Financial services have become increasingly specialized to meet the varying needs of a more sophisticated and demanding clientele and to reflect the complexities of global capital markets. A full discussion of the recondite nature of these markets, and the many professional certifications that have arisen to better arm professional cadres to address them, is beyond the scope of this article. Here, we review three credentials in particular: the Chartered Financial Analyst. the Certified Financial Planner ™ and the Commodity Trading Advisor .

Requirements for Certification

To understand career opportunities for individuals with such credentials, it is helpful to understand the requirements to obtain them.

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

The requirements to become a charterholder are threefold: One must have four years of relevant work experience, complete three rigorous examinations that build on the fundamentals of financial analysis and portfolio management, and adhere to the Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct issued by the conferring body, the CFA Institute.

Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®)

Here, as well, there are three requirements to become a CFP® Professional: One must have three years of relevant work experience, complete a two-day, 10-hour board exam and adhere to the Certified Financial Planner™ Board of Standards’ Standards of Professional Conduct.

Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA)

Commodity trading advisors counsel investors on the purchase and sale of commodities contracts. Compared to the two foregoing professional designations, the professional’s role and responsibilities are a bit more circumscribed. The requirements to become a CTA are the following: submit to a background check, pass the national commodity futures exam (FINRA Series 3, a professional license) and register with the appropriate professional association or government agency.

The CFA and CFP® certifications are earned through accrual of applicable work experience and examinations. In this sense, the path is similar to that taken by the medical student. He or she completes medical school and then apprentices through fellowship and residency before donning the white coat. Unlike the medical student’s pursuit of a medical doctor’s license, however, the CFP® and CFA are not prerequisites to managing money or offering planning services. To become a Commodity Trading Advisor, one must pass the Series 3 exam and register with the appropriate self-regulatory organization (SRO) and government agency before holding oneself out to the public as a CTA. The Series 3 is a professional license, as is one to practice medicine or law.

Professional Experience

What constitutes acceptable work experience? To answer that is to understand the basic skills that underpin what these three sorts of professionals do.

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

A CFA analyzes financial data as part of the decision making process, be he or she a practitioner or supervisor of one. Additionally, the (aspiring) charterholder may teach any number of topics that are within the CFA Institute’s Body of Knowledge (BOK). Charterholders aspire to greater knowledge, are intellectually curious, adept thinkers and strong with numbers. What follows is a partial list of some of the more common professional roles taken from the CFA Institute’s website. Bolded titles are the author’s emphasis on some of the most typical jobs of which one thinks when hearing the acronym CFA.