Meet the CFA, an investment advisor who can look under the hood

For financial professionals, there are many reasons to get a certain designation. Noah Damsky went for the CFA — standing for "chartered financial advisor" — because it was the most difficult.

"I like to go for what I think is the hardest to get, and I think that was the hardest to get at the time," said Damsky, a CFA and the founder of Marina Wealth Advisors in Los Angeles. "I think the CFA charter is the most challenging and the most competitive."

CFA is just one letter away from CFP (certified financial planner), but the two certifications are very different. While both are for wealth managers, the CFA is also for portfolio managers, investment analysts and financial strategists. Simply put, the CFA provides much deeper knowledge of investments.

"It's an investment-focused designation," Damsky said. "The CFP is much more broad-based — it covers investments, but it also covers things like general financial planning, insurance and everything in between. I think the CFA charter is more of a deeper dive on the investment side."

According to the CFA Institute, which issues the designation, that's by design. From the very beginning, the CFA was about investing first and advising second.

"The program has historically been focused on the buy side of investment analysis and portfolio management, and we have started to expand that out in recognition of having drawn interest from all corners of the industry, including the sell side," said Chris Wiese, managing director of education at the CFA Institute.

READ MORE: Meet the CPWA, a key designation for serving HNW clients

For Damsky, the CFA certification was the natural choice. When he first started studying for it, he was an analyst at the investment giant PIMCO, where just about everyone had their charter. But by the time he earned it, he had taken the leap from investment analysis to wealth management, landing a job as a client advisor at the financial firm Bessemer Trust. 

"I was probably 25, and I looked 18," Damsky recalled. "You're swimming upstream, and you need whatever you can to help establish yourself as credible."

At that point, Damsky found that having his CFA served a different purpose: It didn't help him fit in. It helped him stand out.

READ MORE: What the letters mean: 6 designations every advisor and client should know

"When you're dealing with people in the industry who are managing billions of dollars, and you're trying to get them to trust you … it just gives you a lot of quick equity in people's eyes," Damsky said. "Portfolio managers said, 'OK, this guy gets it. I trust he won't screw this thing up.'"

Earning a CFA charter isn't easy. The requirements are steep, and the application process is one of the toughest in the industry. But if advisors can make it to the other side, the rewards can be significant. Here's what wealth managers should know about it: