Quite interesting how mark Meldrum explains a poem even better than my high school teachers did and explored areas of the poem that my teachers did not even go through quite amazing CFA prep provider and minor in poem analysis 😂😂😂
This video is the most excellent MM video of all time! I have loved this poem since I read it for the first time after seeing the “Dead Poet Society” movie. I remember thinking about the poem when I decided to study for the CFA designation four years ago, and this changed my life. I focused on the journey since the beginning because I knew that the difference was in the knowledge I’d get. I studied more than 600h for each exam (level II more than 1000, as the exam was postponed two times). I read every page of the material more than once, watched every MM video, and did all the exercises available. I was eager to learn. I can tell that my career took a path I could have never imagined, and I have no regret every moment that I decided to study over doing something else. After getting the three letters, I realized that the important is the path and “trodden the leaves black” in your own steps.
Thanks for this. Truly motivational and realistic. This poem always reminds me of the quote from Mr. nobody: “ Every path is the right path. Everything could've been anything else. And it would have just as much meaning.” ― Mr. Nobody
Thank you, I greatly appreciate this video. Before your video, I could not see these shifts in my perspective throughout life. Growing up, I thought I was innately a good learner, so I focused less on my coursework, expecting my memory and subconscious to just retain everything. In reality, I was an adolescent that enjoyed learning and actually wanted to understand why things were the way they were. During the pursuit of my degree, I slacked off attempting to memorize everything and began falling off in school. I thought college was just more difficult, and now I see I didn't care to learn the material until my grades started dropping. In other words, I wanted to do just enough to get the degree and move on with my life. It was the moment I started finding topics of interest within the coursework that I began looking forward to attending class. At the time, I was not aware of this change. I just thought I had better teachers, better classmates, and better friends. The internal shift-- I placed value in experiencing the current moments and being present with everything I took part in, rather than focusing on the end goals. After graduating, I sought the CFA charter to bolster my economics degree, as I saw my economics degree as insufficient to get a well paying job. During my attempts to study, I just could not find a way to retain the information for the exams. Seeing the way you set up the videos and notes in your study materials, I had a feeling it was an issue with me, so I discontinued the pursuit. From this point, I will likely go the data analytics route, as that is where my interests lie. However, I can see myself revisiting the charter when I want to immerse myself in the financial world with genuine interest and not solely with a career goal in mind. On a completely separate note, I will admit I am not the best writer, but I am improving by writing more often. Thanks again!
"What would it matter if you were a male [reporter] or female [reporter]? Too much focus on things that don't matter. We'll just take this out for her because clearly she isn't much of a journalist either" Spat out my coffee, MM is a savage
Thanks mark for this. Its so true to enjoy the journey. I love those ‘aha’ moments more than any certificate in the world. Its the aha moment which gets me going
I’m studying cfa level 1 because I want this for myself. I trade now using my own money. Plus I’ll be using my acct as a resume. I’m currently a business owner with no background in finance. This is all new to me but I’m subscribed to your training cfa program it’s awesome. I want the title for myself not a job though. And to understand markets. Love all you doing for us in the cfa community
Totally agree. What you get out of the journey would make huge differences on the choices and paths available to you even without realizing they existed. If you focus on the destination without getting much out of the journey, you would be wasting time and missing all those wonderful opportunities lies ahead.
The first and very important element of acquiring CFA charter is the knowledge gained, knowledge that is structured and practical. However, often one aspect is overlooked, in my opinion, it may be even more important: Membership in a society. Having a platform to meet people, networking, expanding knowledge, being able to exchange ideas and experiences is invaluable.
Thank you Dr. Meldrum. As always, you give very insightful perspectives that helps one to live life before the moment. I trust that you'd be a wonderful father. Permit me to ask something based on my personal belief that human knowledge is for the benefit of the world. Would you mind sharing your recommendation on how the pessimistic author might proceed from this point, either to be able to make a "self rediscovery" or meaning out of an endeavour as this?
I am a millennial and I love gritting my teeth and working. I worked 3 jobs at some points in my 20s to save money and pay for university. It is so inappropriate when people lump everyone into a group based on their birthdate.
