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Message
re: Your high school aged kid wants to pursue a degree in Finance in college, a few MT ?s
Posted on 12/12/22 at 2:14 pm to Turf Taint
Posted on 12/12/22 at 2:14 pm to Turf Taint
Finance is for those who do not want to do accounting. Try accounting first and if it does not work then fall back on Finance. Accounting is the only real skill degree of the various business degrees like Econ, Marketing, Finance, and accounting.
Supply chain management (procurement) or Cyber security are the places to go.
Supply chain management (procurement) or Cyber security are the places to go.
1
Posted on 12/12/22 at 2:55 pm to leeman101
quote:Huh? Accounting is not even skilled, it's heavily standardized work and pay is utter shite for the hours they put in. Laborious, boring, and underpaying? It's not even a comparison to a career in high finance on any level
Try accounting first and if it does not work then fall back on Finance. Accounting is the only real skill degree
Posted on 12/12/22 at 3:44 pm to RemouladeSawce
Yeah, WTF? I’ve had accounting positions and finance positions. Finance is way more broad and overwhelmingly more interesting.
With accounting, your passive, always taking in what’s already done. With finance, your the primary actor
Unless I take his meaning that accounting and finance are relatively interchangeable and that accounting will give you an easier path to a cpa.
But man, not worth it. I fricking hate accounting.
My degree is in u sweater basket weaving though so take that for what it’s worth
With accounting, your passive, always taking in what’s already done. With finance, your the primary actor
Unless I take his meaning that accounting and finance are relatively interchangeable and that accounting will give you an easier path to a cpa.
But man, not worth it. I fricking hate accounting.
My degree is in u sweater basket weaving though so take that for what it’s worth
This post was edited on 12/12/22 at 3:51 pm
Posted on 12/12/22 at 3:59 pm to athenslife101
It's usually easier for someone with an accounting background to transition into corporate finance than a finance person to transition into public or corporate accounting. That's probably what he's getting at.
High finance is a different animal than either corporate finance or corporate accounting, so I wouldn't lump that career path in with the others.
High finance is a different animal than either corporate finance or corporate accounting, so I wouldn't lump that career path in with the others.
Posted on 12/12/22 at 4:14 pm to FinleyStreet
People always disagree with this and offer alternatives, but I tell every HS kid I know the location of your school to where you want to work when you graduate is one of the top 3 factors in helping you get a job there. Again, there's always other paths and I know there's plenty of people with degrees from California, Northwestern, etc on Wall Street but if you want to work in Wall Street go to the northeast. If you want to work in Dallas, go to a school in Texas.
Its a hell of a lot easier to network when you are local. Not to mention, if you go somewhere local to where you want to work then there will be a lot of fellow students with parents, friends, and family in the industry you are looking at.
Its a hell of a lot easier to network when you are local. Not to mention, if you go somewhere local to where you want to work then there will be a lot of fellow students with parents, friends, and family in the industry you are looking at.
Posted on 12/12/22 at 5:15 pm to Turf Taint
I’m a financial analyst, and my undergrad was as a finance major. So here’s my 2 cents if they decide they want to go the analyst route. You can definitely get a solid job pretty much anywhere in the country(especially with work from home being such a major thing) with just a finance degree from any state school.
Number 1 thing though is that Internships are incredibly important. I screwed around in college and did not have a great internship plus had an average GPA, so I struggled to find an analyst position off the bat. Had to go into a lower paying accounting type role first, and parlayed that into an analyst position after a couple years. That being said, I’ve felt that having a good understanding of accounting has been extremely helpful so far in my career as an analyst as well. So a few extra accounting courses here and there would probably be something they thank themselves for at their first job.
If they can become a bit of an excel nerd and get moderately comfortable in SQL/VBA, a lot of doors tend to open up at entry level positions, regardless of internships or experience. Data Science and manipulation is half if what analyst are doing now-a-days at any decent sized firm. Being comfortable and capable with those tools gives you a leg up on a lot of candidates and is a really valuable asset to companies and a highly marketable skill for yourself.
