this, you’ve obviously 40-50ish years old if you remember dot com. So for the last 2 decades has it been more or less certain what tomorrow brings? Do you think the next 10 years are more or less certain to know what the future brings? If you can answer that honestly I’ll be able to tell where you are.

harrison_wintergreen

Reddit will give you a lot of nonsense on this topic, and they will rarely support their position with actual data. notice how nobody other than me provided any links or data to outside sources of information. additionally reddit skews very young and suffers from 'recency bias', in assuming the last 10-15 years with investing predicts the next 10-15 years. but that's rarely the case. investing strategies are typically successful for a period of time, then things change and the old regime gets stomped and a new things is more successful. there's a good reason many active managers take dividends into account when analyzing companies. >for younger investors, do dividend stocks really offer any meaningful advantages compared to focusing on growth? over the last 40+ years, dividend paying stocks within the S&P 500/VOO outperformed the non-dividend paying stocks by a wide margin: https://wealthcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/divi_non_divi.jpg the best performing stocks that were in the S&P 500 from 1957 starting date to 2005 were all dividend payers. see the list on page 24: https://r.jordan.im/download/investing/siegel2006.pdf Yes. The PDF you linked is the 2006 CFA Institute article *“Long-Term Returns on the Original S&P 500 Companies”* by Jeremy J. Siegel and Jeremy D. Schwartz. The page labeled **24** in the journal contains **Table 4: Returns of the 20 Top Survivors, March 1957–December 2003**. ([Jordan][1]) The stocks in that first table/chart are: 1. Altria Group (Philip Morris Companies) 2. Abbott Laboratories 3. Bristol-Myers Squibb 4. Tootsie Roll Industries 5. Pfizer 6. The Coca-Cola Company 7. Merck & Co. 8. PepsiCo 9. Colgate-Palmolive 10. Crane Company 11. H. J. Heinz Company 12. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company 13. Fortune Brands 14. Kroger 15. Schering-Plough 16. Procter & Gamble 17. The Hershey Company 18. Wyeth 19. General Mills 20. Royal Dutch Petroleum Notice there are no tech stocks on this list, despite the importance of IBM, AT&T, Burroughs, Wang, Xerox and other tech stocks. what's your definition of 'growth'? Growth stocks like SCHG? 'growth' means 'the company's profits or revenue are growing faster than peers', not 'the stock price grows faster than other stocks' ... sometimes yes, other times no there is ample data showing dividend paying stocks can offer superior long-term results. there are several reasons: - dividend-paying stocks tend to skew towards value stocks, and value tends to beat growth over the long-term. - dividends tend to indicate profits and free cashflow which are good things for investors. - dividends tend to come from more mature, stable and boring companies which means the stocks is more reasonably valued or priced and less subject to hype and trends, all of which are good for investors. - dividend stocks tend to be more stable in downturns or long bear markets, so they win more by losing less durign major crashes. the data is summarized here: https://www.tweedy.com/managed/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2021/03/HighDividendYieldReturnAdvantageMNGD.pdf

imustbegthequestion

Dakar CFA. ECOWAS. SAHEL PRINT OUT I WILL BUILD THE WALL. JE PARLE FRANÇAIS. SHUKRAN. JO NSK. U/IMUSTBEGTHEQUESTION.

NoteLegitimate4844

A lot of institutional ETF traders will tell you that the biggest mindset shift is realizing that **ETF volume is often the least important liquidity metric**. For resources, I'd start with: * [BlackRock ETF Insights]() * [State Street SPDR ETF Education]() * [J.P. Morgan ETF Market Structure Papers](https://am.jpmorgan.com/us/en/asset-management/adv/insights/etf-insights/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) * [CFA Institute ETF Research Articles]() The framework I'd focus on is: 1. **Primary vs. Secondary Market** * Screen volume is secondary market liquidity. * Creation/redemption capacity is primary market liquidity. * A $10M ADV ETF can sometimes absorb a $100M trade if the underlying basket is liquid. 2. **True Liquidity = Underlying Liquidity** * For broad U.S. equity ETFs, underlying liquidity often dominates. * For EM debt, bank loans, high yield, or thematic products, the ETF may actually trade more efficiently than the basket. 3. **Spread ≠ Trading Cost** * Quoted spread * Market impact * Creation/redemption costs * Tracking risk while executing 4. **Watch Premium/Discount Behavior** * Especially during stress events. * Understanding when arbitrage mechanisms tighten or loosen is valuable. One practical exercise: every time you're evaluating an ETF substitute, ask: > That question tends to move the analysis away from ADV and toward basket liquidity, AP capacity, market-maker competition, and creation unit economics. Honestly, if you already have Bloomberg and access to a trading desk, I'd spend as much time as possible listening to ETF traders explain *why* they routed a trade a certain way. The jump from textbook ETF knowledge to institutional judgment usually comes from seeing real execution decisions rather than reading more theory.

