re: Degree in Finance; Good or Bad idea?

I'm a CFA candidate and I'll need to get an MBA from a local school in a market that I want to live in. I have been asking my friends if they want to invest with me so I can get experience w/research and hopefully that will be enough to show I'm not just chasing money.

From what I've read, accounting wizards are actually desirable because a lot of time is spent normalizing financial statements to extract intrinsic value. The acct experience knowledge helps. Where are you trying to work and whats your area of interest?

Buy side analyst but I know how improbable that is given my background. I've been told equity research or equity sales is a decent place to start, but I imagine that's likely a long shot as well.

I recently (2014) graduated with both BS & MS from LSU with a good GPA, passed the CPA, and have experience at a large corp, but none of that is particularly applicable towards big finance.

May go for level 1 CFA next December, but I wanted to a better idea of realistic opportunity & firsthand knowledge from LSU grads before giving it a go.

I've been in finance for 4 years after getting a msc in finance, undergrad mgmt, and have been fortunate to catch a few breaks. I would not recommend it. There has been a bubble in finance grads and finance in general. There is an ocean of msc degrees from Ivy League schools that will get preference before you and even most of them will end up settling for something middle office. On top of this, 90% of finance jobs are crap (think excel, accounting, entering trades, emails of drivel back and forth, trade reconciliation). You will be competing against some of the smartest people in the world for the privilege of the above crap job in very expensive cities. U probably have above average intelligence, go where it will be an advantage and do something more interesting/outside the box.

I currently live in New Orleans metro area. Not a whole lot of that type of finance around here, and it seems like some Jesuit + Tulane combo is the best way in the boutiques here.

Fine with going anywhere to start a career - whatever provides opportunity and advancement potential. Networking remotely is kind of a foreign concept to me, so not sure where to start.

I'm already that sort of "analyst".

quote:

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The best way to break into the industry is through networking. That's what anybody that has a job you're looking for will tell you. Emailing and cold calling is a good start and you can set up coffee meetings to get advice from somebody more knowledgeable than a rando on TD. You could start with LSU alums in your area that work in finance. CFA wouldn't hurt either. Where do you live/want to work?

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Find your local CFA club
Email them your (well thought out and poignent) questions
Ask to go to a meeting or something
Get a WSJ subscription
Attend meeting
Press flesh
Network
Follow up
??
Profit

First of all, great first post. You necroed a thread from mid December 2015.

Second, a finance degree is far from worthless, which is why the comment you're replying to got only downvotes. Like any degree, it matters where you get it, GPA, networking, etc. But you can be fine for a while with just a BS and some certifications/licenses for whatever direction you choose. CFA is highly valued.

Third, accounting and finance are sisters. You'll need to figure out which one you'd like to pursue, but you can change your mind in your second (and maybe your third) year in college without delaying graduation since they take so many similar classes.

I have a BS in finance from LSU fwiw.