It is important for students to choose college degrees that can help them obtain employment after graduation. The field of finance is a great option because it offers a wide variety of career paths that people can pursue. Another advantage of studying finance is that there are lots of jobs available in the marketplace. Pursuing a career in finance is also financially rewarding. The average salary of finance related jobs in the United States is $57,200 (“What’s the average salary”). There are different career opportunities for people that study finance. Five finance related careers are corporate finance, financial planning, insurance, commercial banking, and real estate.
Corporate finance is an attractive career field because all major corporations have an accounting and finance department. One of the most crucial functions of corporate finance jobs is managing the capital of an enterprise, while at the same time reducing exposure to risk. They support the accounting staff in the preparation of financial statements and create forecasted financial statements. Finding ways to improve the profitability of a firm is another important responsibility. The corporate finance staff helps management negotiate merger acquisitions by applying quantitative methods to evaluate the value of a targeted acquisition. Five of the job positions available in corporate finance are internal auditors, financial analyst, financial managers, treasurers, and chief financial officer (CFO). The CFO is the highest financial position in a corporation. The average starting salary for corporate finance jobs is $35,000 to $50,000 a year (“Corporate finance”). Three important skills that a person must possess to work in corporate finance are ability to perform market research, math ability, and analytical skills.
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Financial planner is another career path available to finance graduates. The job of a financial planner is to help individuals manage their personal finances and to provide advice on how to improve them in the future. They assist individuals in tax planning, retirement plan, college fund for children, and other financial related matters. Financial planners also provide advice to corporate clients. Professionals that work in this field must become certified financial planners (CFP). A CFP can establish his own practice. The salary of a certified financial planner in the United States ranges from $43,039 to $118,173 (“Average salary for certification”). Some of the skills required to succeed as a financial planner are written and verbal communication skills, interpersonal ability, and quantitative reasoning.
A person that studies finance can also work in the insurance industry. Insurance involves providing people or businesses with protection against risk. Three types of insurance people can purchase are health insurance, car insurance, and home insurance. Most finance graduates that start working in this industry does so as a sales representative. Some of the important skills that insurance salesmen must possess are superb verbal communication skills, ability to persuade others, and negotiation skills. A job position that requires an elevated level of mathematical reasoning that finance people can aspire within the insurance industry is actuary. The median salary of actuaries in the United States is $81,000 per year (“Actuary salary”).
Another career option finance graduates can pursue is in commercial banking. Banks are important financial institutions that provide a valuable service to the economy. Three of the job positions available in banks are tellers, loan officers, and bank managers. Working in a bank requires high ethical standards and to relate well with the public. Large banks with operations in more than one country often recruit students that specialize in international finance. The average salary of a bank manager is $58,907 a year (“Average salary for industry”).
A fifth career alternative in finance is to work in real estate. Most Americans purchase a home once they start a family. Some of the jobs available in the real estate industry are realtors, brokers, and real estate investment. The job of a realtor is to sell homes or commercial buildings. The broker negotiates with the bank the terms of the mortgage. The career option in real estate that has the potential to earn the highest income is real estate investments. Successful real estate investors earn upwards of $70,000 a year (“Real estate investment”). Some of the skills required to work in real estate are interpersonal skills, analytical ability, and vision.
The finance related career that interests me the most is real estate investments. One of the reasons I selected real estate investments as my preferred finance career is because my father works in the industry as he owns a real estate investment company. Once I graduate I will work at my father’s firm as a real estate investment analyst. I will work at the company, but I also plan to pursue my own real estate projects once I accumulate enough capital. This career excites me because it allows a person to evaluate diverse projects of real estate properties including homes, apartments, and commercial buildings. All Americans want to make money off the real estate market, thus there is always going to be work available for professionals in this industry.
There are many career options available for finance graduates that provide very good compensation. The demand for finance related jobs is going to continue to increase in the next decades. My preferred career choice in finance is real estate investments. Since housing prices went down over 30% during the Great Recession and prices of real estate have not reached the level prior to the recession there are lots of opportunities to make money in real estate. The real estate market is still undervalued, thus analyzing properties can help real estate investors find bargain deals.