InevitableSnowDay

A CFA would know that you do have to change the roof on your portfolio - it's the underlying company of the shares you own that's doing it. Do you think that McDonalds has some unlimited cheat code that gives it free roofing?  And in most cases, you DO have to pay taxes on your portfolio. As you stated a 'well diversified non correlated portfolio' will likely include both dividends and fixed income payments. Surprise, those are taxable.  The reason you aren't taught about RE as part of your CFA is because you cant charge AUM fees for someone's rental property.  You might want to go get some real world experience 

SaucyCouch

Hey dude, I have a bachelors in finance and passed 2/3 levels of the CFA. All academic data says that the stock market out performs real estate by a significant amount. You don’t have to change the roof on your stock portfolio, you don’t have to pay taxes every year on your portfolio. The only difference is in terms of leverage, you can borrow 95% of the value of your RE investment. But nuts to knuckles a well diversified non correlated portfolio will yield higher returns on average than RE investment

Last-Recipe-4837

bro wrote a whole CFA thesis just to break even 💀😂

shabooya_roll_call

2 levels of CFA? What’s Chic-Fil-A got to do with anything?

jhayesxvx

Isnt this exactly what some BDCs do as a business model? They take on debt through loans or issueing corporate bonds, then take the capital and do equity (stock) investments in businesses they think will return above their interest rate. Youre trading with the market on capital allocation, by taking that loan youre essentially saying you can allocate the capital more effectively than the interest rate has given to you for your credit risk. Business loans are a real thing, but are your stock market returns consistent and large enough to pay back both principle and interest? Maybe. For some BDCs they are. Buying the market without the kind of due diligence a full time equity/CFA analyst does at a BDC seems very risky.

AdOk3638

Bers talk about ‘valuation’ like they’re CFA gods, then panic sell their puts the moment SPY moves 0.5% against them. LMAO🤌

randomthrowaway9796

Zaxbys, CFA, Wendy's, cookout, sonic. The first 2 are slightly more expensive, but all of them are leagues better than McDonald's

Flaky_Mark2946

lmao the chicken video guy with CFA credentials is probably more qualified than half the analysts on CNBC these days your scenario C logic is unfortunately pretty solid though - markets always seem to find way to maximize pain for regular people while making rich folks richer. been watching this play out in restaurant industry where everything gets more expensive but wages stay basically same. customers keep coming but they're definitely feeling the squeeze also respect the tobacco play, people always gonna need their vices when everything else goes to shit. might have to look into that CATL position too since you mentioned it good luck with the positions, hope you're right about the blast off even if it means we're all gonna be living in cardboard boxes worth 2 million dollars

LiftUp22

Well that ain’t me. As previously stated I’m doing well. I know how to play the game but it took YEARS of reading up on financial history, equity valuation, studying for the CFA Level 1 exam and acquiring my SIE to figure it tf out. It shouldnt take all that just to afford the basic necessities of life.

I_Am_Dwight_Snoot

Yea fast casual is a pretty solid value. I'm surprised CFA does so well still. It isnt even a top fast food chicken chain anymore. Bojangles, Zaxbys, Cane's, and even Popeyes are better food or better value.

