Career in Finance: Cracking the Code to Success

Well, isn’t finance all about turning tables? The unpredictable for many can become predictable for one when one learns the art of Finance. The numbers, charts, patterns, and theories that have the potential to make or break the economies of the world is what a career in finance all about. So, you ready to take it on? Let’s clear out the air about what finance actually is. Broadly speaking, finance is all about studying the management of money and how one can acquire and multiply it. It oversees the deployment and management of funds, credit, investments, banking, liabilities, and assets. Finance is a vast subject, theoretically and practically, for an individual to be well versed in the subject. Following are some of the subjects that one should be well aware of broadly if they plan to make a career in finance.

Top High-Paying Careers in Finance

A plethora of promising career opportunities are offered in the vast field of finance. Here are the top high-paying careers in Finance in 2023:

Top Careers in Finance	Average Salary
Investment Banker	INR 8 Lakhs per annum
Financial Planning Analyst	INR 5-10 Lakhs per annum
Chief Financial Officer	INR 15-25 Lakhs per annum
Risk Analyst	INR 7-10 Lakhs per annum
Asset Manager	INR 4-6 Lakhs per annum
Equity Research Analyst	INR 8 Lakhs per annum
Portfolio Manager	INR 11 Lakhs per annum
Public Accountant	INR 6-10  Lakhs per annum
Insurance and Claims Officer	INR 3-5 Lakhs per annum
Budget Analyst	INR 6.5- 22.5 Lakhs per annum
Credit Analyst	INR 6.5- 10 Lakhs per annum
Personal Financial Advisor	INR 3-5 Lakhs per annum
Venture Capital Analyst	INR 10-15 Lakhs per annum
Finance Professors/ Scholars	INR 10- 20 Lakhs per annum

Popular Career Profile

The following are the popular career profile in the field of Finance

Mutual Fund Analyst

This career in finance demands an individual to be well-versed with debt and equity market so that they can analyze, interpret, and make sound decisions in regard to mutual fund investment. An individual needs to be constantly tracking the market such that nothing goes unnoticed. With thousands of mutual funds in the market and around 200 asset management companies, there is an acute lack of talent available in this particular sector, making it a lucrative career option.

Hedge Fund Analyst

Analysts are the soul and heart of the hedge funds. Hedge funds are usually less formal, loosely structured and have fewer titles and tiers. This career in finance is passion driven. The passion for the securities and markets is essential for an individual to succeed in this adrenaline rushed job. Hedge fund investments aim to earn an active return for their investors. Herein, a hedge fund analyst is expected to help portfolio managers with the structure of the portfolio.

Private Wealth Manager

They are meant to build long-term client relationships and make significant contributions which leads to growing wealth and secures their legacies with customized wealth management solutions. Collaboration is done across the platform to research, interpret and provide them with investment ideas and remarkable client service. This career demands excellent presentation and communication skills. Passion for investing, the ability to multi-task, and exceptional organizational skills are the backbones of this career in finance. Working with the wealthiest individuals and families, one helps them to invest in various asset classes. This helps in gaining broad exposure of the markets and experience that will take one’s career in a positive direction.

Explore a Career in Wealth Management!

Investment Banker

A career in Investment Banking relates to the functions of a corporate financial analyst. Their main job is to raise capital to fund the operations of a corporation. Rather than dealing directly with investors, they help in raising money from capital markets. They also structure acquisitions, mergers, or sale for a client. Investment bankers may or may not be working with these firms but they are required to undertake huge financial transactions. Risk taking is a part and parcel for this career in finance.

Here are the best Investment Banking Courses!

Financial Planning Analyst

They are essential to any organization. In many organizations, there are complete departments dedicated to this career in finance. Their main role is forecasting, budgeting, and analyzing the activities that they comprehend to be important and support decisions of the Board of Directors, CEO and CFO. They analyze the operational activities of an organization, both qualitatively and quantitatively, so as to make sure that they are in sync with objectives and ultimate goals of an organization. An analyst studies trends of the industry, organization’s past performance to predict or prepare for an upcoming problem. They look into all the financial aspects of an organization from taxes, expenses, income, investments to financial investments.

Check Out CFP Course (Certified Financial Planner)

Chief Financial Officer

The main aim of a CFO is to maximize the financial performance of the organization. It elaborates into optimizing return on investment, liquidity, and reporting. As a senior executive, a CFO is also responsible for tracking the cash flows, analyzing the company’s strengths and weaknesses so as to propose corrective actions. CFO works with top-level management and is essential for the progress of an organization. This is one of the few careers in finance that may deal with all the activities associated with Finance.

