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How to get started in the investing realm?

I am currently in college and am pursuing my degree in finance. I want to get more into the investment side of finance so I was curious about how I would be able to make that step. Should I look into internships that could give me this opportunity or should I do research on my own? #finance #internships #money #investing #investment

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R. Scott’s Answer

Yes, seek an internship with an investment firm. Start researching stocks. Read investment firm reviews. Learn about different types of investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds). Join an investment club that meets weekly and rotates members recommending stocks. Learn about the fed, inflation, and interest rates.
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Hans’s Answer

First step would be to start exploring which areas of Finance & Investing are most appealing to you by learning everything you can about those particular roles - read books, talk to people in the industry, utilize your alumni database to find out more about particular jobs that interest you. There is a wide & diverse space amongst investing - private equity, venture capital, treasury finance, real money managers, pensions, hedge funds, sell side - and they all encompass many different things. In addition, there are several types of asset classes including commodities, equities, angel investments, fixed income, credit, foreign exchange, etc. Find out what is most appealing to you and go for that.

As an aside, I started my career on the Sell Side at Citigroup as a Foreign Exchange trader because I was very interested in global macro politics and economics and FX represented the intersection of the two, along with psychology. I then moved into the hedge fund space, working at 3 different funds and investing across a variety of asset classes including IPOs, listed equities, commodities and credit. As you can imagine, there's always much more to learn and there's never a dull moment in finance - find your passion and profession!
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Donald’s Answer

Great advice from Scott. It is unclear to me exactly what you mean. For example, notice Scott is in finance at Dell. You can get into the sales side - a very difficult job with lots of rejection but with the possibility of making a lot of money. You can manage portfolios. Banks have Treasury departments where their sole job is to provide funding for the bank and to invest the bank's cash. Same thing with other companies. Decide what you like and then find people in the industry who do that job and talk with them.

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Benjamin’s Answer

An internship would be ideal and would give you direct experience, but can be very competitive in the investment space. Networking can get a bad name, but reaching out to a few individuals can give you better insight into their day to day jobs. This might provide some additional resources on how to make further contacts in the investment space.

There's still lots of research you can do on your own. Many principles of finance can be directly applied in investment finance. Try to start learning about discounted cash flow models, valuation methodologies, portfolio theory. All of these may prompt more questions to pursue. Bookmark Investopedia.com and try to learn as much as you can about the industry.

Benjamin recommends the following next steps:

Follow the Wall Street Journal/FInancial Times
Research buy vs sell side investment research
Start looking into investing strategies and portfolio management
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Simeon’s Answer

For stocks related information, I'd recommend seeking out reputable financial videos on Youtube. I recommend Two Cents; it's a channel produced by two financial advisors and is a part of PBS public programming. I picked up most of my knowledge of stocks from YouTube. In general, the key to stocks is buying a diversity of proven stocks. An easy way to do this is to purchase an ETF, which is a bundle of safe, proven stocks. There is still a fee to pay, but it's lower than if you had your money processed by an investor on your behalf. Technically, the earlier the better it is for investing because of the time value of money, but its important that you always have cash to meet your immediate needs and in times of emergency. Make sure that you don't put your rainy day fund into stock investments.

If you get the opportunity to do an internship in investing, prioritize that opportunity above everything else career-wise. Land an internship and then do everything you can to network while you're there. Make sure that your work is excellent, but also get to know as many people as you can. Many people make the transition from internship to entry-level hire quite smoothly. It's not guaranteed, but it's the most likely path of success.
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