GatorBo69

Oh damn, good for you!! I didn’t get into Fundrise until 2024 when a friend of mine recommended it to me to diversify my portfolio. I put $10k I to evenly split among the 3 portfolios they had and after two months saw the returns on the Innovation Fund and then put another $40k ALL into the IF. Smartest decision I ever made! And what’s ironic is Karl, the guy who recommended Fundrise said he had told over 300 ppl about it and I was the only one to pull the trigger. I had just been looking for REITs to go along with my allocating of 5% of my portfolio to Gold & Silver American Eagles that I’ve been collecting since 2012. Had to get a bigger safe bc I have over 10,000 Silver Eagles and 500 Gold Eagles. That’s an investment that I’ll never liquidate and just pass on to my children bc they have already given me a 1,000% return and I like having something physical that I own that will never lose value, nor have to pay taxes on. If you have over $1m in your portfolio I HIGHLY recommend Fisher. Everyone talks about their “high fees” of 1%, but that’s nothing when they consistently return 25% every year and I’ve even had three 30%+ years out of 5!! They invest in individual stocks so their isn’t any expense ratios which in a way offset the “fees” from ETFs. In 2020 and 2020 they strategically entered into hedging positions at the right times and still beat the market by 8%!! Great personal service as I have my own “team” that I can talk to whenever I want but we typically have a quarterly call for them to update us. It’s really nice having someone control all your assets so you don’t make any emotional moves, something I had done prior to moving to them and prob cost myself close to $500k in the 5 years previous to switching to them, not necessarily in losses but in potential gains by exiting the market and trying to time it. They believe in a DCA approach but are pretty fucking brilliant and I have never come close to getting better returns than them. I beat the market, but they CRUSH the market! I keep $100k in my high yield savings account so I always have liquidity should I ever need to access it bc I don’t want to ever take any money out of Fisher until I retire. (They use Fidelity so you can always see the moves they make) The best thing is they get to know you and your family, make recommendations but I told them to “crush it and don’t hold back” so they’re pretty aggressive with my portfolio. They helped to fully fund my two kids (6 & 4) 529 College plans, and are truly the best decision I ever made in my financial life. I can self teach myself and watch YouTube videos until I’m blue in the face, but they’re true professionals. And there is a difference from a CFP and a CFA.. the latter is like having to graduate from law school where the former is like passing a GED. They know their shit.

Cool_Ad_5101

Sorry to hear that. When I was studying for the CFA level 3 exam a lot of it was proper portfolio construction and dealing with systemic vs unsystematic risk. Never put your eggs in one basket. Hopefully this still works out for all of us and you have given yourself something to think about for the next sector you get excited about. Good luck to us all and hope our bags disappear into gold sacks

Deep_Collection5914

haha... so many people don't understand exactly how long getting really good at options can take! I got my CFA in '04 and thought I was officially smart suddenly... threw $30K into an options account. it was gone 4 weeks later. was divorced a year after that haha. 😉 20 years later though, I do ok though... Glad you buttoned it down, buddy.

Premium_Lover

OP, listen to this person. Watch Money Guy videos. They are CFA's who talk about lifelong strategy with money management. If you feel like you want people like them to give you personalized advice, then you at least have a better picture.

icydragon_12

Eh I've worked in fundamental equities analysis and investment banking. TLDR; traditional finance is not ready for it. Quants have been using AI for a long time. LLMs are so bad that they're useless. I got really into AI around covid, because I needed to create something to help me trade derivatives and price them appropriately. This was before the LLM craze. If you dig into the architecture of AI, the truly incredible thing about the modern models is that they can take observations of multiple inputs, outputs, and are able to train on these to make accurate predictions (if there is a linear, non linear, temporally delayed relationship). In other words, if there is a relationship between x number of variables, and those variables affect something you want to predict, you will be able to do find a modern "AI" model that outperforms traditional models. This is, for example, very useful for learning how to price derivatives, which, contrary to what the CFA might teach, doesn't actually follow any obvious formula whatsoever. Or you might have a lot of data like.. Oil storage, price differentials, volumes shipped on certain pipelines and a thousand other variables, you want to see how well that predicts stock prices. Is this useful? I think so. But traditional finance has not caught up to it, and quants have basically been doing this for years. I've tried to show this kind of stuff to my colleagues, and honestly it takes like 4 hours just to explain how it works. Then comes the next problem: because the relationships are non-linear, and can't be turned into a basic formula, portfolio managers don't want to use it. which is somewhat reasonable. You cannot go to an investment committee and say that the reason you want to buy an asset is because you created some insanely complex model that tells you it's a good idea. If you mean using LLMs. No. Go look at like.. The FinDER benchmark. 9% correct. LLMs failed epically at reading financial filings. They lie through their teeth and they are utterly useless.