Finally, a lot of finance is about strategy/problem solving. So whatever kind of self study they can during college to get familiar with different business case studies, and familiarize themselves with some of the stories of companies out there right now would serve them well. For really passive self-study purposes, podcasts like Business Breakdowns, Capitol Allocators, and Masters in Business gives a lots of great insights into different companies and personalities in the finance world and helps you get a better understanding of how they think and operate without needing too much of a background to follow along.
Number 1 thing though is that Internships are incredibly important. I screwed around in college and did not have a great internship plus had an average GPA, so I struggled to find an analyst position off the bat. Had to go into a lower paying accounting type role first, and parlayed that into an analyst position after a couple years. That being said, I’ve felt that having a good understanding of accounting has been extremely helpful so far in my career as an analyst as well. So a few extra accounting courses here and there would probably be something they thank themselves for at their first job.
If they can become a bit of an excel nerd and get moderately comfortable in SQL/VBA, a lot of doors tend to open up at entry level positions, regardless of internships or experience. Data Science and manipulation is half if what analyst are doing now-a-days at any decent sized firm. Being comfortable and capable with those tools gives you a leg up on a lot of candidates and is a really valuable asset to companies and a highly marketable skill for yourself.
Finally, a lot of finance is about strategy/problem solving. So whatever kind of self study they can during college to get familiar with different business case studies, and familiarize themselves with some of the stories of companies out there right now would serve them well. For really passive self-study purposes, podcasts like Business Breakdowns, Capitol Allocators, and Masters in Business gives a lots of great insights into different companies and personalities in the finance world and helps you get a better understanding of how they think and operate without needing too much of a background to follow along.
This post was edited on 12/12/22 at 5:18 pm
Posted on 12/12/22 at 5:22 pm to RemouladeSawce
quote:
Accounting is not even skilled, it's heavily standardized work
Being standardized like doing taxes, income statements and p/l statements makes it skilled. I mean what skills are you really learning in Economics or Marketing? Most of that is theory.
If you understand T accounts, then accounting is the way to go. If you struggle with knowing T accounts, then go into Finance.
It is the accountants that run the companies.
This post was edited on 12/12/22 at 5:24 pm
Posted on 12/12/22 at 6:25 pm to leeman101
quote:Can you please distinguish between these two
income statements and p/l statements
It’s a heavily automated discipline with the same procedures over and over again. Most audit, controllership, and tax functions can largely be boiled down to checklists.
quote:Marketing curriculums are not analytically challenging but they’re directly relevant
I mean what skills are you really learning in Economics or Marketing? Most of that is theory.
Econ is not a business degree so not sure of its relevance in this discussion
quote:T accounts are not rocket science. How about go into Finance, still know what T accounts are, get opportunities to use your brain instead of being a clerk, and get paid more. That sounds like more pragmatic advice.
If you understand T accounts, then accounting is the way to go. If you struggle with knowing T accounts, then go into Finance.
quote:Ugh you almost had me. This gives the troll away
It is the accountants that run the companies.
This post was edited on 12/12/22 at 6:54 pm
Posted on 12/12/22 at 6:32 pm to leeman101
The other guy said it best. if you understand accounting and dataflow you can basically get hired anywhere.
If your kid is serious about high finance I’d lead him into more of a mathematical curriculum like multivariate calculus (biggest regret for me) and tell him to read everything he can about volatility surfaces. Get him into CFA as a compliment because the finance/accounting is basic in comparison. If he’s not smart enough for all of that I’d tell him to learn how to create a 3 statement model from scratch, do every finance related extracurricular available and go the IB route which means straight As and two years of internships academically and some luck.
If your kid is serious about high finance I’d lead him into more of a mathematical curriculum like multivariate calculus (biggest regret for me) and tell him to read everything he can about volatility surfaces. Get him into CFA as a compliment because the finance/accounting is basic in comparison. If he’s not smart enough for all of that I’d tell him to learn how to create a 3 statement model from scratch, do every finance related extracurricular available and go the IB route which means straight As and two years of internships academically and some luck.
Posted on 12/12/22 at 6:47 pm to wutangfinancial
I’ll second the data management stuff being key. When I was in school, the management of information systems while less prestigious, were starting out near 100 k.
