CFA® Program and FRM® Exam ROI and payback calculator

What it costs

Qualification and exam fees

Exam fees in US dollars before taxes, first attempts only. (check the official website; check the official website)

Show costs in

Exchange rate: GBP per US$1

ECB reference rate of 29 October 2026: 0.75093. Your bank or card provider may use another rate; enter it here.

Other costs (GBP) (optional)

Your own estimate: study materials, a prep course, a calculator, an allowance for a retake.

Paid by your employer or a scholarship (GBP) (optional)

Leave empty if you pay everything yourself.

Study hours (optional)

900 = at least 300 hours for each of the three levels, the minimum two prep and careers websites suggest for Level I; one of them reports more for Levels II and III (secondary sources, see Sources).

What you expect it to bring

Extra pay a year, before tax (GBP) (optional)

Only your own estimate – from an offer, your employer's pay grades or job adverts for the role you want. We suggest no figure: public pay data describe occupations, not what a qualification adds.

Tax and deductions on the extra pay (%) (optional)

Your top rate of income tax plus other deductions that apply to the extra pay. Leave empty to compare before tax.

Years of extra pay you count

Fewer years is the more cautious view.

Years before the extra pay starts (optional)

Whole years from paying until the rise starts, for example until you pass the last exam. Empty or 0: from the first year.

Discount rate (% a year, after inflation)

3% is the rate HM Treasury's Green Book (2026) uses after inflation for years 1 to 30. If you pay from savings, their interest after inflation is a fair choice; a higher rate is more cautious.

£577a year: the smallest pay rise that repays the cost

It repays £2,643 within 5 years at a discount rate of 3% a year, if the rise starts in the first year.

Enter the extra pay you expect to see the payback period, the net present value and a sensitivity check.

Your costs (GBP)
Exam fees: CFA® Program, Levels I to III – early registration	£2,643
Total cost	£2,643

Fees converted at US$1 = 0.75093 GBP (ECB reference rate of 29 October 2026); amounts rounded to whole units. Study time: 900 hours, not counted as money.

For scale: what the occupation pays

UK finance and investment analysts and advisers, full-time (SOC 2020 2422): median £53,940 a year, the middle half between £39,666 and £75,790 (tax year to April 2026, provisional). The break-even pay rise is 1.1% of that median.

Occupation data, not the effect of a qualification. Source: ONS ASHE 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Key facts

Break-even pay rise a year = total cost ÷ the present value of 1 a year over the years you count; above it, the net present value is positive.
The three CFA® Program levels cost US$1,140 (check the official website), US$1,140 (check the official website) and US$1,240 (check the official website) at early registration (exams from February 2027, before taxes).
The FRM® Exam costs a one-time enrolment fee of US$400 (check the official website) plus US$600 (check the official website) for Part I and US$600 (check the official website) for Part II at early registration (May 2027 window).
The default discount rate is 3% a year after inflation, the rate HM Treasury's Green Book (2026) sets for years 1 to 30.
Public pay data describe occupations, not the effect of a qualification, so the calculator suggests no pay rise.

How is the result calculated?

The calculator puts everything in today's money. The cost is paid at the start; the extra pay arrives at the end of each year you count, after a delay you choose. A discount rate turns later money into today's money, because money now can earn interest or pay off debt.

C = F \times x + O - E

$C$ is the total cost in your currency: the exam fees $F$ in US dollars at $x$ units of your currency per US$1 (ECB reference rate of 29 October 2026, or your own rate) (ECB, euro reference rates of 29 October 2026), plus your other costs $O$ , less what an employer or scholarship pays, $E$ .

\mathrm{PVF} = \frac{1 - (1 + r)^{-n}}{r} \times (1 + r)^{-d}

The present value factor $\mathrm{PVF}$ is what 1 a year of extra pay is worth today: an annuity over $n$ years at the discount rate $r$ , pushed back by the $d$ years before the rise starts. At a rate of 0 it is simply $n$ .

