Are there many jobs in a general Finance degree?

10-04-2022 11:18am #1

Wanted to study Quantitative Finance to work in the Financial Markets but I don't have that Maths brain that you need to do well in it.

Been thinking about a general Finance degree, are there many jobs in it or would I be better looking at something else like accounting.

Buddy Bubs · 10-04-2022 9:29pm

Youll get into same jobs with finance degree as quantitative finance. Other routes into everything once you are working.

There will be plenty of maths in a finance degree so be careful. It was my first degree I did and huge amounts of people dropped out or transferred because of the maths content, so depending on how much you struggle with maths, take this into consideration. One of the lecturers warned us on the first day and was giving out that they were accepting ordinary level maths from leaving cert in it. Made everyone do a short maths exam first day and anyone that didn't score well enough had to go do extra maths tuition. Big push to transfer into arts courses for loads of people.

votecounts · 10-04-2022 9:55pm

Would agree about Maths being a big part of General Finance. Econometrics and Advanced Econometrics as well as the Economic Subjects require a math brain, which a lot of people struggle with. Did you do honours math OP?

Jim2007 · 10-04-2022 10:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058241054/are-there-many-jobs-in-a-general-finance-degree

When I started out 30+ years ago we measured profitability in percentage points, today we use base points! We have become a commodity industry and the retrenchment across Europe is just beginning… two banks exiting the Irish market for example. I don’t know what you mean by a general finance degree, but I expect being average without a lot of luck is not going to survive. Accounting is a very different field to IB, WM or AM and I would not see it as an alternative (I’m an accountant).

Going forward, you are going to need a good command of a math, if you want to build a solid career in the core areas. You can’t construct products, you can’t evaluate risks and you can’t build financial models if you don’t understand the maths. And mistakes are extremely costly, so employers are very exacting in their expectations. On top of this you probably need to be in one of the major financial centers - London, Frankfurt, Zurich etc.

I’m not saying don’t follow your dreams, but rather be prepared to work a lot harder than average if you really want it.

Fritzbox · 10-04-2022 10:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118909058#Comment_118909058

I suspect that it would be more advantageous to study maths, physics or engineering in order to be accepted by a lot of financial services companies, more so than having studied a business studies degree?

Jim2007 · 10-04-2022 11:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118909081#Comment_118909081

Well where every you get it from you’d definitely needed a very good command of stats, probability, algebra and calculus to get off the starting block.

11-04-2022 6:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118908895#Comment_118908895

I did Honours Maths but in retrospect I wish I hadn't. I struggled a lot and my other subjects suffered because of it.

I have taken Econometrics and as you predicted I found the theory and programming very complicated. (My undergrad was Econ)

Pawwed Rig · 11-04-2022 6:08am

Would you think about accountancy and finance degree? Touches on a lot of the basics of both and can be useful in opening doors

razorblunt · 11-04-2022 6:24am

You’ll be fine, as a Grad passion, knowledge and enthusiasm goes a long way towards getting the role you want (within reason of course). You have supplementary professional qualifications then to consider afterwards.

Are there many jobs in a general Finance degree?

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