Just like in business, when pursuing a career, you need to start with a vision; where would you be in two, five, ten or even twenty years down the road, and what service would you provide to get to where you want to be? One very important factor to consider when choosing a career is “will there be a sustained demand for your services down the road?”
A degree in finance can open a lot of opportunities that will remain in demand for decades to come. Those with a degree in finance can make a career in management, banking, entrepreneurship, sales or even on Wall Street.
Finance is the study of money. Finance will teach you how money works, how one form of money can be swapped for another, how it can be transferred, how stocks are traded on Wall Street, how corporate and government bonds are managed, how wealth ebbs and flows or how mortgages are coordinated, and how to steer an increasingly complex financial maze.
No one can avoid using money in this age and time and almost every one of us aside from maybe a few sages and hippies wants more money. Therefore, the demand for those with financial knowledge will always be in high demand.
Your degree in finance can help you become eligible for many jobs in financial services, including, portfolio management, banking, investment advisory, insurance, and more according to Maryville University.
As a graduate in financial services, you can work in a number of organizations including:
- Bank branch operations and management
- Commercial banks
- Customer services
- Financial planning
- Financial services sales
- Governmental regulatory firms
- Insurance firms
- Investment advisory firms
- Mortgage services
- Personal financial advising
- Portfolio management
Career opportunities for finance degree graduates include:
- Account Executive
- Analyst
- Client Manager
- Financial Consultant
- Financial Planner
- Financial Services Representative
- Financial Specialist
- Personal Banker
- Portfolio Manager
- Investment Officer
What Kind Of Salary Can I Earn With A Finance Degree?
Naturally, no one can forecast how much you stand to make in finance with complete certainty, nevertheless, the data obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics offer a practical starting point for a number of the foremost finance professions:
- Appraisers and assessors of real estate: Median pay per
year, 2016 — $68,150 - Budget analysts: Median pay per year, 2016 —
$73,840 - Credit analysts: Mean pay per year, 2016 — $81,160
- Credit counselors: Mean pay per year, 2016 —
$49,480 - Financial analysts: Median pay per year, 2016 —
$81,760 - Financial examiners: Median pay per year, 2016 —
$79,280 - Insurance underwriters: Median pay per year, 2016 —
$67,680 - Loan officers: Median pay per year, 2016 —
$63,650 - Personal financial advisors: Median pay per
year, 2016 — $90,530 - Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents:
Median pay per year, 2016 — $52,060 - Tax preparers: Mean pay per year, 2016 — $45,340
Factors to Consider When Choosing a College or University
You have probably heard it before, choosing a college is one of life very important decision you will ever make. And it’s spot on, where you attend college will have a long-lasting impact on your professional and personal life.
Below are a number of essential factors to consider when deciding on a college. These factors can start broad and get more precise. As you cut down your list of schools, you’re going to want to ask more thorough questions and dig deeper to unearth if that school will be an excellent choice for you.
Accreditation
Before you spend any time investigating a college, the very first thing to do is ascertain if the school is accredited. This signifies that the institution has been officially vetted by a licensed organization and has evaluated its curriculum to authenticate that it meets necessary academic standards for higher education.
The majority of schools will enthusiastically offer this information on their website typically on the About or Admissions pages. If you have difficulty finding it, just email or call the admissions department.
A college or university can be nationally or regionally accredited. Inside an institution, different departments or programs can, in addition, have their own accreditation. This guarantee that your degree will be accepted by employers as well as other institutions of higher education.
Check
Out The Admission Requirements
These will be different from school to school, therefore if your plan is to apply to more than one university, make certain that you have the requirement for all of them. Take a look at the admission criteria and see if you are good to go. If you don’t presently meet the requirement, are there steps or upgrade courses you could take that would make you eligible?
Overall Cost
Other factors or considerations may be more personally crucial to you, but in the end, the cost may trounce them all. There are several education options out there, and they all involve a considerable monetary investment. However, a number of them will make you indebted for years, while others may take you decades to pay for.
Private schools are typically more costly than public colleges and state universities. Though, private schools have a tendency to have larger endowments and offer more grants and scholarships. This can level out the tuition cost to some degree.
Tuition fees are merely about half of the overall cost of attending college. Books, housing, transportation, food, and other cost-of-living expenses add up to make it much more expensive.
If money is more of an obstacle, you may want to consider living at home and taking an online program.
Academic Quality
Academic quality may be further down on this list, but that does not make it any less important. It is more explicit. The factors discussed above will assist you to trim down your list. Academic
Carry out several online research of your own. Don’t only read general descriptions of colleges, but review particular departments and programs. You should be capable of discovering lots of information regarding almost any institution out there.
Rankings are cool, but they can be deceptive. Publications like World Report and U.S. News have their own standard for determining rankings. They may have diverse opinions than you concerning what is important in a college. It doesn’t hurt to examine rankings, however, you’re going to have to dig deeper.
Since you know what program you would like to study, utilize that to your benefit. Find the institution’s job placement statistics for different departments. What proportion of students is able to find employment after graduation? If doable, look out for career professionals in the finance field and seek their input. You may get a suggestion to great institutions you’ve never heard of.