U^{*} = \frac{C}{\mathrm{PVF}} \qquad U^{*}_{\text{before tax}} = \frac{U^{*}}{1 - t}

$U^{*}$ is the break-even pay rise after tax: the smallest extra pay a year that repays the cost within the years you count. $t$ is the share of the extra pay lost to tax and other deductions. This is the result you see before you enter a pay rise of your own.

\mathrm{NPV} = U\,(1 - t) \times \mathrm{PVF} - C \qquad \text{payback} = d + \frac{C}{U\,(1 - t)}

With your expected pay rise $U$ before tax, the net present value is the extra pay after tax in today's money less the cost; above zero, the qualification repays more than it costs. The simple payback counts the extra pay as it comes. The discounted payback adds up each year's extra pay in today's money until it covers the cost, and interpolates within the year in which it does. The internal rate of return is the discount rate at which the net present value is exactly zero; the calculator finds it by halving the interval. The sensitivity check repeats the calculation with the pay rise 20% lower, 20% higher and starting a year later.

The default discount rate is 3% a year after inflation – the social time preference rate HM Treasury sets for years 1 to 30 of an appraisal. The Green Book applies it only to values in real terms, so enter the pay rise in today's money, without inflation (HM Treasury, The Green Book (2026)).

Worked example

1. The break-even pay rise for the CFA® Program

The three levels at early registration cost US$3,520 in exam fees: US$1,140 (check the official website), US$1,140 (check the official website) and US$1,240 (check the official website). On 29 October 2026 the ECB rates give US$1 = 0.75093 GBP, so $C = 3{,}520 \times 0.75093 \approx 2{,}643.27$ pounds. Over five years at 3%, starting in the first year:

\mathrm{PVF} = \frac{1 - 1.03^{-5}}{0.03} \approx 4.5797 \qquad U^{*} = \frac{2{,}643.27}{4.5797} \approx 577.17

So the CFA® Program fees are repaid within five years if your pay after tax rises by about £577 a year. For the FRM® Exam – the enrolment fee and both parts at early registration, US$1,600 – the same check gives about £262 a year.

2. Payback with your own pay rise

You plan the FRM® Exam, add £900 for study materials and expect your employer to raise your pay by £3,000 a year once you have passed both parts, a year from now. Tax and other deductions take 40% of the rise, and you count 8 years of it.

C = 1{,}600 \times 0.75093 + 900 \approx 2{,}101.49 \qquad U\,(1 - t) = 3{,}000 \times 0.6 = 1{,}800

\mathrm{PVF} = \frac{1 - 1.03^{-8}}{0.03} \times 1.03^{-1} \approx 6.8152 \qquad \mathrm{NPV} \approx 1{,}800 \times 6.8152 - 2{,}101.49 \approx 10{,}165.94

The net present value is about £10,166. Without discounting the cost is repaid after $1 + 2{,}101.49 / 1{,}800 \approx 2.17$ years; discounted, after 2.2 years. The internal rate of return is 53.9% a year.

3. What if the rise is smaller or later?

With the rise 20% lower (£2,400 before tax), the net present value falls to £7,712. If the rise only starts a year later, it is £9,809 and the discounted payback moves to 3.3 years. Either way the fees are repaid; what decides the case is whether the rise comes at all – which is why the calculator asks you for it instead of assuming one.

What does it cost to qualify?

The exam fees are the part of the cost that is easy to pin down. These are the sums of the fees in our register for first attempts, before taxes; each fee links to the exam body's page to check it.

Exam fees for first attempts and study hours to plan
Qualification	Early registration	Standard registration	Study hours to plan
CFA® Program, Levels I to III	US$3,520	US$4,570	at least 900
FRM® Exam, enrolment and Parts I and II	US$1,600	US$2,000	about 500

The fees per exam: CFA® Program Level I US$1,140 (check the official website) early or US$1,490 (check the official website) standard, Level II US$1,140 (check the official website) or US$1,490 (check the official website), Level III US$1,240 (check the official website) or US$1,590 (check the official website); FRM® Exam enrolment US$400 (check the official website), Part I US$600 (check the official website) or US$800 (check the official website), Part II US$600 (check the official website) or US$800 (check the official website). The study hours are planning figures of prep and careers websites, not requirements: at least 300 hours for CFA® Program Level I (Soleadea, study hours (secondary source)) (300Hours, preparing for Level I (secondary source)), and about 250 for each FRM® Exam part (300Hours, Part I study guide (secondary source)) (300Hours, Part II study guide (secondary source)). For the details of one exam – retakes, deferrals, your currency – use the Level I cost calculator or the FRM® Exam cost calculator, then choose “Another qualification” here and enter that total as other costs, so the fees are not counted twice.

