Please see:

https://mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-india/

The roles a CFA is useful for are mentioned in this article in the “When is the CFA Useful?”. Most of these have separate career path articles on this site if you do a search.

Thank for your response. I do agree that it would be too early to do an MBA and I’m not really interested in doing any postgrad soon as I want to get some industry experience first. Would you mind outlining what specific roles would a CFA be useful for getting into, if any, or if I should not consider that at all? I am not entirely certain what specific role I want to go to, but I feel like a proper financial analyst/research analyst role would be a good starting point if I want to get into that side of finance. What entry level roles should I look for that would put me on a good trajectory? Appreciate your help!

If you only graduated 8-9 months and are currently in a wealth management job, you’ll probably have better luck trying to network for other, more relevant roles in finance first. I would recommend that over going for an MBA/MSF (especially not an MBA right now – it’s too early and will be too expensive). An MSF might make sense if you try networking for a few months and don’t get anywhere.

You don’t need to go for IB/PE/VC/HF roles directly. Maybe aim for something like corporate banking or a Big 4 job first and see if you can use the brand/skills from that to eventually move into the actual role you want. I don’t really think a CFA will help you much in this case unless you focus specifically on public markets roles and not deal-based roles.

No. The CFA will barely make a difference in terms of getting into top MSF programs. It really is mostly about your grades, recommendations, test scores, and the rest of your application. If you can’t get a real IB internship or even something that looks kind-of-real, you’ll have to do it during/before your MSF program in the US or UK to improve your chances of winning internship/job offers out of the program. It is difficult, but it’s possible with enough networking. I just don’t think the CFA is a great use of time as an “internship replacement” or as a way to boost your chances of getting into or using MSF programs effectively.

We have various articles on India. The short version is leave India ASAP and try to do a Master’s in the US or Europe. MBA is less ideal because it’s longer and more expensive. The CFA is still not that useful if your goal is IB and other deal-related roles. You need to move into a better market, get relevant experience, and get a degree from a top school to maximize your chances. Even then, the work visa could be an issue but is less of a problem in the UK.

Thanks for the helpful article. I am an undergraduate student 19 years old, I want to break into finance or preferably IB or VC, HF. Also, I am from India not USA or UK.

I have read many of your articles about this but I am still not sure what should be my future steps to break into IB should I go and do MBA from Europe or should I complete my master in finance from Europe(not MBA) and try to get into companies directly.

As you have repeatedly told that the market is cut throat and high competition, so please advise as what should be the efficient and better way to break into finance for non UK or USA student.

Also, CA in India is not so much valuable today and the time and effort in the articleship(mandatory internship of 3 years) is not worth it.

Also, is CFA is an option, frankly after reading the above articles I think it’s not so good idea.

Hope to hear from you.