Devin
How does having a finance major help you in the real life
#finance #major
3 answers
Ani Rekulapalli, ASA
Ani’s Answer
Finance has multiple fields in it such as Plain Finance and Mathematical Finance. Plain Finance deals with the general concepts of Finance, investments, portfolio management, etc., whereas Mathematical Finance involves a combination of Finance, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science applied to the fields of trading primarily. Coming to the real life, they do help you a bit in making good investment decisions but again you don't necessarily need to have a Finance major to become a good personal investor. Few of my friends have engineering majors, but made good Real Estate and stock investments at the right time by studying and monitoring the market closely and it paid off well for them.
Ani recommends the following next steps:
Greg Springer
Greg’s Answer
This can be as mundane as helping to make cost effective decisions when buying groceries, or as large as helping me make a smart decision when buying an automobile.
Finance at it's core is about decision making and evaluating opportunities in an environment where you cannot have everything. It should help you to understand how to balance the short-term and long-term implications of an idea or opportunity. This will help in so many ways in your personal life...What kind of house to buy, whether or not to rent a place long-term, how to spend your money and time outside of work to enable a high quality life.
Ben Chambers
Ben’s Answer
That said, I would caution against purely picking a major based on the straightest path to a career out of college. The subject matter you're studying should resonate and energize you, rather than drain you. So as you take classes in Finance/economics, I would encourage you to reflect on if this is indeed a subject matter that you find rewarding. Because in the long run, if you aren't happy doing what you're doing, you are doing yourself a disservice.