Where does your pay rise figure come from?

This is the number that decides the result, and no statistic can give it to you: government pay surveys record occupations, not qualifications. Five honest ways to estimate it:

Ask your employer. Ask HR whether passing moves you up a pay grade or brings a one-off award, and whether they pay the fees.
Read ten job adverts for the role you want, with salary ranges. Compare those that ask for the qualification with those that do not – and note what else differs, such as experience.
Use an offer you actually have, if a move depends on the qualification.
Place your current pay in the percentiles of your occupation with the finance salary explorer, to see how far your pay is from the middle of the market.
Enter a cautious figure and check the sensitivity table: if the result only works with the rise 20% higher, it rests on hope.

Which discount rate should you use?

The discount rate says how much less money later is worth to you than money now. The calculator starts at 3% a year, the rate the UK government uses after inflation to compare costs and benefits over years 1 to 30 (HM Treasury, The Green Book (2026)). For your own decision, the interest you give up on savings (after inflation) or pay on a loan are fair alternatives. A higher rate makes later pay count for less and is the more cautious view; at 0% the calculator simply adds up.

What this means for you

If the break-even rise is small next to your pay, money is not the real question – the hours are. Check your week with the study-time budget calculator before you register.
If the payback needs more years than you would stay in the field, ask your employer to pay the fees or wait until a role needs the qualification.
If you are choosing between the two, let the work decide first: the two-minute career quiz and the CFA® Program or FRM® Exam comparison help with that.

This is a calculation with your own assumptions, not financial or careers advice. For the wider question, read is the CFA® Program worth it and, if an MBA is the alternative, CFA® Program vs MBA.

Which mistakes are common?

Comparing a gross pay rise with costs paid from net pay. Enter your deductions, or the result looks better than it is.
Counting the rise from day one. If it comes only after the last exam, enter the years until then.
Counting a whole salary instead of the difference. Only the extra pay the qualification brings belongs in the calculation.
Leaving out retakes, study materials and unpaid leave. Add them to other costs.
Reading occupation pay as a qualification premium. A median for analysts says what analysts earn, not what a certificate adds.

What this tool covers

Last updated

30 October 2026

Based on

Exam fees from our fact register, each taken from a dated secondary source and linked to the exam body's page – see the sources below
ECB euro reference rates of 29 October 2026
HM Treasury's Green Book (2026) for the default discount rate
Study-hour planning figures of prep and careers websites (secondary sources)
Your own estimates, above all the pay rise

Includes

Exam fees of the CFA® Program levels or the FRM® Exam parts, first attempts, early or standard registration
Your other costs and what an employer or scholarship pays
Break-even pay rise, net present value, simple and discounted payback, internal rate of return, value per study hour
A sensitivity check and the cash flow year by year
US and UK pay of the occupation for scale (BLS, ONS)

Not included

A predicted pay rise or a pay premium for any qualification
Pay you give up if you study instead of working
Retakes, unless you add them to other costs
Taxes on the fees, and bank or card charges
Membership dues after qualifying

Frequently asked questions

Is the CFA® Program worth it financially?

That depends on the extra pay it brings you, which no public statistics measure. The calculator turns the question round: at early registration the three levels cost US$1,140 (check the official website), US$1,140 (check the official website) and US$1,240 (check the official website); repaying those fees within five years at a 3% discount rate takes a pay rise of about £577 a year after tax. Study materials and retakes come on top.

Is the FRM® Exam worth it financially?

