Update is Delayed

Unfortunately, I haven’t had as much time as I would like to continue to develop this site in anticipation for the start of my studying on March 11th.  I am currently studying for the Client & Practices Handbook (CPH) course which I write on March 9th.  I just finished off the Canadian Securities Course (CSC) as well, just under a week ago.  Both the CPH & CSC have dedicated blogs I am managing, so closing out the CSC required a mass 30 post upload to get it all caught up to where I wanted it to be before I stopped posting for good.  The CPH is only a two week blog upload period, but I expect around 50 posts for that to, so between studying and updating that blog and everything else going on in my life, I don’t see myself having tons of time to update this blog until late next week (I don’t sleep much).

I did manage to get some of the posts promised previously (see below) which makes things a bit more manageable.  You can follow my studies with the CSC or CPH through one of the links on the sidebar.  As usual, I thought i’d give an outline of what is coming for this blog in the near future.  I expect to upload around 200 – 250 posts before June 7th, 2009 as I begin studying the course material.  It will become easier to do so when I close out the CPH blog and only have two blogs to manage instead of four.

• Site Redesign: current design was just an initial blanket to throw some initial content on
• Page Revisions: about the cfa, about me, cfa level 1
• Links: I have about 50 CFA Level 1 related links, most of which can be considered candidate resources
• 3rd Party Study Materials Overview Series (stalla, schweser, 7city, analyst notes)

Those are just some of the initial components I have been thinking about lately, but more will likely come before the 11th.  The good news is that I have spent a considerable amount of time on research, so I have the materials ready, I just need to find the time to upload them.

- Steve

YouTube Playlist

I put together an initial YouTube playlist that I will likely be updating as time goes on.  I’ll likely refer to it during my review process starting fairly shortly.  I am surprised how much content is on YouTube in specific reference to the CFA.  Very useful resources indeed.  As I progress through material, I expect to add videos not directly labeled in reference to CFA, but rather in reference to more complex topics that I need clarification on.  For the time being, the reduced playlist can be found at:

CFA YouTube Playlist

Calgary CFA Events

I’ve been in brief contact with the Calgary CFA society regarding a couple CFA events coming up.  I don’t know if you can truly call them events, more like gatherings or something.  Either way, i’ll be sure to update here when I find out more information about exact dates and details.  Currently I am awaiting some confirmations on potential study groups throughout Calgary that I could participate in shortly.  Furthermore I understand a mock CFA exam is offered for $45, which I think will be extremely beneficial to me in the later stages of studying.  I do hope they arrange these things shortly, as June 2009 is getting closer and closer, though my stress level still remains relatively dormant.  We will see how long that lasts.

- Steve

Only 35% Pass Rate?

Wow, I knew the number was low, but that is surprising. Figures like that actually encourage me more.  One of the reasons I decided to pursue CFA is because its not easy.  If the program was easy, then everyone who wanted one could have one if they had the money.  In this case, very few people obtain the CFA relative to the amount that enrolled 5 years prior.  This is a big plus for anyone wishing to set themselves apart from the crowd.  Staring down CFA Level 1 is one thing, but starring down level 3 is a completely different story.  I can’t imagine the persistence, dedication, patients and overall skill needed to make it that far.  Surely its possible, but the process sure looks difficult.  I am glad, however, that such a process exists to discourage an easy route.

- Steve

Schweser thought it had the secret sauce……plllllllllease

All together now…..

Coming Soon…..

I thought I would throw together my typical coming soon post.  I have been plugging away at the three blogs trying to keep some sense of normalcy. Below is a list of posts I am going to try and hammer out in the next couple days:

• YouTube and the CFA
• Calgary CFA Mock Exam
• Calgary CFA Study Groups
• About Me Page
• About the CFA Page
• CFA – Level 1 Page

Study Notes Series

• Why Pay Extra for 3rd Party Supplies?
• Part 1: Stalla
• Part 2: Schweser
• Part 3: Professional Exam Review
• Part 4: 7City Learning
• Part 5: Analyst Notes
• My Choice of Study Solutions
• Use of Torrents

Also, I hope to get a better layout on this site.  I threw this one on here just as a temporary fix, but I am really not feeling it.  I am going to try to get something better on here.

I hope to hammer this out in the next few days.  Furthermore keep an eye out for a bunch of links.  I have about 50 or so good quality websites I want to throw in the blog-roll in some fashion.  I’ll try to get that done soon to.  My goal is to have all this initial research based posts done before I start studying.

Bought my BA-II Plus……

I decided on getting the BA-II Plus after realizing the difference between the two allowed calculators: absolutely nothing.  I played around with both, and beyond some formatting differences, they both did the same thing.  I went with what I knew, Texas Instruments.  I don’t see a calculator being a make or break decision here, either one will do.  Just remember to play around with it and get used to the functions.  For your own purposes, I would check out the handful of links in the sidebar under “Calculator”.  There is some great stuff there.

Stalla Flash Cards

Got my stalla flash cards about a month ago, and I was impressed.  I had done some research on them over other offerings and they are definitely the better quality over other products.  The short and sweet, I choose Stalla cue cards of Schweser because the Stall cue cards had the information already on them.  The Schweser ones were just blank cards with the LOS statements on them.  I don’t have a lot of time to create cue cards, so $200 was a small price to pay for this.  I am really pleased with the quality of these. Again, i’ll talk more about my selection for study materials later on.  Just wanted to upload a few pictures to give you an idea of what they were like.

Schweser Material

So my Schweser material arrived about a month back and I had a skim through it.  I have to say I am impressed how they condensed the size of the books down, but I will be more skeptical when I start comparing information between the two books.  I am going to write up a post later about Schweser vs Stalla, as I did quite a bit of research.  There was a lot of decisions about what solutions were better between the two providers, and which ones were just a waste of cash.  I have a lot of notes on these, which is one of the reasons I purchased the Stalla cue cards and not the Schweser.  More on that later. I just wanted to upload a few pictures of the 2009 Schweser study guides to start.