CPA vs. CFA

They're 2 completely separate things and both are very difficult in their own right. What kind of job are you hoping to get out of this? These aren't the kinds of things you can just causally pick up with a few months of studying, that's why they're valuable.

I can't imagine how you would have the time. I have two jobs and attempting to get the CPA burned me out.

If you want to work for a financial institution, most will look very highly on someone working toward their CFA. Especially those who have a CFA designation look almost exclusively at people obtaining it because they know how much work and effort it takes, however, not a ton of people realize the extensive amount of preparation and knowledge it takes so make sure its the field you want to go into.

I was taking it during my masters and I passed the first part but left the industry and went in another direction so I decided not to continue with the program because noone at my work knew what the CFA was.

CPA has more weight on a larger scale, but if you want to be an Analyst for a financial company or be in wealth management a CFA will get your foot in the doors of a lot of firms.

CPA has broader business application. CFA is very specific to high finance. You'll rarely see job postings request CFA unless its an asset management or equity research position. On the other hand, nearly everything touching accounting or non-asset management finance would see value in a CPA. So unless you want to work in the money management business or in security valuation, there's not a whole hell of a lot of people who care about CFA. But make no mistake, within those few professions, it is the be all end all designation.

LINK

Just came across this article from CNBC on MBA vs. CFA