Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/29/2008
Posts: 39
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I was wondering, is going into finance a good career choice?
How much do people in finance make? Is it more or less than accounting?
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Rank: Student Council
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 348
Location: Guelph, ON
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From my understanding, there are many jobs in finance, including trade/sales, consulting, analyst, investment banking (everyone wants a piece of that it seems) etc.
Generally speaking, I would say a career in finance can make more money than accounting, but it all depends on what you do for a job. I would highly recommend looking into a professional designation such as the CFA.
UW Math/WLU Business Double Degree 2013
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 93
Location: London, UK
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Whether you, working in finance, make more or less than an accountant depends on
a) where you're working;
b) what you're doing there; and
c) whether you get fired
If you work at a top investment bank, and work in a front-office position (could be investment banking division, sales, trading, research or structuring, all of them have about the same salary/bonus), and you manage to keep your job, you are likely to make several times the salary of an accountant in any given year, straight out of university. CFA is not necessary, as the vast majority of successful people in finance don't even have CFA level 1 (there are three levels). The only necessity is that you are excellent at your job or else you will be fired.
As you can imagine, it is incredibly competitive to land a front office position at a top investment bank. Some people prefer a lower-paying job in accounting because they are very risk averse. They prefer to work in a job that they have virtually no risk of losing.
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