Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Certification

Financial analysts and financial managers benefit from strong demand and high salaries. These financial specialists evaluate investment strategies, forecast economic trends, and manage complex portfolios. Becoming a chartered financial analyst (CFA) charterholder can boost your earning potential and open new career doors.

The CFA Institute offers the CFA credential to experts in wealth management and investment strategy. Candidates must pass a challenging three-part exam and meet education and experience requirements to qualify for the credential. Our guide walks through everything you need to know before starting the CFA process.

The CFA Institute recently changed its qualifications for CFA certification. CFA candidates must either hold a bachelor’s degree (or be close to completing one) or 4,000 hours of professional experience completed over a three-year period. Candidates can also bring a combination of education and experience. Each year of education counts for 1,000 hours of experience.

To become a CFA charterholder, you must then pass three exams divided into levels. Undergraduates can begin the exam process before completing a bachelor’s degree. Candidates can take the Level I exam as early as 23 months before their graduation date and the Level II exam 11 months before graduation.

Earning a bachelor’s degree is the best way to prepare to become a CFA charterholder. Majoring in accounting or finance builds the investment and portfolio management skills needed for the CFA exam.

However, a bachelor’s degree is not the only route to the CFA credential. The CFA Institute allows candidates to qualify using professional experience or a combination of experience plus education. For example, a two-year associate degree in accounting plus two years of professional experience meets the requirement. To qualify this way, the education and work experience must be completed one after the other, not at the same time.

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Candidates for the CFA credential must complete professional work experience to join the CFA Institute and complete their credential.

The CFA Institute requires at least 4,000 hours of experience, completed in a minimum of 36 months. Qualifying work experience should be related to investment decision-making and demonstrate analytical skills, professional judgment, and critical thinking.

Candidates can count paid experience gained through full-time or part-time work. Remote work also counts toward the requirement. Internship experience only counts for paid internships.

Each level of the CFA exam covers different material and uses a different format. On the Level I exam, test-takers complete 180 multiple-choice questions on topics such as economics, financial statement analysis, equity investments, and portfolio management.

The Level II exam uses 22 item sets, called vignettes, with multiple-choice questions. Topics include corporate issuers, derivatives, and professional standards. The test assesses your analytical and problem-solving skills.

Candidates choose a specialized pathway for the Level III exam. The pathways include private wealth, private markets, or portfolio management. Test-takers answer mixed-format questions, with 11 item sets with multiple-choice questions and 11 essay questions. The final level tests your ability to apply financial analyst skills to real-world scenarios.

Based on data from the past 10 years, the pass rate for these CFA exams ranges from 41% to 52%. Passing each section on the first attempt helps test-takers save time and money.

CFA candidates receive a numerical score on each test. The CFA exam uses a pass/fail system. Test-takers must meet the minimum passing score on each level to continue to the next level.

The CFA Institute notifies test-takers about their results in 5-8 weeks after taking the exam. If you pass, you can begin preparing for the next exam. If you fail, you can retake the level.

After Level I and Level II, you’ll receive a score report that provides insights into your performance. The report includes a breakdown of your performance on each section of the exam. This can help you identify areas for improvement and structure your study plan.

Before you can take the CFA exam, you must meet either the education or work experience requirements. The CFA Institute also requires an international passport.

You can register for the CFA exam on the CFA Institute website. Registration opens more than a year before the exam, with an early registration deadline around seven months before the exam. Early registration comes with a fee discount.

The CFA Institute offers Level 1 four times per year, Level II three times per year, and Level III two times per year.

Over 400 testing centers offer the CFA, typically in major cities. Test-takers can take the CFA exam up to two times in one calendar year.

The total cost of the three-part CFA exam ranges from $3,520 to $4,600. Test-takers can expect to pay $1,140 for Level I and Level II starting in 2026, with a discount for early registration. Level III costs $1,240 with early registration.

Without the early registration discount, each exam costs $1,490-$1,590. Test-takers who need to retake any part pay the standard fee. That makes it even more important to pass each test on the first try.

The CFA Institute recommends spending a minimum of 300 hours studying for each part of the CFA exam. And the right study strategy can boost your chances of passing the CFA exam on your first attempt. Creating a study schedule, taking practice exams, and joining a study group can all help you prepare for the exam.

CFA charterholders renew their credential annually by June 30. When renewing, charterholders must pay membership dues to the CFA Institute. They also submit a professional conduct statement and a membership agreement.

Many professional certifications require continuing education credits to renew the credential. While this requirement is not mandatory for CFAs, the CFA Institute encourages charterholders to complete 20 professional learning credits annually, with two credits in standards, ethics, and regulations.

The CFA credential signals expertise in financial analysis and portfolio management, and the additional pathways in Level III let charterholders customize their credential. However, pursuing another certification can help in specialized career paths.

CFAs who specialize in accounting may benefit from becoming certified public accountants (CPAs). Like the CFA credential, CPAs must meet education and experience requirements, plus passing scores on a four-part exam. Those in private wealth management can consider the certified financial planner (CFP) credential. These optional certifications can help professionals showcase their expertise.

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I graduated from college during the dot-com crash. The year before I graduated, the job market was really strong, and most students received multiple job offers with signing bonuses. The following year, the market turned, job offers dried up, and some companies even rescinded their offers.

It was very clear to me that I needed to figure out how to stand out in a very crowded job market. After talking with other professionals in the industry, I realized that the chartered financial analyst designation was most often referenced as the most prestigious but also the most difficult financial designation to earn.

The challenging nature of the job market was what gave me the motivation to get through all three levels of the CFA exam. The designation has been extremely valuable for me in terms of getting more difficult interviews as well as being more effective as a financial analyst. The irony is that if the job market had been better when I graduated, I might not have had the motivation to earn the CFA charter.

No. I earned a bachelor of science in business administration with a major in finance. I came close to getting a minor in accounting, but I didn’t complete the necessary classes.

At the time, I made the decision to major in finance because I knew I wanted to be a financial analyst. However, what I didn’t fully appreciate was that successful financial analysts really needed a very strong understanding of accounting fundamentals in order to be effective.

I should have taken more accounting in college; the CFA exam was very heavily weighted toward accounting material, particularly the material on the Level II exam. So by making it through the CFA exam, I ended up with a very strong accounting background even though I didn’t get it in school.

I try to attend investment conferences a few times each year. It really comes down to how intense my work schedule happens to be. The conferences are really great opportunities to network with other industry professionals as well as keep up to date with the most relevant trends and topics.

The CFA Institute currently has optional continuing education credits that can be self-reported. However, right now, those continuing education credits are not mandatory, unlike what is required for CPAs. It’s always possible that it could change in the future.

The most important skill is understanding how to spend your time in the most valuable ways. When you are analyzing the financials for a company, there are so many different sources of information available. You need to understand how to prioritize your time in a way where you are focusing only on the most important information and filtering out the noise.

Working as a financial analyst on either the buy side or sell side of the industry is very competitive. You need to find as many ways to stand out from the crowd as possible. Pursuing the CFA charter is one of the best ways to stand out and let employers know you have a strong understanding of the fundamentals as well as a disciplined work ethic.

Just make sure you prepare yourself for a major commitment if you want to pass all three levels of the exam. Only roughly one out of five people make it through all three levels of the exam. The secret to passing the exam is starting your studying early (6-8 months before your exam date) and pacing yourself until exam day. That means spending a few hours each night reading and taking practice questions.