Risk Analyst

As a risk analyst, an individual is meant to analyze and interpret the areas of potential risk threatening the company’s, asset management, earning capacity affecting the achievement of the ultimate goal. They use their qualitative and quantitative abilities to minimize and diversify the potential risks through currency exchange or other investment options. There is a need for high levels of precision and specialization in this career in finance. Risk analysts work in various sectors such as marketing, sales, production, or financial services. However, they specialize in credit, operations, and regulation.

Also Read: Career in Financial Risk Management

Asset Manager

Asset managers are meant to be expert in the diversification of clients’ profile so as to give them the best possible return. They are expected to manage the funds and achieve the financial goals depending upon clients’ objective and risk taking capacity. Many of the firms and individuals today hire asset management professionals to manage, evaluate, and grow the owned, leased, or sub-leased assets. Assets can range from physical real estate properties to the intellectual property of patents or goodwill.

Equity Research Analyst

The main purpose of an equity research analyst is to make recommendations to whether purchase, sell, or hold particular investment backed by financial analysis reports. They analyze, interpret and make reports on investments that the clients, institution, and investment banks might be interested in. An analyst generally focuses on a small group of stocks narrowed down via some attributes like industry or geographical area. They need to be updated and well versed with each and every detail or happenings of the company. There’s a quick response for every news communicated further via varied direct or indirect means. Developing a financial model and conducting comprehensive financial analysis are a crucial part of this career in finance.

Public Accountant

Public accounting is the sector of accounting that deals with clients from businesses, companies, or individuals. The services vary from client to client depending upon the size of the operation. Tasks at hand are consulting and advisory regarding accounting systems, and mergers and acquisitions. However, daily chores are that of formulating, reviewing and auditing of financial reports of an organization. Financial planning and analyzing budgets are also performed by a public accountant. There are also many careers in banking that hint towards the finance domain.

Check Out: Chief Public Accountant (CPA) Course

Insurance and Claims Officer

This career in finance is usually employed in the insurance department of a firm, finance agency, or insurance agency. An insurance and claims officer performs several tasks such that of supervisory and ground level operations depending upon the severity of the situation. To be more specific, insurance and claims officer is the one who decides whether an insurance company needs to pay out the claims or not. They also guide and train the insurance agents so as to ensure that the best customer service is provided on their behalf.

Budget Analyst

They help an organization to maintain its footing in terms of Finance. They analyze, interpret and make decisions on the basis of the firm’s income and expenditure. Estimating future budgetary needs and executing current budgets so that there is a constant effort to increase efficiency. Budget analysts are also involved in policy making, appraisals, performance evaluation and drafting legislation related to budgeting. However, end decision making is not taken by this career in finance but their suggestions are crucial to companies.

Credit Analyst

Evaluating the creditworthiness of the client is the main function of this career in finance. Depending upon the scale of the operation, the client can be an individual or a company. They assess the risk factors and influence the applications and approvals for credit grant. A credit analyst is expected to perform a thorough background check and financial analysis of the applications so as to come to an appropriate outcome. They conduct a thorough analysis of credit, past savings, incomes, assets, and other liabilities of the client. Credit analyst jobs are generally available in investment and commercial banks, investment companies, credit card issuing agencies, and credit rating agencies.

Must Read: Short-term Courses in Finance

Personal Financial Advisor

When an individual seeks external help to manage their finances, then the person hired is a Personal Financial Advisor. This career in finance helps an individual with taxes, investments, mortgages, insurance, retirement planning, etc. depending upon the services employed by the client. They evaluate and comprehend the current financial status of the clients and helps in devising future financial plans. Several factors such as age, financial goals, and risk-taking capacity are considered before devising the future financial plan. Financial advisors can specialize in many fields so that they can help their client make better and informed decisions. A Personal Financial Advisor can help avoid errors, find opportunities and optimize their outcomes, assist in sticking to the plans in times of tension, and manage risks in a tax-smart way so as to protect and grow the assets.

Venture Capital Analyst

The main job of a venture capital analyst is to determine where should the companies money be invested. A lot of research and analysis is done to determine whether money should be invested or not, since a large amount of money and risk is involved. Assessing business records, past ventures, and financial reports are essential for decision making. Community building and portfolio support are also a vital part of the job. The main objective of this career in finance is to generate revenue such that risks and return are in sync with each other.

