SABEW, in partnership with the CFA Institute, awarded scholarships to five journalists to participate, free of charge, in the Institute’s Claritas Investment Certificate program.
CFA Institute is the organization behind the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. It created the Claritas program to give participants a clear understanding of the investment industry and the professional responsibilities within it. Focused on the essentials of finance, ethics, and investment roles, the program, which costs $685, requires approximately 100 hours of study and generally can be completed within six months.
It’s designed for people who want a financial certification from CFA Institute without going through the much more rigorous Chartered Financial Analyst program, which has three levels, thousands of pages of study materials, and takes at least 18 months to complete.
More than three dozen SABEW members formally applied for the five complimentary vouchers.
The SABEW members awarded the vouchers:
Brad Allen, a Minneapolis-based freelancer with a 25-year background in investor relations. He writes about capital markets, personal finance, business and the economy, contributing to Investor Relations Magazine and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Hanah Cho, a business reporter at The Dallas Morning News who covers banks, financial services and entrepreneurs. Previously, she was a reporter at The Baltimore Sun where she covered energy, investing and business of gambling.
Dimitra DeFotis, who has written about equity investing ideas for Barron’s and Barrons.com since 2000. Her current beat is emerging markets. Her stories also have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune. She completed a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship at Columbia University, where she attended the business school and earned a master’s degree in journalism.
Roseanne Gerin, a Washington, D.C.-based news editor at Radio Free Asia and recent Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University. She previously worked as a journalist in China for six years, most recently as senior news editor at China Radio International in Beijing.
Deborah Nason, a New Jersey-based freelance business journalist. She has been writing for Investment News since 2005 and for the financial adviser section of CNBC.com since 2013. She is also an online instructor for Post University, teaching managerial communications.
Allen, who says he considers himself “fairly well acquainted with the financial markets,” found he learned a number of new things from the curriculum, including a deeper dive into markets and financial products.
“The test itself was challenging, but not overwhelming,” he says. “I think any SABEW member could easily go through the self-tutoring process as I did and complete the certification process in the six-month window. I expect the experience will inform my writing and reporting on financial markets.”
All SABEW members are invited to apply for a CFA Institute Claritas Program media scholarship that reduces the cost to $300. The scholarships are available to qualified members of the media, including reporters, journalists, and others who disseminate financial news, data, and education.
The Claritas opportunity is part of a broader SABEW partnership with CFA Institute in which the institute provides content at SABEW conferences. Topics have included evaluating companies’ earnings announcements and detecting potential corporate fraud.
To learn more about the Claritas program:
http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/claritas/Pages/index.aspx
For more details on the media scholarships:
http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/scholarships/Pages/media_scholarships.aspx