The same check applies. The fees – the enrolment fee of US$400 (check the official website) plus US$600 (check the official website) for Part I and US$600 (check the official website) for Part II at early registration – are repaid within five years at a 3% discount rate by a pay rise of about £262 a year after tax.

Why does the calculator not suggest a pay rise?

Government pay surveys such as those of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the UK Office for National Statistics record occupations, not qualifications, so they cannot show what a certification adds. Only you can estimate it – from an offer, your employer's pay grades or job adverts for the role you want.

Which discount rate should I use?

The calculator starts at 3% a year after inflation, the rate HM Treasury's Green Book (2026) uses for years 1 to 30. The interest you give up on savings or pay on a loan, after inflation, are fair alternatives; a higher rate is the more cautious view.

What is the difference between payback and discounted payback?

The simple payback counts the extra pay as it comes. The discounted payback first turns each year's extra pay into today's money at the discount rate, so it takes longer. Both are interpolated within the year in which the cost is repaid.

Should I count my study hours?

The calculator does not price your time, because only you know what an evening is worth. With study hours entered, it shows the net present value per study hour. The CFA® Program preset uses at least 300 hours a level and the FRM® Exam preset about 250 a part – planning figures of prep and careers websites.

Does the calculator save my numbers?

No. The calculation runs in your browser. Your choices appear only in the page address after the # sign, so you can share a result; they are not sent to us.

Sources

HM Treasury (GOV.UK): The Green Book (2026) – discounting: the social time preference rate of 3.00% in real terms for years 1 to 30, applied to values in real terms (28 October 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
European Central Bank: Euro foreign exchange reference rates – rates of 29 October 2026 (all currencies quoted against the euro) (29 October 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Soleadea (exam prep provider, secondary source): How Many Study Hours Does the CFA® Exam Really Take? (3 August 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
300Hours (finance careers website, secondary source): CFA Level 1: How to Prepare & Pass CFA in 18 Months (9 September 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
300Hours (finance careers website, secondary source): FRM Part 1 Study Guide (2026): How to Pass First Time (4 June 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
300Hours (finance careers website, secondary source): FRM Part 2 Study Guide (2026): How to Pass First Time (4 June 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics (public domain): Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 – national estimates for 13-2051 Financial and Investment Analysts, 13-2052 Personal Financial Advisors, 13-2054 Financial Risk Specialists, 11-3031 Financial Managers, 13-2011 Accountants and Auditors, 13-2041 Credit Analysts and 00-0000 All Occupations, and metropolitan area estimates for CBSA 35620 (New York) and CBSA 14460 (Boston) (employment, mean and percentiles of annual wages, read through the BLS Public Data API) (15 May 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0): Earnings and hours worked, occupation by four-digit SOC: ASHE Table 14 – 2026 provisional, Tables 14.7a (annual pay, gross), 14.7b (coefficients of variation) and 14.9a (paid hours worked, total), full-time employee jobs, United Kingdom (22 October 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
UWorld Finance (exam prep provider, secondary source): CFA Exam Fees and Registration Guide for 2027. Accessed 30 October 2026.
CFA Institute: CFA exam dates and fees. Accessed 26 October 2026.
300Hours (finance careers website, secondary source): FRM Fees: What's The Total Cost? (4 June 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.
Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP): FRM Exam information: format and exam topics. Accessed 26 October 2026.
PrepProviders (comparison website, secondary source): FRM exam dates and fees, 2026 to 2027 (5 October 2026). Accessed 30 October 2026.

Study aid only – not legal, financial or careers advice. The tool runs in your browser and stores nothing.

High Performer Certs is an independent study platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CFA Institute or the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). We are not a CFA Institute Prep Provider and not a GARP Exam Preparation Provider. CFA Institute does not endorse, promote, review or warrant the accuracy or quality of our products and services. GARP does not endorse, promote, review or warrant the accuracy of our products or services. All questions and explanations are our own original material and contain no CFA Institute or GARP exam, curriculum or practice questions. CFA®, Chartered Financial Analyst®, CIPM® and GIPS® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute. FRM® and GARP® are trademarks owned by the Global Association of Risk Professionals.