Portfolio Manager

This career in finance demands constant analysis and research of current happenings and financial markets. Portfolio managers work regularly with analysts, as they are eventually responsible for final investment decision making across various asset classes for an individual client, asset management organization, or a fund. This is the ultimate job desired in financial sector wherein there are several steps in the ladder to be climbed up to reach this position over the years. They make the ultimate buying, selling, or holding decisions for securities. Portfolio managers need to maintain constant touch with investors through various means so as to explain the strategy, research, and decision-making rationale.

Business and Finance Professors/Scholars

Across various courses for business and finance undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. degrees there is the need for teachers and professors who are well versed with the subject matters and have a passion to research for the advancement in the field.

Top Universities for Finance 2023

Getting a renowned degree in Finance from a recognised and honoured institution or university is the foundation step or ingredient for the recipe for building a career in finance. Given below is the list of top universities abroad to study finance and earn a degree. 

University/ College	Country	QS World University Rankings 2023
Harvard University	USA	5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	USA	1
Stanford University	USA	3
London School of Economics and Political Science	UK	56
University of Oxford	UK	4
University of Cambridge	UK	2
University of Pennsylvania	USA	13
University of California Berkeley	USA	27
The University of Chicago	USA	10
New York University	USA	39
Columbia University	USA	22
National University of Singapore	Singapore	11
Yale University	USA	18
University of New South Wales	Australia	45

Best Finance Specialisations & Courses

In order to kickstart your career in finance, this field of study requires extensive knowledge and familiarity of a plethora of different courses, subjects, and topics that students may come across during the period of their undergraduate or postgraduate degree of study in the field of finance. Some of these subjects to build a good career in Finance are as follows: 

• International Finance 
• Behavioural Finance 
• Financial Mathematics 
• Corporate Finance 
• Financial Mathematics 
• Financial Economics 
• Fundamentals of Marketing
• Introduction to Project Management
• Personal Finance Concepts
• Introduction to Business Law
• Management Fundamentals
• International Business Communications
• Statistics: Data-Driven Decision Making
• Organizational Behavioural Principles
• International Business Practices
• Organizational Change
• Managerial Accounting Practices
• Business Accounting 

You can pursue the following degree programs in the aforementioned specialisations:

• Bachelor of Commerce (BCom)
• BCom Accounting and Finance
• Bachelor of Finance
• Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
• Bachelor of Science (BSc)
• Master of Commerce (MCom)
• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• MBA in Finance
• Master of Science (MSc)

Explore the Scope of MBA in Finance

Subjects in Finance

The study of Finance is like the study of power. The power that enables one to understand, comprehend, and apply the world of numbers so that money is never a problem. If you have a career in finance you will have the option to assume many roles that may deal with money generation either directly or indirectly, but the major objective for any career in finance will remain the same: Maximum return from the money employed.

Here are the basic and advanced subjects in Finance:

Basic Subjects Advanced Subjects
Fundamentals of Marketing Managerial Accounting Practices
Introduction to Project Management International Business Communications
Personal Finance Concepts Statistics: Data-Driven Decision Making
Accounting I Introduction to Corporate Finance
Macroeconomics Managing Human Resources
Microeconomics Organizational Change
Introduction to Business Law The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business
Management Fundamentals Business Strategy
Introductory Human Resource Management E-Business
Principles of Business Organizational Behavioural Principles
International Business Practices
Marketing and the Virtual Marketplace
Ethics: The hallmark of Leaders at All Levels

Skills Required 

Just like every other promising career field, you need to acquire some essential skills to thrive in the field of Finance such as:

• The keen ability and knowledge to understand and manipulate the accounts, numerical and statistical data. 
• Ability to analyse and interpret different types of data and information.
• Ability to decode the numbers.
• Ability to communicate your findings and interpretation clearly and correctly. 
• Understanding of numbers, accounts, stock marketing, financial terms and jargons, investment, planning and trade. 
• Good knowledge and understanding of the current business practices and business scenarios. 

In today’s world where Finance is the backbone of the economy, job opportunities are not hard to find but being worthy enough for them is the main point to focus upon here. The right education from top universities can do wonders in your career advancement. Leverage the opportunity at the right time with the right guidance with Leverage Edu. Connect with us at +91 8826200293.