Not going to get this quality content on the some other CFA study providers! One of my favorite posts so far. I'm definitely guilty at times of focusing on the destination vs the joy of the journey. The very signaling of my intent on working towards the CFA charter to the firm I work with has helped open a very non linear career trajectory...and its been wonderful. I've also worked on focusing on growing my professional network, as people who know you equally help you unlock opportunities.
This is brilliant. The comment about millennials: I can’t help but think those millennials that didn’t join the workforce during 07-09 really just need a good hard recession to see what’s really valued by employers.
In a world where CFA has no monetary cost, everything said here holds true. But practically, people need a return on the investment, and that’s where incentives to do the least amount of work come in. It’s hard to enjoy the journey when in the back of your mind you know you’ll have wasted $1000 if you fail. This is apparent to me when I learn things for free online. I can take my time, fully absorb and critically think about the content. I’m not drilling obscure questions due to a fear that I’ll be tested on it. I think this extends to a broader societal issue about the cost of education (at least in the US), but that’s a talk for another day.
It's an excellent article from a brilliant journalist. It's just your job is the CFA so it's impossible to convince a man of understanding something when his job depends on not understanding it.
"I'm willing to bet that her parents probably still have to help her pay the rent" Alongside a CFA education, you also get great comedy from MM. Love this man.
I watched the original video and the follow up on this topic as a candidate. Now as a Charterholder I'm watching this one. In my opinion the answer is unequivocally yes, if you are passionate about finance.
Came here out of the curiosity from the title. Stayed for the poetry class. 😊 I was thinking to start preparing for L1 to restore, structure and incorporate new knowledge since I have time anyway. My bacherlor's degree in finance from my home country is pretty much useless, I can turn this around. Oh, I forgot to mention one of the dozens of genders or to include my pronouces. Pardon me, good sirs.
Unrelated to the topic of the video but Mark are you aware of the specific ads placed on your RU-vid videos or are they randomly assigned? Ironic to see another CFA prep provider’s ads right before your video.
Some request my channel specifically. So if they are requesting my channel, it’s because I have the traffic. Otherwise they would just use their own channel. And if I have the traffic and they don’t, if they have to come and stand in front of my store to sell their product, what does it say about their product? It’s kind of like the loser guy in the club that hangs out outside the women’s bathroom.
Is this the long-promised “applying CFA techniques to other areas of life” series? I must admit, I didn’t expect that ”other areas of life” referred to using literally analysis to BTFO lit grads working at FT. 😂
To be fair, after having watched Mark’s videos, those paths immediately make me think of L2 interest rate lattices, so it’s entirely possible that Mr. Frost actually ended up in the same place he would have ended up had he taken the other path. 🧐
Today I got my CFA L2 result. I thought I will pass but unfortunately, I didn't pass. I feel very disappointed and I don’t know what should I do. I found this video. Is the CFA worth the effort? Working a full-time job and studying at the same time is really hard.. I started questioning myself should I complete the journey or no? Does it really worth it?
But Mark, this doesn't encourage those of us already on the CFA journey, with a lot of uncertainty on our minds. I am on the 3rd level and at each level, I have asked my self this question over and over again ready to put it aside if it is not going to be, is it worth it? is it going to be worth it? it takes alot of effort, and I see alot of people who have the charter having good stories to tell. Considering that I have been making alot of efforts to change career to finance from core accounting and I have met alot of rejection, I keep asking, will it be worth it at the end of the day. I can only choose to be positive as I make more effort to round up the exams.
But it does help. Reframe it. Why is a job the only destination that produces value from the journey? 1. As an accountant, as an educated person, your income will produce wealth during your career. With this knowledge, you are in a far better position than most of the retail investor population in terms of growing that wealth. What is the value in terms of what you can now do for yourself? 2. We live in an entrepreneurial world - no need to always be a job taker. Start your own research firm - pick a sector and be the best at it. Use RU-vid to demonstrate your ability - create a substack and get subscribers - use Seeking Alpha and Motely Fool to publish teaser pieces, and get paid for it. 3. Show a track record of building model portfolios that outperform the market - attract investment.
