Put Trader, you 've been reading the accounting articles of your wall street journal  . 
These are the issues that are talked about in upper level accounting
classes.  As I said before, and as Put Trader stated, a CPA
license is a wonderful thing, if you plan to be an accountant CFO type.
If you want to be a broker or investment rep, it will be a waste of
time and effort.

   Now it is true that there are soem brokers out there who
have CPA licenses, but they all started as accountants, and gained
there knowledge of how to be a broker seomwhere along the way, usually
on the side. The CPA license did not make them any better at this or
qualify them to do anything that a series 7 entitles you to do.

People liking you is the #1 reason they do business w/you

[quote=josephjones107] People liking you is the #1 reason they do business w/you[/quote]



For Blarnston and the others who whine about how much I
contribute–it’s 6:45 EDT, Putette is busily preparing tuna steaks,
raddiccio (sp?) and a Belgin Endive salad with crumbled bleu cheese,
nuts and a great oil and vinegar dressing.  I’ve got the Brit Hume
show on, I am a political junkie even more than I am a Wall Street
junkie and the upcoming fight over Justice O’Connor’s seat on the court
will be spellbinding to me.



For those of you who are younger than 40–there is something called the
Supreme Court and a woman named Sandra Day O’Conner has been a justice
on it since the 1980s.  Actually she has a major role in Wall
Street–she wrote the majority opinion that held that if a client signs
an arbitration agreement they have, in fact, given up their right to
sue in state or federal courts.



anyway it is going to be like really interesting to those of us who
have iqs that are higher than room temperature.  for the rest of
you life will go on as normal.



But I digress.  I clicked respond to this tread because it is only
partially true that the reason people do business with any given broker
is because of the broker.



A certain number of investors actually do nothing more than walk into
Merrill because they’ve heard of Merrill.  Others will not hang up
on you when you phone, not because you sounded smart but because you
mentioned a firm in which they had confidence.



Contrary to what you may like to believe if you call and say “I am Bob
Broker with Merrill Lynch” you will get a far–as in FAR–more
favorable response than if you called and said, "I am Bob Broker with
__________"



You know it, I know it, all God’s children know it.



Even years later, long after you have supposedly formed a bond with the
client you’re going to find that the client really doesn’t give much of
a damn about you–and are perfectly open to entertaining the thought of
switching firms or staying where they are if you should switch.



As I said the other day, your own mother would listen to somebody who
mentioned buzz words such as “Higher returns” or “Expert” or the real
killer–"We had to let him go, but you won’t notice…"



Sure you’ve got an advantage–a leg up–but if you think you’re bullet proof you’re delusional.



What you don’t grasp is that unless you’ve been in the business for
about thirty years you have no idea how your clients will react when
their accounts lose money.  Every broker with less than thirty
years of experience has been riding the gravy train–and like any train
it cannot keep going in the same direction forever.

Hello fellow financial wizards.

PUT you are funny! I like your name and aggressive attitude.. Great for this business.

After reading a few posts and topics there is a lot of great information on this site!

As for the CPA I think one has to make their own decisions. I think the post stating being a CPA expands your diversity is true. Once you get CPA other CPA's would account you as one of them. It may also help with other people who like titles such as doctors, military officers and lawyer. 

Of course its also some like an MBA.. If you go around professing your CPA or MBA people sort of laugh.. Can you think of Christopher Jones, MBA... Makes me laugh..

On the other hand the amount of time you have to focus on CPA instead of building client base may be counter productive. From what I hear the learning curve is very sharp for the first year. WIth ones natural tendency to be very agressive during this year, you could be wasting energy on CPA.

Reguardless good luck and truly in the end your heart has to be with either decision..  

[quote=Put Trader]  I've got the Brit Hume show on, I am a political junkie even more than I am a Wall Street junkie and the upcoming fight over Justice O'Connor's seat on the court will be spellbinding to me.
[/quote]

OMG, I have something income with Put....

MBA’s are overrated…it once was an distinguished degree…now it’s what people get when they can’t find a job…you see tons of college grads that graduated in 01 & 02 who couldn’t find jobs…they had no other choice but to stay in school…more important than CPA, CFA, CPA or MBA is bottom line how much you make…it’s all that really matters

Hey all,

I'm a CPA just getting into financial services and I have to agree with most of what's been said.  If you are looking to further your financial career getting a CPA would be a waste of time.  Its much easier to go from CPA to CFP (or any other financial designation) than from CFP to CPA.  There is so much in the CPA world that does not cross over to the FS world that you would be changing careers.  And the price of entry is pretty steep (not like simply taking a 10 hour test ala CFP).  Generally to receive your CPA you need to work in auditing or tax for 2 years with a public firm before you will be a full fledged CPA.

If you are committed to a career in FS then get a CFP or CFA (or any of the other myriad alphabet designations available).  A CPA will slow your career rise in FS.

JKC

JKCA and July28… Wow two positive comments in a row. Your right it just depends what career direction you decide to focus on.

Reguardless talk to a few people in each field and make and decision. Then focus 100% of your time and efforts on making it happen!