@CannotPassAgain … I've applied my Finance degree mainly to the financial services industry. Being series 7, 63, 24 & 4 licensed I have held salaried support roles such as a trading representative at a well known brokerage firm, retirement representative at a well known mutual fund company. These positions paid between 45k to 60k, 40hrs a week and involve dealing with the retail public directly. Many people are eventually driven away from these positions due to the exhaustion of working with the general retail public.
My experience also includes being a commissioned financial advisor/financial planner. My opinion of this role is more often than not you are just a salesman who happens to assist people with their investments with the conflict of selecting investments that generate enough commissions for you to make a living.
In my opinion the CFA is very narrow in it's opportunities outside the financial services industry, while the CPA can be applied universally. The high flying hedge fund type jobs you mentioned are very exclusive and probably not realistic for many unless they have a PHD in mathematics.
I've seen many higher level financial service company jobs paying above 60k, that don't involve sales or dealing with the retail public, but require a CPA.
BEC - 76, 77
REG- 75
AUD- 63, 67, 71, 76
FAR- 61, 67, 69, 74, 78
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