Ask Lots Of Questions
Talk to guidance counselors at your school. Talk to job recruitment officers. Go online and see what people are saying about the institutions. Talk to the student who goes there. The more you can find out about a school, the more confident you will feel about making a decision.
Most of all, go where you can see yourself being happy. This is not an infallible plan, occasionally your program won’t be what you anticipated, or it turns out that your preferred city is too far from home, and that’s OK. You can decide to find an online program in a school that appeals to you.
Online Education Option and Its Benefits
If you are trying to save cost, your preferred school location is far from you or you are working and wants to acquire a degree at the same time, an online finance degree might just be the best option for you.
An online education has some immense benefits, including the following:
Affordable: When schooling online, relocating for the sake of schooling and the costs of commuting are eliminated. And in several cases, the per-credit-hour tuition can be lesser at online programs than their on-campus counterparts.
Flexible start dates: prepared to start classes immediately? There may be no need to wait until next quarter. A lot of online programs provide year-round start dates so you can commence your studies whenever it’s suitable for you.
Go at your own pace: A number of schools provide a self-directed option, therefore you can study at the pace that matches your learning style. You might get an additional time to complete a class if you require it or complete early if you’re a fast learner.
Great schedules: As long as you can complete your assignments on time, you can usually set your personal study schedule with your online class. Do you prefer to study at night? Write your essay or assignments at midnight. Are you a morning person? Then, perform your class readings at 4:00 a.m. or any suitable time you choose.
Mobility: with an online program, you’ll have easy access from anywhere to course material, regardless if it’s at home, during the weekends, waiting for the kids after soccer practice or early mornings in your neighborhood coffee shop.
For all these reasons and more, it’s no longer a secret that online schools are the wave of the future.
If you are an adult and you are considering taking an online degree program, consider these tips from AllBusinessSchools.com:
- Analyze your time-wasting tendencies
- Ask a friend or family member to volunteer as
the “learning police” - Create a workspace that is conducive to
learning - Look for an online study-buddy in your program
- Know your goals: take your online education and
yourself seriously - Make a daily routine; Study at the same time
every day - Prioritize work to avoid procrastinating. Try
tackling harder subjects first. - Schedule study time around your professors’
online office hours - Take notes, participate and speak freely in
classes - Understand the time commitment involved in
online education - Use online tools for better time management
How To Get A Job After Graduation
High Fliers Research concluded in a 2013 report that college graduates without work experience have “little chance” of securing a job. Managing director of High Fliers, Research Martin Birchall told The Huffington Post that working experience is “now just as important” as a college degree.
“New graduates who’ve not had any work experience at all during their studies are increasingly unlikely to be offered a good graduate job after university,” said Birchall.
Employers favor graduates that have working experience. That’s is why it’s imperative now that student undertake an internship or a placement whilst at the university.
There are numerous benefits of undertaking an internship or a placement while at the university:
Develop Vital skills: An internship or a work placement offers the chance for you to enhance vital employability skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, time management and communication skills that graduate recruiters look out for.
Explore diverse career choices: A work placement or internship will allow you ‘try before you buy’ and frequently give you a feel of some different roles existing within a company to give you new ideas concerning career options.
Gain knowledge: Your academic studies can be improved by a new viewpoint, commercial awareness, and experience that you attain while you are working in an industrial environment.
Get paid while you study: A lot of placements can pay very well, a brilliant way to support the cost of your studies.
Secure a graduate job: A work placement or an internship will give you a competitive advantage when it comes to applying for graduate jobs. Employers have a preference for graduates who have experience. It’s quite common for an employer to offer a graduate position to students who have previously completed a placement or internship with them.
Work experience can help to show an employer that you are prepared for the work environment, and will supply you with a range of transferable skills, an appreciation and understanding of the business world and potentially motivate your future career path. Employers are progressively searching for students who are able to merge outstanding educational achievement with useful hands-on experience.
How To Find Valuable Work Experience While You Study
As outlined above, practical work experience is critical to improving your job hunt prospects after graduation. Prospective employers like to see proof that you capable of performing the requirements of a job. Work experience, in addition, permits you to test out likely careers and learn about a specific job requirement, organization or sector, including helping to make helpful contacts.
Below are some ways to find valuable work experience while you study:
On-Campus Student Employment
One of the simplest ways to get work experience is to pursue on-campus student employment. This will help you to demonstrate your capacity to balance work and school. Nevertheless, it is significant to note that you may not find work in a position that is directly related to your career objectives.
Internships
Your most valuable source of work experience may possibly not be one that pays. Start looking for opportunities for an internship early in your college. To discover internship opportunities, visit your college career center, in addition to online resources such as Internships.com and Idealist (for non-profit opportunities). It can be challenging locating the right internship, so be certain to perform your research into a position before you make a decision to pursue it — scams, even in the internship world are not unheard of.
Volunteer opportunities or independent study
If you cannot locate a suitable paid position, a volunteer opportunity or independent study can count toward a work experience. For instance, in a small town with a small number of employment opportunities, your best bet may be to discover ways to show those skills that employers search for – organizational capabilities, punctuality, honesty, and so on. Search for volunteer opportunities that follow a regular schedule, if possible in an area that is related to your major. Following a regular schedule will show to potential employers that you are reliable, and it gives your boss a chance to assess you over an extensive period of time which can lead to a future high-quality letters of commendation.