[kevkev60614]

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I'm one year out of college and just accepted a job as a hedge fund analyst. I'm considering taking the June Level I Exam, but I'm not sure if it will interfere with my job. The job itself is going to be very demanding/stressful. Would you suggest holding off taking the CFA at this point in my career and focus on my work or can I do both?

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Congrats on the job! This is really a question that you have to answer for yourself. But here are some things to think about:

1) Are you pretty confident that you'll be on this career path five years from now? The CFA program is very time intensive and it sounds like your free time will already be short. It'd be a shame to spend a great deal of time studying only to realize that you'd rather be a botanist. Furthermore after passing more than one of the exams you'll be kind of trapped by your salary. Typically as you progress through the exams your market value increases as an analyst and it'll get harder and harder for you to accept a job making less money doing something else. If you're not sure whether investment analysis is for you, it might be better to wait a year and figure it out. An MBA is respected in nearly every field, but a CFA charter is often not as highly regarded outside the investment profession.

2) The majority of people who take the exam are working full time, and many in this industry work overtime. So you can clearly do both if you want to.

3) How important is it to your company that you take the exams?

4) Are you at a point in your life where you can give up a significant amount of free time? You'll be giving up time with family, friends, poker, sports, reading anything unrelated to your studies, etc.

5) One more thing not everyone immediately realizes: working through the CFA program will very likely make you better at your job. It can help you jump the learning curve as you branch out in your company.