Engineers - considering CFA or Financial Engineering?

sorry...what I meant in the above mail is currently by job involves developing infrastructure projects

hey there,
i would like to know wat the major difference is b/w a CFA qualified and an M.S in financial engineering (lets say from Columbia). Who is better paid and to what extent r these 2 courses similar or dissimilar, as the case maybe.
regards

cfa is a self-study certification well regarded in asset management industry (at least used to be).
mfe is a degree program that you can do part-time or full-time. it will get you into quantitative finance (or computational finance) roles, which are related to trading in the capital markets, eg you assist traders by churning out useful spreadsheets. very different from asset management. more brain power and less soft skills needed.
just my 2 cents.

[bjhchong]

Here's my addition to the praises for a quant (quantitative financial analyst): a Wall Street Quant is one of highest paid people in the world. I suspect they should enjoy the privilege of a very good pay in our part of the world too...

Taking a look the requirement & the course, it's a cross breed between economics, accountancy (or something), and computing... very interesting but may be a bit hard to swallow for people like me

Originally Posted by Concerned--

hey there,
i would like to know wat the major difference is b/w a CFA qualified and an M.S in financial engineering (lets say from Columbia). Who is better paid and to what extent r these 2 courses similar or dissimilar, as the case maybe.
regards

Each year in SG alone, there will be around 750 person that able to passed lvl 3 in this year(still need to get work exp before they were being able to award charter holder), but there are only 70+ ppl that graduated from NTU alone, +70 ppl from NTU, + 70 from SMU

So the supply you can see, is 1 MFE = 3.5 CFA

[glenndanker]

There is another topic shared in this forum, MBA Not So Good After All? My dear uncles, can I invite you to read this book Rich dad Poor Dad and relook at your perspective. Have you played Cashflow 101 Game and learn how to get out of the rat race....

I cleared Level 1 on 2nd attempt.

Failed Twice in Level 2.

This year taking a stress break…. maybe try next year.

Background: Bsc Engineering (NTU)
Joined Army 96-2003
Joined IFA: 2003-present

CFA is seriously tough without studying time of 3-4 hours a week. I took lessons at Cuppage Centre but still fail… cos I missed 60% of it

CFA is a very wide designation. You should think about your job scope: does it need CFA?

Having a CFA does not guarantee you a job… Industry experience is needed.

Byong, i think 3-4 hours per week is not enough to pass it, most probably 2 hours per weekday evening is sufficient, i passed it consecutively for 3 levels(doesn't mean that I am clever, it is just a matter of hardworking)

The key of passing the exam is to practise a lot of question until you can close the eye to do the question, but of course understanding the material comes first

Originally Posted by Byong

I cleared Level 1 on 2nd attempt.

Failed Twice in Level 2.

This year taking a stress break…. maybe try next year.

Background: Bsc Engineering (NTU)
Joined Army 96-2003
Joined IFA: 2003-present

CFA is seriously tough without studying time of 3-4 hours a week. I took lessons at Cuppage Centre but still fail… cos I missed 60% of it

CFA is a very wide designation. You should think about your job scope: does it need CFA?

Having a CFA does not guarantee you a job… Industry experience is needed.