@@MarkMeldrum tks for this! I'm 37 y and every time I'm in doubt about keep on pursuing this CFA dream and start searching for opinion on the internet, I fell more distant from this dream. A lot of people out there saying it doesn't worth it in this age...Let's keep this flame on
The textbooks didn’t matter…we can tell…hahahahahahahhahshahahahahahhaha I hope I passed level 2 but needed this while waiting and second guessing my test
Hi Dr. Mark, please advise - I gave Level 1 in mid-2019 and passed with overall score above 90 percentile, then covid struck. I was finally able to give Level 2 in Nov 2022 and again passed with overall score above 90 percentile. I am working in the PE/VC industry for the last 3 years or so - should I give Level 3 or try for a new job or try for an MBA?
I believe you are missing the point of this video. You are asking for a destination based on someone else's experience. What you should be asking is what path you want to explore based on your own experience and that is something that dr. Mark can't help deciding with.
I'm speculating that she just wanted to be deemed "cool". It's like, 10-12 years ago, maybe it was kinda cool to have a Facebook account (at least to some). Now probably it's cool not to have one. Easy to assume that given the sector she's covering, a few around her hold the charter. So, she probably just wanted to be deemed as the cool one by not using it despite earning it (again, just speculating). Although, narcissism do have a correlation with external locus of control.
There was a day when the FT posted a few articles on my social media timeline, and 4 out of 5 of those articles were “analysing” things through the lens of race and gender. Not quite sure if that makes great journalism.
1. She is an excellent journalist. 2. For an inexperienced journalist covering a lot of self-important personalities in a technical subject, being female was an important issue. She has been clear in the past that she felt she couldn’t get the real stories from her interviewees because they talked down to her like she couldn’t understand their very important technical work. She previously told CFA Ireland the biggest benefit to her was that the three letters meant banking professionals finally started talking to her directly, like an adult who understood her field. Now that she’s a very famous financial journalist she doesn’t need that extra credibility anymore. 3. She didn’t give up on the learning, she gave up paying the membership fee for the right to use the three letters after her name. How is that being pessimistic about the journey. The whole point of her piece is that the CFA was *only* worth it for the journey. The learning, the credibility were very helpful. Being an ongoing member of the institute was not worth it. 4. That final sentence is outrageously condescending (and, for the record, would have said that about a male journalist?). She’s an extremely accomplished financial journalist. She lived for years in a fancy apartment in the centre of Manhattan. Stick to finance and education Mark, your weird asides into politics and philosophy are insulting and juvenile.
1. Based on what I read, No she’s not. She’s a bad writer. Also a bad journalist - scroll down the comments for my reply to another defender. This was a piece written for clicks - the lowest form of “journalism”. As I replied to another person, enrolment for all types of educational designations, diplomas, and degrees were down globally, not just CFAI. The author only had a personal problem with CFAI - so that was the story. Really missed the bigger picture there. 2. We see what we believe. If you are pre-disposed to believing people are biased against you because of some aspect of your identity, you will interpret every random event as being about that. Makes you wonder who has the issue with it. 3. I don’t think we read the same article. She showed no ability to apply basic concepts of either analysis or journalism. 4. Yes I would have said the same thing - and again with the female issue. Makes me wonder again who really has the issue with it. Next time, rather than getting a friend or alias to respond, try your own voice.
@@MarkMeldrum I don't know her personally, but her story in the CFA Ireland Career Guide publication a few years ago was a major driver in why I signed up for the CFA and subsequently paid you for lessons.
In this Career Guide she mentioned she lived in a ‘fancy apartment” in Manhattan? Seems like a personal detail to me, one that a friend would be more aware of. Out of curiosity, did you read her piece? And if so, do you agree with the singular focus on enrolment down for CFA, so it must be CFA with the issue? Would you accept that the bigger story would have been the decline in stature of formal education among Gen-Z? You see, to me that is the factor. CFA enrolment is not the story, it is only evidence of a bigger story. One Google search is all it took me to find that. Pages of results. One Google search - and I never attended journalism school. One. Google. Search. One would think, nay - expect - that an “excellent journalist“(1), a “famous journalist” (2), “an extremely accomplished journalist” (4), would have done one Google search.
@@MarkMeldrum In any case, this was an opinion piece, not journalism. And she gave her opinion, informed from completing the program herself and speaking to hundreds of others who did it too. You might disagree with her anecdata-driven conclusion, but the personal attack in this video was unprofessional and uncalled for. Funny maybe, but a massive lapse from your usual high standard of professionalism. Hitting you back with an equivalently personal attack would almost certainly be a breach of FT code of ethics.
