I should probably add this to my Secret Sauce document but for now I'll just put it here. I think any serious finance major or CFA candidate must consume financial news and knowledge from as many sources as possible. Most people won't truly understand how all the theory you learn in Level 1 is actually used unless you follow the financial and business world. With all the events of the past 2 years, it is the best time to learn finance. Everyone is a genius when it's a bull market but it's time like these that separate the men from the boys. Here are some of the resources I have used:

• Wall Street Journal/Financial Times - this shouldn't need any explanation. You should be reading at least one of these daily, preferably both.
• CNBC/Bloomberg - as above. I watch CNBC religiously and use Bloomberg's site and iPhone app all the time. There is a lot of BS on CNBC and a lot of the commentators are clueless but my knowledge has increased exponentially by watching and putting what I've learned in context. Rick Santelli is the man.
  
• BusinessWeek - a lot of their material is old to me by the time I get it in the mail since I read WSJ/FT but they cover industry specific material you won't get in either. It's important to actually think beyond just Wall St and start getting a sense of how the "real world" interacts with the world of finance. It's my personal opinion that Wall Street needs to get beyond the model of hiring people who know only finance and nothing else and have never worked a day in their life in an actual industry outside of financial services. This is why a lot of the "star analysts" on the Street always seem to be behind the market when they make buy/sell/hold recommendations. One of the value propositions I will bring to any company willing to give me a shot is that I've worked in several different industries(aerospace, consulting, entertainment, electronics, consumer packaged goods, internet startups) and working in IT has allowed me to work with all functions of an enterprise(finance, sales, logistics). I will bring an outside perspective about how a business actually works that you just won't get in the urban jungle of downtown Manhattan.
  
• Financial Blogs - Although every resource above is great to use, it's important to remember that these are corporate owned entities which have their own agenda. They also get advertising dollars, aka their lifeblood, from the same companies they cover so they can't be as open and honest as independent folks. I always take anything I read or hear with a grain of salt. I've become a HUGE fan of several blogs run by people who don't work on Wall St and have no problems being contrarian when it's unpopular. I've learned a lot from these blogs and I highly recommend you add them to your daily reading list.

                        

• Market Ticker - run by a gent called Karl Denninger. Must read material and you should go back thru the past 2 years of his posts to see how dead on he his. His rhetoric can get animated at times, but I've learned a lot from him. He also runs a great forum for investors located here
• BoomBustBlog - I want to be Reggie Middleton when I grow up. God I wish I had the courage to follow his advice over the past year. A definite contrarian who is bearish on a lot of financials right now and his track record has been impeccable. His forensic analysis is top notch. You have to register to see some of his content and the real juicy stuff is reserved for paid subscribers but even his free material and commentary are dead on.
• Mr. Mortgage - I actually found this guy on Market Ticker and he runs his own blog where he opines on the real estate and mortgage markets. He cuts thru the bull and was calling BS on Lehman's numbers well before anyone else was.
• Mish Global Economic Trend Analysis - Mike "Mish" Shedlock is an economist who works for an investment adviser on the West Coast. His analysis has been dead on for the past year.

Those are the main ones I have in my RSS list and try to read everyday. If you don't use RSS currently or have no idea what it is, I highly recommend you begin to use it to read your favorite blogs, websites, etc. Much easier to have the news come to you than you remembering to visit each site everyday. I hope these resources help you. Please feel free to email me with more suggestions or post in the comments. I'll eventually roll this into the Secret Sauce.

Since I'm not pursuing Level 2 this year, I've been kicking around what to do with the blog in the coming months. I think I'm going to switch its focus to the job search I'm about to undertake and also continue to refine my L1 Success document. I'm planning on changing the layout to something a bit fancier and add some links to sites and resources I found helpful. Any suggestions?

As promised, here is my own "secret sauce" for passing the L1 exam.

Located here.

I will be updating it from time to time so always check the version history table and use the link above to get the latest version. I hope it helps at least one person. Send me feedback, I'm interested to hear what people think.