Would anyone consider financing everything if they got a good intrest rate. Food, candy, water, movie tickets etc. I know this might be a stretch but we pay cash for those things because we have the money lying around in our pockets, Now I'm sure some wall street financial guru could convince you to take that $.45 cents and stretch it out over time to maximize your portfolio......

Do some people have a hard time realizing that there are some people in this world who have that kind of money lying around like we find in our pockets when we do the laundry. Stop trying to apply the way 99% of the world lives to the 1% that don't live that way.

 

There are people who can buy a Porsche like I can buy a candy bar, sure, but this thread is about a guy who is stressing about a few hundred a month, clearly NOT in your 1%. Therefore, it's irrelevant to bring that 1% up in this discussion.

 

Don't pick on me because the OP ripped you a new one.

 

He did? I couldn't understand what he was trying to say. I just decided to shut up before someone else shut me up (moderator).

 

Chris, I speak from personal experience, once you get your CPA, the MBA will offer very little value on top of the certification. Law of diminishing returns. Not saying to not go for it, but the CPA and experience in accounting is more than enough and is an education in and of itself.

If you use your degree in accounting and the CPA correctly (assuming you are in the Big 4 or other top tier firm), try and make manager and beyond, that way when you go to work in private, you will assure yourself a six figure income (as a controller, CAO, CFO). Make Partner in a Big 4 and you can earn mid-six figures and on into the seven figures based on experience, specialty and seniority.

I am guessing you are interested in finance? If that is the case, a good supplement to your accounting degree and CPA would be a certificate in Finance. More bang for the buck. Less time in school as well since its just purely finance courses and none of the prereq BS that a school makes you take for say, an MBA. If you are really gung ho after that....go for a CFA then.

Another avenue you can take as well would be to get a law degree. A CPA combined with a law degree is very powerful. Not only do regular law grads start in the sixes, but with a CPA, you become a valuable commodity, particularly if say the law firm you work for does extensive business with Fortune 500 companies. Most snot-nosed lawyers have no idea about business other than what they learn in school. Real-world and school are two different animals. Dealing with lawyers that have real-world business backgrounds are sought after by firms as well as corporate law departments. They make the big-bucks too. Very big bucks.

 

[QUOTE=GPMike,Jan 4 2007, 01:25 PM]If you use your degree in accounting and the CPA correctly (assuming you are in the Big 4 or other top tier firm), try and make manager and beyond, that way when you go to work in private, you will assure yourself a six figure income (as a controller, CAO, CFO).

 

in canada, you MUST work for a certified auditing firm to get your required work experience to get your CA.

 

We've got a 150 credit-hours requirement here. They both seem kind of silly to me, as ANY accredited hours count (I could take a welding class and that would count), and there are a lot of things you can do that are accounting but not auditing, especially public auditing.

 

I have both a BBA and MBA in Finance, along w/ 24 hrs. of accounting. When I first started in my career, I planned to get a CPA as well, but quickly saw the CPA's were doing jobs that didn't esp. suit my interests (accounting, audit, etc.), while I've been able to do much more interesting things like corporate finance, liquidity management, corp. credit, corp. planning, etc.

In the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley, though, CPA's are more valuable than ever, and I can now appreciate them more. Fortunately, I'm well-enough established in my career, and there are plenty of cool finance opportunites at my company that don't involve too much accounting. I've been an accounting manager, but have been lucky enough to avoid ever doing a journal entry!

It's hard to apply "one size fits all" advice when it comes to financial decisions, which is prob. what caused this thread to go off track.

 

I think getting the MBA is a great idea, if it is free, it is even better.

It's true that in some career paths the MBA doesn't add as much value as the CPA did, but look at the doors that an MBA offers. It is the ULTIMATE tool for people who want to switch careers. Try getting a CPA and then go into marketing. Or Operations. It is literally impossible unless you go down the ladder into entry level jobs. With your MBA, it becomes a reality. If you don't want to do accounting for the rest of your life, an MBA is a great transition point for you.

One word of caution, however...the ability to switch careers may diminish after your first post-MBA job. So, if your employer hits you with a contract to return to work for them for 2 years (pretty standard), you'll miss out on the career switching, to an extent.

I've always said that the most valuable part of an MBA is the campus recruiting...it may be worth your money to NOT have your employer pay your way (if they require a contract) and take advantage of your school's recruiting.