Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Review
Written by Andrea Coombes
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Fact-checked by Dayana Yochim
Our take: The Chartered Financial Analyst designation, or CFA, is one of the top designations a financial advisor can hold. The CFA exams — three in total — add up to more than 13 hours of exam time. The estimated prep time for those exams? 900 hours. The exams have a pass rate of less than 50%. This is not a designation for the faint of heart. It takes serious preparation, knowledge, and smarts. When working with a CFA, you can rest assured you’re working with someone with top-flight training in investment analysis, portfolio construction and financial management. The main reason the CFA designation doesn’t manage to hit it out of the park in our rankings — it’s a solid 4 stars rather than 5 — is that it simply recommends continuing education, rather than requiring it.
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
Offered by: The CFA Institute
Website: https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/programs/cfa
Overall summary
Here’s a summary of how the CFA designation stacks up on our criteria.
| Feature |
 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
|
|---|---|
| Overall |
|
| Nonprofit |
|
| Independent accreditation |
|
| Exam required |
|
| Number of questions |
|
| Continuing Education requirement |
|
| Background check |
|
| Ethics requirement |
|
| Fiduciary requirement |
|
| Consumer complaint forum |
|
| Check credential status |
|
Compare financial advisor certifications
Check out how advisor certifications stack up against each other.
| Feature |
 Accredited Financial Analyst (AFA)
|
 Accredited Wealth Management Advisor (AWMA)
|
 Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
|
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
|
 Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)
|
 Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Nonprofit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Independent accreditation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Exam required |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Number of questions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Continuing Education requirement |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Background check |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Ethics requirement |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Fiduciary requirement |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Consumer complaint forum |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Check credential status |
|
|
|
|
|
|
What is a chartered financial analyst (CFA)?
A chartered financial analyst, or CFA, is an expert in complex investment analysis and strategy, portfolio construction and wealth management, and other financial topics. The CFA is one of the most challenging and rigorous designations to qualify for, requiring an estimated 900 hours of study to pass three stringent exams. CFAs may work as financial advisors with individual clients, but they’re likelier to work in large-scale corporate settings developing investment strategies and conducting analysis.
How hard is it to get a CFA?
A CFA is one of the hardest designations for a financial planner to earn. You must pass three exams covering a long list of complex financial topics, including corporate finance, financial reporting, and more. The pass rate for the exams is less than 50%. Plus, candidates must have 4,000 hours, or about two years, of work experience in a related field.
Methodology
To generate star ratings for financial advisor certifications, investor.com ranks the certification on each of 10 criteria. Below are the questions we sought to answer for each certification. We then applied a weighted score for each response, leading to an overall star rating for each certification.
- Is the organization that offers the certification nonprofit or for-profit?
- Is the certification accredited by an independent, third-party organization?
- Is an exam required to earn the certification?
- How many questions are on the exam?
- Is a background check required of certificants?
- Is continuing education required to maintain the certification?
- Is there any type of ethics requirement, e.g. certificants must sign a code of ethics?
- Is the certificant required to agree to an explicit fiduciary duty in interactions with clients?
- Can consumers easily submit a complaint against a certificant?
- Can consumers easily check advisors’ certification status online?
Popular Financial Advisor Content
- Infographic: Conflicts of Interest at Financial Advisor Firms
- Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Review
- Types of Financial Advisors and How to Choose
- Questions to Ask a Financial Advisor
- Should I Hire a Financial Advisor or DIY It?
- What's a Fiduciary (and Why It Matters So Much)
- Find a Financial Advisor
- How Much Does a Financial Advisor Cost?
- What Does a Financial Advisor Do?
About the Editorial Team
Andrea Coombes has 20+ years of experience helping people reach their financial goals. Her personal finance articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch, Forbes, and other publications, and she's shared her expertise on CBS, NPR, "Marketplace," and more. She's been a financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, and is working on becoming a Certified Financial Planner. She knows that owning pets isn't necessarily the best financial decision; her dog and two cats would argue this point.
Carolyn Kimball is Managing Editor for Reink Media Group and the lead editor for content on investor.com. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.
Dayana Yochim has been writing (articles, books, podcasts, stirring speeches) about personal finance and investing for more than two decades, focusing on bringing clarity and the occasional comedic aside to what is often a murky, humorless topic. She’s written for NerdWallet, The Motley Fool, HerMoney.com, Woman’s Day, Forbes, Newsweek and others, and been a guest expert on "Today," "Good Morning America," CNN, NPR and wherever they’ll hand her a mic.