Listen, it’s important to read the writing on the wall. Machines are going to be doing most of these jobs in some capacity in the future. You need the experience to get the knowledge to have the technology to get the outcome you want.
Listen, it’s important to read the writing on the wall. Machines are going to be doing most of these jobs in some capacity in the future. You need the experience to get the knowledge to have the technology to get the outcome you want.
This post was edited on 12/12/22 at 6:50 pm
Posted on 12/12/22 at 8:30 pm to wutangfinancial
How did this thread shift to primarily high finance roles when it’s a tiny fraction of the finance roles in the marketplace?
Posted on 12/12/22 at 8:48 pm to lynxcat
HS kid with known interest and resources including a parent asking the important questions bodes better than the schlub who rolls into a non-target and figures out he has no prayer
We've got years to prepare this kid for technicals, he's a lock
We've got years to prepare this kid for technicals, he's a lock
Posted on 12/12/22 at 8:52 pm to lynxcat
I mean it didn’t. There’s three people in here at least saying learn SQL and accounting. That’s basically a standard at every for profit company in 2022.
Posted on 12/12/22 at 9:00 pm to wutangfinancial
Shouldn’t have directed response your way.
Posted on 12/12/22 at 9:42 pm to RemouladeSawce
quote:
It is the accountants that run the companies.
Ugh you almost had me. This gives the troll away
Ummm I know many accountants that became a controller or CFO. One of the complaints I hear from them, is they end up telling the president and or CEO how things need to be done to maintain or achieve profitability. Many get burned out quickly trying to keep the company afloat or going or the top brass ignores them while the company sinks.
As for T accounts. I knew an accounting professor that made the comment in a joking matter that if you can recite the T accounts with the pluses and minuses, stick with accounting if you can not recite them, get into finance. You would be surprised the number of people with accounting degrees that cannot recite the T accounts.
In many business schools, Econ short for Economics, is a degree and 2 or 3 Econ classes are usually required for the other business degrees.
For starters many consider Finance the child of Economics and Accounting.
This post was edited on 12/12/22 at 9:55 pm
Posted on 12/12/22 at 9:48 pm to leeman101
One thing about Finance is it can broken into two groups. First group is corporate finance.
The second group is investing. Like stock broker, financial advisor, real estate etc.
The second group is investing. Like stock broker, financial advisor, real estate etc.
Posted on 12/12/22 at 10:52 pm to leeman101
quote:You know accountants that became head of accounting ops in their organizations? Wow
Ummm I know many accountants that became a controller
You led with Controller as a position that runs a company? Seriously?
quote:Huh? There's nothing to recite, it's a framework. It's as nonsensical as arguing there are people who "cannot recite double-entry accounting." Anyone who passed the CPA and is practicing (among countless Finance majors) is going to be able to comfortably walk through what accounts would be on each side for a given or theoretical transaction or series
You would be surprised the number of people with accounting degrees that cannot recite the T accounts.
This is entirely a troll and I will not be baited any further
This post was edited on 12/12/22 at 11:28 pm
Posted on 12/12/22 at 11:01 pm to TigerTalker142
quote:
You can definitely get a solid job pretty much anywhere in the country(especially with work from home being such a major thing) with just a finance degree from any state school.
Number 1 thing though is that Internships are incredibly important.
This is the best advice posted so far. I got into finance because I thought I wanted to work in New York for a large investment firm. Found out very quickly that wasn't the path for me. Had internships at a public accounting firm and a bank, and ultimately found my niche in real estate.
Internships are crucial for learning what you want to do, as well as creating relationships. All of the jobs I got were because of connections I met at previous jobs.
Finance is a great degree to have, even if your not in one of the big high finance cities. Just about any company with size needs someone with a finance background. If you work hard and are smart, you can move up quickly.
Posted on 12/13/22 at 5:08 am to leeman101
quote:
leeman101
Ignore the angry LSU finance grad (aka insurance salesmen). They are likely hostile due to insecurities over their own mediocrity.
Posted on 12/13/22 at 5:46 am to MusclesofBrussels
Shiny hook but nah fam. One troll in this thread is enough.
This post was edited on 12/13/22 at 5:52 am
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