What do I have to do to become an investor?

[Posted on behalf of a CareerVillage Professional who works in investment]

My career in finance has been focused on investing in privately owned companies that are not available via the stock market. Hundreds of thousands of companies are privately owned, ranging from local stores and restaurants to major international companies such as Toys ‘R’ Us and Outback Steakhouse. Before giving any company an investment, I need to understand how a business works including a review of customers, employees, the products or services they provide and places they are offered.

Looking back on high school, I found that the combination of math classes and English classes helped me later in college and in my career. These core skills helped me in college and are now an important foundation for my job. While math is required to analyze a business and see how it makes money, the ability to write clearly is extremely important in communicating with dozens of people at the same time. When I look back, though, I found that participating and eventually running extracurricular clubs at school offered the best way for me to see how a company. Working with my fellow students to raise money for field trips or negotiate with administrators for permission to conduct various programs at the school were the best window to see how the working world actually works.

Also check out this answer to the related question "What is the career path to a successful career in private equity investment?" http://careervillage.org/questions/45/what-is-the-career-path-to-a-successful-career-in-private-equity-investment

FYI, Private Equity is just one type of investing. Other fields in investing include but are not limited to hedge funds, venture capital, and bond or commodities trading.

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