H34thcliff

Without a doubt. Source: me, an investment analyst at a large wall st. bank with a CFA and coming up on 20 years of experience.

Alprazocaine

I love it so much I registered for CFA level I. No passing it without a love for the game. And maybe a little insanity

Dumguychs

A sit down with a CFA would help, too many factors to pinpoint the details, but it seems like you have a good head on your shoulders and are "playing from strength" keep it up and dont sweat the small stuff.

lithe_silhouette

Yes, he still calling the top every day. You have pros like Mark meldrum who built and sold a training program for CFA and wrote a bunch of books on options saying you can't predict where spy is going and then you have jloc on x betting 200k on spy weekly puts based on lines he saw on a chart even though he can't afford to pay his bills.

BlueEdenProject

Stock investing is extremely difficult, you need to be CPA and CFA to just get started. I made 500% in 1.5 years. Do you think that’s easy?

RagingBearBull

These vesseles are regarded. They just need to fly the CFA flag and the US will let them through

WailingWarbler

# Scenario 1: The "Cypress First" Launch (Most Likely) In this scenario, the management team executes their plan in two distinct acts. * **Act 1 (Immediate):** The halt on **CHY-H.V** is lifted with the announcement of a "Qualifying Transaction" with a major gold mining asset. The stock likely undergoes a **consolidation (e.g., 5:1 or 10:1)** to elevate the share price to a "professional" level ($0.50–$1.00+), clearing the way for institutional capital. * **Act 2 (Follow-up):** Once Cypress is trading successfully as a new mining entity, the focus shifts to **CFA-H.V**. They then move to clean up Clear Gold, consolidate *it*, and either find a second mining/tech partner or execute a spin-out of a secondary asset. * **Why this is likely:** This explains why CFA is not halted. It isn't part of the "Cypress Deal." It is a separate asset sitting in the "fridge," ready to be "cooked" once the Cypress deal is done. # Scenario 2: The "Satellite Spin-Out" (The Multi-Asset Play) This happens if the "private mining partner" is actually a **larger company with multiple properties.** * **The Structure:** The main, high-value mine goes into **CHY-H.V** (the lead vehicle). A secondary exploration property or royalty package is "spun out" into **CFA-H.V**. * **The Benefit:** Shareholders of CHY might receive "dividend shares" of CFA-H.V. * **The Market Reaction:** This creates an immediate "two-stock" ecosystem. You hold CHY for the main gold production and own CFA as a high-upside exploration play. The management team retains control of both, creating a mini-conglomerate. * **Why this is likely:** It allows them to bypass the dilution of a 3-way merger while still providing an "asset" to Clear Gold shareholders. # Scenario 3: The "Mega-Rollup" (The "Clean Sheet" Merger) This is the "big bang" scenario where **CHY, CFA, and the Private Partner** all disappear into a new, single legal entity. * **The Structure:** A Plan of Arrangement where every shareholder of CHY and CFA gets shares in the "NewCo." * **The "Clean Sheet":** This is the cleanest way for a private company to go public. They effectively "wipe the slate" of both shells, removing any historical debt or legacy baggage. * **Why it's less likely right now:** If this were the case, **both shells would usually be halted simultaneously.** The fact that only Cypress is halted suggests the partner is only interested in the Cypress listing *right now*. **1 CHY share = 1 NewCo share** and **1 CFA share = 1 NewCo share**, then your theory about "equalization" was **100% correct.** They were effectively pegging both stocks to the same future value.

Hot_Lingonberry5817

According to the CFA-institute, short-sellers have had extraordinary difficulties post the GFC 2008 era, primarily due to the change in monetary policies globally, which just pumps everything up as soon as there is a scare of some sort. Point is that Burry's been wrong a lot of times ever since, he's had warnings om ETF bubbles due to passive investing and a lot of other things. In fact he's been wrong so many times that all investors withdrew their capital from Scion Capital which made him close down the fund recently, and start writing on Substack.