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Profesional Designations and Memberships

James H

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Jun 15, 2021
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Hello everyone on Fastlane Forum,

My name is James and I am a 25 year old recent graduate and new employee working in Toronto Ontario. My short term goal is to pay off student loans. I recently read millionaire Fast Lane and looking towards eventually starting a property management business in a few years, hence is why I joined this forum.

I work in real estate valuation industry and have Domaine knowledge. My question for this forum is that I notice that many of these jobs require Designations that cost thousands of dollars , courses , yearly membership fees and time. This is the type dedication required to move up in a new role and im starting to think this process is a scam despite the trade off of having a 100+ - 200k income in the future.

As a 25 year old , what suggestions do you have of someone who just bought into the system for 7 years and is looking to make a turn to entrepreneurship and also thoughts on all these career paths requiring expensive and time consuming Designations.

Is it worth it all ? I would also like to hear from those people who are professionally designated and went through that process and decided that entrepreneurship was for them* Especially living in canada with the cost of living being high. Thank you
 
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MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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Sounds like you are undecided on life.

Building a business doesn't require designations 99.9% of the time.

If you are 99.9% sure you want to be an entrepreneur, then you are wasting your time and money.

But as I said, it sounds like you are unsure. So as a lifelong employee, they probably have value.
 

Kevin88660

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Hello everyone on Fastlane Forum,

My name is James and I am a 25 year old recent graduate and new employee working in Toronto Ontario. My short term goal is to pay off student loans. I recently read millionaire Fast Lane and looking towards eventually starting a property management business in a few years, hence is why I joined this forum.

I work in real estate valuation industry and have Domaine knowledge. My question for this forum is that I notice that many of these jobs require Designations that cost thousands of dollars , courses , yearly membership fees and time. This is the type dedication required to move up in a new role and im starting to think this process is a scam despite the trade off of having a 100+ - 200k income in the future.

As a 25 year old , what suggestions do you have of someone who just bought into the system for 7 years and is looking to make a turn to entrepreneurship and also thoughts on all these career paths requiring expensive and time consuming Designations.

Is it worth it all ? I would also like to hear from those people who are professionally designated and went through that process and decided that entrepreneurship was for them* Especially living in canada with the cost of living being high. Thank you
I distinguish between regulatory certification (mandated by the government) which are useful for practitioners in the industry versus “professional designation” which is really a examination board making money for themselves, and they might not deliver the value that is worth your time.

It really depends on the field. Usually engineering qualification holds more value for practitioners-literally you can stamp your name and collect fee as a consultant. Accounting in Singapore has no entry barrier (anyone who is willing to put in the hours can clock experience in the big 4) but some higher certification becomes almost essential due to market competition when you move up the corporate role or decides to be a tax consultant. Financial analyst certification like (CFA) is largely a “scam” because people rarely got a job for having the cert but rather you see people got a job first and then do the paper to build paper credentials.

When it comes to business it also depends if you are working in a heavily regulated field. And if you are a consultant offering advisory services. I doubt you need any in internet or software business.
 

James H

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
25%
Jun 15, 2021
4
1
Sounds like you are undecided on life.

Building a business doesn't require designations 99.9% of the time.

If you are 99.9% sure you want to be an entrepreneur, then you are wasting your time and money.

But as I said, it sounds like you are unsure. So as a lifelong employee, they probably have value.
Thank you for your response MJ.

I am conflicted with life a bit actually at the moment. What my intentions were was to build some short term experience and pay down my debt strictly. Apart of it is fear, since there is a pandemic happening and where I live cost of living is high and not so business friendly.
 
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James H

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
25%
Jun 15, 2021
4
1
I distinguish between regulatory certification (mandated by the government) which are useful for practitioners in the industry versus “professional designation” which is really a examination board making money for themselves, and they might not deliver the value that is worth your time.

It really depends on the field. Usually engineering qualification holds more value for practitioners-literally you can stamp your name and collect fee as a consultant. Accounting in Singapore has no entry barrier (anyone who is willing to put in the hours can clock experience in the big 4) but some higher certification becomes almost essential due to market competition when you move up the corporate role or decides to be a tax consultant. Financial analyst certification like (CFA) is largely a “scam” because people rarely got a job for having the cert but rather you see people got a job first and then do the paper to build paper credentials.

When it comes to business it also depends if you are working in a heavily regulated field. And if you are a consultant offering advisory services. I doubt you need any in internet or software business.
Its property management. I need a certain level of courses. ( 6 ) to work in the field and start the business preferably were I live in Canada. Atleast 1 year experience as well.
 

Kevin88660

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Its property management. I need a certain level of courses. ( 6 ) to work in the field and start the business preferably were I live in Canada. Atleast 1 year experience as well.
If you are confident about the industry, and intend to start a business in the industry in the future, then why not.

But like you said you are undecided maybe it is not a field you want to work for the long term. Are you considering anything else?
 

James H

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
25%
Jun 15, 2021
4
1
If you are confident about the industry, and intend to start a business in the industry in the future, then why not.

But like you said you are undecided maybe it is not a field you want to work for the long term. Are you considering anything else?
I only know real estate and property.

I just started working with property valuations but I'm looking at leveraging my xperience to start a business. I'm planning on property management here in Canada since everyone wants to become RE investors
 
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