What's Finance like? (1 Viewer)

[~Hmmmmmm.....~]

People always talk about how hard it is to get a good uai, but i think the hardest thing is finding out what you want to do, once you've got that, at least you have something to work towards. Neways (sidetracked), i've always liked money, how to make money, stuff like shares, property ... i dunno, i just want to know if doing a BComm and majoring in Finance means you'll be doing that stuff - like end up being a high paid exec, overseeing mergers eg. investment banking etc
wat is the course actually like at uni and if i wanted to be an investment banker is that the way to go?

i'm really confused - as you can probably see already - i guess its because i've done physics and chemistry and no commerce subjects (i was originally thinking of doing engineering) - i feel like i just don't know what i'm getting myself into
(any help would be great)

cheers

 

[SipSip]

If you do finance, yes, you will most likely go into banking and trust fund management and that stuff...you know...like handling millions of dollars of funds while getting decent pay...driving porsches...screwing secretaries...is this the type of thing you're aiming at??^^

I'm currently doing finance...but normally you will also have to do another major with it...depends what you really wanna do...for me, i'm doing marketing and finance...since that marketing is awesome fun and builds up heaps of creativity and confidence while finance is very useful and leads to decent jobs...

But one thing is...for finance, it's kinda tough when you don't know what to expect at first since that there is a LOT of fine details you need to remember...unlike some courses where you can think as you go...for finance, you tend to have to remember even the tiniest of distinction between different types of tools...

Basically, it's not hard if you very good at remembering fine details, but since that you did science subjects...i think your memory is quite good...so nothing to worry about there...besides...it's a three year course...you have all the time in the world to find out what you really wanna do...i didn't expect i'll like marketing but turns out i am loving it now!! so yeah! hope to see you next yr then ^^

 

[SipSip]

About your high paid exec stuff...umm...that's more like MBA degree where you learn to be a CEO or something...investment banker, yes...that's what finance is about...

For MBA..u need to have 4 yrs uni experience before you could apply for it i think...but yea...if you wanna be a CEO, then it's more on management side...

I think if you're looking towards something like that, go for double major in finance and human resource..

 

[mack]

Don't worry if you haven't done any commerce subjects in high school either- the faculty assumes no prior knowledge and will start from the beginning. Friends of mine who do it, having done Eco and Business in high school say alot of first sem is relearning.

SipSip is right though, if you're after the major CEO type jobs, you're going to need postgraduate qualifications.

 

[Bambul]

Finance is all about linking people with cash surpluses to cash deficits. You learn about bonds, shares, other financial instruments (fancy word that basically means shares and bonds plus a few other similar things). There is a bit of maths, mostly compound interest, so being good a maths is a very big plus, though it's more your detailed simple maths (learning to use the formula is half the work) rather than complex, higher thinking type of maths that you may do in say 4 unit in year 12. It also teaches you a lot about the financial institutions in Australia (e.g. the banking system, ASIC, APRA, RBA, etc). If you plan to work overseas then most of that will be useless. The major of financial economics doesn't cover the institutional aspects so if you do want to work overseas then I would recommend financial economics over finance.

Doing finance doesn't qualify you for higher management (the exception would be in the finance sector itself). Some knowledge of finance would be required, I've done 2 finance subjects myself. For management I would say the best way to go would be to do accounting. I'm doing an accounting major and I've found that it gives you a pretty broad base compared to what I learned in finance, which focuses more on how to obtain capital and which projects to invest in.

A lot of people do a BCom and do a double major in accounting and finance. They are the most popular majors, you will find very few people who aren't majoring in atleast one of them and many who major in both.

Then again, the qualities required to be a good manager can't be taught in a university degree, the skills can. That's why many people come back to uni and do an MBA, then move into higher management. So worrying about what to do in an undergraduate degree to get to where you want to be 10-20 years from now is like not starting your trip until all the traffic lights are green.

 

[Shawny]

how much maths is there really

 

[SipSip]

There's not much maths involved at all...well..nothing that requires more than simple calculations into the calculator...

I've heard that a lot do acct and finance...but i choose marketing and finance mainly due to interest...

 

[lawforever]

if you r confident with yout maths, go 2 do actuarial as ur another major.
you will find that lots of stuff u do in actuarial are exactly the same as in finance.
such as the present value, yields and bond prices etc etc

 

[Shawny]

i dunno much bout fin but just hate maths

so if its any difficulty of qmb
then im gonna hate it

the maths tat is
though some mite think qmb is a walkover, its pretty hard for someone trying to do it within 3nights , my fault of course

acctings gay but its got jobs
jobs > gay

 

[Bambul]

QMB is a different sort of maths to finance. Finance is compound interest, QMB is statistics/econometrics. Finance maths is more like QMA.