You are correct - this was an opinion piece and not journalism. But much as my opinion of her may be called reckless, her opinion of the value of the charter is just as reckless, and more widely damaging. From her story - "The truth is that what is in the textbooks never really mattered". That is reckless. My video encourages, her piece discourages. Thank you for the lively exchange - I always enjoy a good game of cognitive chess. We'll call it a stalemate. Eyes on your currency right now - down over 400 pips in the last 30 minutes.
Dr. This is by far the most demoralising and disappointing video you have ever done. It showed no empathy and personally I think some of the comments were personal and biased to a great extent. Perhaps you should not do any more videos about whether the CFA is worth pursuing. I have followed you since 2018 and you are great at what you do but on this occasion I have to empathize with that student. Life at times doesn't work out and as human beings we need to try and be more understanding when people like her share their experiences. It's the human thing to do even though we may question her decisions in life. I found this recording very disappointing. That said. I am still a fan of your work and look forward to the other many informative pieces of content you share with us weekly.
Hold on there buddy boy. She is not just sharing her experience, she is projecting her experience on the value of the charter as a whole. The entire story is biased by her view of the value for herself. In the story, she notes that enrollment for Level 1 is down in 2021 from 2019 levels. And from there runs with a story that the value of charter is not what it was. However, as I said in the video, the process of getting the charter did not make her better at her job. What do we learn in Level 2 Equity about relative valuation? If I say stock ABC is down 15%, should I then conclude that ABC has a problem? What if the rest of industry is down 30%? The first thing you do is construct a peer group to determine if the issue with ABC is systemic or idiosyncratic. Had this "journalist" applied what she should have learned at Level 2, she would have first determined if the drop in enrollment was specific to CFA or industry wide. Had the "journalist" applied what she should have learned in journalism school, she would have known to ask questions. A simple Google search would have shown her that it was all designations, and even Universities and Colleges, and not just in North America or the UK, that were showing significant drops in enrollment. She did not do that. She failed to apply a basic concept from her CFA journey and failed to apply basic tenets of journalism. Instead, she editorialized. And in the end she notes that SHE stopped paying for the designation. The Financial Times (the print edition) is a leading financial publication. That her employer would not pay the fee (as most employers do) tells me that they do not see value in her. Based on her output, it appears that both the journalism school path and the CFA path were wasted time - neither made her better at her job - and it is probably because she focused too much on the destination and did not explore the richness of the journey. Hence the regret in her last paragraph. This video is NOT a defense of the charter, it is about making the most of the path you are on, if you have chosen to be on this path. It is not about the outcome, it is about how you get there. And how you get there is what makes you, not the outcome. She is not a good analyst nor is she a good journalist. I have traveled all over the US and after a while, all cities tended to look alike. However, the road to those cities were unique. I think I have more picture and stories about the roads I took than about the destinations I arrived at. If you take a super sonic jet to each destination, you miss the journey, and it is the journey itself that makes the traveler interesting. That is the message of the video. I think you missed that.
@@MarkMeldrum You know you could have handled it differently. People like her say such things because they are struggling to make sense of the world and their own lives. You just cannot remark the way you did. I live in London and the news last night there was a piece on a young girl who committed suicide because she was in despair and struggling. Turns out months before her suicide she had expressed her frustrations at life on a number of the celebrity sites she was following. Sadly no one picked this up. Her plea for help. When I listened to your piece I brought this memory back. I don't disagree with what you said. It's the way you said it. We have to be aware and very careful with how we respond to people's articles online. Especially someone like you who is not only respected by a younger generation like me but also has a huge following. You may not realise it but for people like me you have had a massive impact on my life. I work for one of the largest companies thanks to some of the videos and insights you have shared with us over the years. The rest of the community might agree with the way the message was delivered but I feel differently and it's the reason I mentioned it
I know the writer. The CFA's problem is that it allows anyone to enter it. There should be interviews and annual assessments to continue using the letters and automatic cancellation is the person works in a different industry other than finance.
I think this stupid because cfa allows many people to enter the finance field who do not have a degree in finance or finance related subjects and don't have the network in this industry to get their foot in the door. Also the knowledge cfa provides is AWESOME. So the facts that anyone can enter it is a good thing imo. They should reduce the charges tho, very expensive for people who don't earn in dollars
