What are the most critical classes I need to take in order to get a job in finance?

Hi Shanecqua,

It's a great question. In my experience, basic finance can be broken into two branches - corporate finance and investing/capital markets. Both branches are important, but which branch is more important depends on your line of work.

TL:DR? The two most important classes (in my opinion) are financial statement analysis, and a portfolio investing class.

Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance is focused on how a company manages its assets. In this branch of finance, I would point to accounting and financial statement analysis as important. Accounting teaches you how a company recognizes revenues, what happens when you borrow money on account, what it means when you invest in assets like machinery that depreciate over time - all important concepts for a business analyst to know. Financial statement analysis, or the understanding of balance sheet, income statement and cashflows, gives you further insight into the health of a company. Understanding things like profit margins, different expenses and overall profitability will again help in a business analyst role, or any role in the financial arm of a company.

Investing
Investing is a different aspect of finance. Investing is focused on how an investor manages his portfolio of assets based on his/her goals for investment gains and his/her riskiness. A core course in portfolio theory would be helpful here. You'll learn about different asset classes, like stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. More importantly, you'll learn how diversifying your portfolio of assets can actually improve overall returns in the long run. Going down the portfolio theory path would help a career as an personal investor, at a brokerage firm or even a mutual fund.

Online Resources
Before enrolling in a class on either of these branches, I'd recommend giving Khan Academy a look:

Corporate Finance: https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/accounting-and-financial-stateme

Investing (No one lesson, but here is one that might help): https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/stock-and-bonds/valuation-and-investing/v/price-and-market-capitalization