Beth Sanford Earns Chartered Financial Analyst Designation

Beth Sanford, an Assistant Portfolio Manager at AAM Insurance Investment Management in Chicago has earned the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) designation.
The CFA charter, the most respected and recognized investment credential in the world, represents a tradition of upholding the highest standards of education and integrity in the investment profession. The charter is recognized globally by employers, investment professionals, and investors as the definitive standard by which to measure the competence, integrity, and dedication of serious investment professionals.

Recipients of the CFA charter have successfully completed the CFA Program, a graduate-level, self-study curriculum and a series of three intensive examinations taken sequentially, which, in total, takes most candidates between two and five years. Candidate surveys report that preparation for the three exams typically requires at least 900 combined hours of study.
The CFA Program, which is administered by CFA Institute, the global not-for-profit association of investment professionals, sets a standard that is acknowledged around the world for measuring the competence and integrity of financial analysts, portfolio managers, and investment advisers. Currently, more than 100,000 investment professionals in 135 countries and territories hold the CFA charter.

The first CFA exam was administered in 1963. Due to the rigor of the program, only around one in five candidates who enroll in the CFA Program pass all three exams and meet the professional and ethical requirements to earn the charter. Earning the designation demonstrates mastery of the skills most needed for investment analysis and decision making in today’s fast-evolving global financial industry.

Administered worldwide in English, the CFA Program is firmly grounded in the knowledge and skills required every day in the investment profession and covers ethical and professional standards, securities analysis and valuation, international financial statement analysis, quantitative methods, economics, corporate finance, portfolio management, and performance measurement.
Sanford has worked in the financial industry for six years.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics, she began her financial career at AAM directly out of college. Sanford was recently recognized by the Insurance Accounting and Systems Association (IASA) for the Top 30 Under 30 program. According to the association, the list recognizes 30 individuals under the age of 30 whose contributions to the industry are deemed outstanding.

“I am thrilled to finally receive my charter,” Sanford said. “It represents the successful culmination of hundreds of hours of study.”

John Bowman, CFA, managing director, Americas at CFA Institute, explained what motivates candidates to make such a significant investment of their time and energy to seek to earn the CFA designation.

“For 50 years, candidates have sought to earn the CFA charter for two chief reasons,” Bowman said. “One, to expand and test their knowledge of current practice across a broad range of investment topics, and two, to demonstrate to clients, employers, and peers their mastery of a demanding body of knowledge.

“In the past decade, as the CFA Program has been adopted as a worldwide standard, the charter also has become an ‘international passport’ to work in financial markets anywhere in the world,” Bowman concluded.

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