Ohh the CFA…

I found out late yesterday that I will be a recipient of the 2014 CFA scholarship, allowing me to pursue the charter. With this said, I will be adding a new topic area within my writings—my CFA journey. Some of these writings might be as simple as discussing the processes I am conducting to register, prepare and take the exam. Other writings might include a discussion and analysis of a particular topic; doing this will allow me to solidify my knowledge of this particular subject in turn helping me to be better prepared for exam day. I hope you enjoy.

With the above said, I will be quickly discussing my first CFA issue—the passport ID. Due to heightened identification verification processes required by the CFA Institute, all test takers must have an international travel ID prior to registering for the exam. This cannot be a passport card, it must be a passport book. I personally have had no prior reason to secure a passport, therefore I found myself spending the first half of today researching the process for obtaining a passport. I have submitted my application and according to the travel.state.gov site, they currently have an approximate four week turnaround. With the holidays, I do not expect to receive it any time before the New Year. Luckily, even if I do not receive my passport until mid-January, I will have enough time to register for the level one exam and order my study materials and still allow adequate preparation time. I guess lesson learned for today was to not procrastinate. If I would have waited a few weeks or more before looking into the exam registration process, I might have found myself tight on time for preparation.

Stay tuned for future CFA related posts.