What Can You Do With a Finance Degree? 10 Career Options to Explore

Key Takeaways

• A finance degree provides you with the important tools of financial management, investment strategies, and economic fundamentals. That’s what makes it one of the most in-demand skills across industries like banking, consulting, and tech.
• Coursework in a finance degree teaches and develops skills in analytical thinking, financial modeling and more—all highly sought after skills. These skills ensure strategic decision-making, setting the stage for excel in finance-related roles.
• You’ll open the door to an exciting range of career possibilities. These span corporate finance, investment banking, financial planning, accounting, risk management and insurance and you can pursue them in the private or public sector.
• Industries hiring finance graduates range from traditional banking and financial services to innovative fields like fintech, offering diverse career paths to explore.
• Enhance your appeal by earning certifications. Build real world experience. Go beyond the classroom with an internship and make valuable industry connections.
• Even without a finance degree, certifications, transferable skills, and relevant experience can help you transition into finance roles, broadening your career possibilities.

A finance degree opens up more career options than you might think. It’s the perfect option for anyone who loves math, strategy, and creative thinking. Graduates can work in areas like investment banking, financial planning, or corporate finance, where analytical skills and decision-making play a key role.

Outside of these more traditional paths, private sectors like real estate, insurance and tech are great places for finance degree-holders. This degree provides you with hands-on, practical skills in budgeting, forecasting, and market analysis. You can use what you learn here to win in business and in your own wallet.

Whether managing portfolios, analyzing risks, or helping companies grow, a finance degree provides practical tools and knowledge that apply across various industries and roles. This offers both stability and growth potential.

What Is a Finance Degree

A finance degree is typically a Bachelor of Science (BS) program. It equips students with an understanding of financial decision making, investing, and overall economics. Often done in four years, this degree offers the basic understanding necessary for many different positions in the finance field.

This unique pathway provides unmatched flexibility in the business education ecosystem. Students have the flexibility to tailor their studies to focus on investments, corporate finance, or financial planning. If you’re looking to advance your career even further, you might want to pursue a master’s degree in finance. This program usually lasts two years and offers more extensive training.

Define a Finance Degree

A finance degree can lead you to careers such as financial analysis, where experts analyze data to help companies make business decisions. If you’re focused on investment banking, you can advise companies on mergers, acquisitions, and how to raise capital.

Personal financial advisors use their expertise to guide clients toward achieving financial goals, whether it’s buying a home or planning retirement. Accounting and auditing occupations are foundational to maintaining the integrity of financial records and compliance with regulations. Their work is increasingly important in the private and public sectors.

Explain Its Focus and Coursework

The coursework sharpens analytical skills for understanding complex data, concepts, and how to address challenges. Courses in financial modeling and forecasting teach students how to evaluate an investment or forecast future performance.

Strong communication skills will allow you to present complex data to stakeholders clearly and concisely, while strong strategic thinking abilities will allow you to overcome any financial challenges confidently.

Highlight Its Importance in the Job Market

Career opportunities for finance majors are abundant, especially in banking-related fields, including loan officers and portfolio managers. Banks and other financial institutions recruit for analytics-focused roles, and technology and fintech companies recruit heavily for product development roles.

Private consulting firms look for specialists to provide financial counsel, and government and non-profit organizations require specialists to manage budgets and ensure compliance. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for all finance occupations is $76,570.

More experienced positions have salaries exceeding $180,000 per year, highlighting the degree’s worth in today’s job market.

Career Paths with a Finance Degree

1. Explore Corporate Finance Roles

Corporate finance provides a range of opportunities that benefit from a finance degree. You might become a financial analyst, overseeing corporate budgets, predicting future revenues, or evaluating potential investments. These positions typically require a strong command of analytical tools such as Microsoft Excel for data analysis and report generation.

Later in your career, you could target roles such as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In this case, leadership and managerial abilities are essential. For instance, CFOs lead organizations’ financial departments, influence firm strategies and direction, and maintain regulatory compliance with financial activities.

Jumpstart your career by developing tangible experience through internships or entry-level roles. This practical experience will give you an invaluable insider perspective into the industry.

2. Understand Investment Banking Careers

Investment banking is one of the hardest, but most lucrative, career paths in finance. Professionals in this field assist companies in raising the capital they need, managing a merger or acquisition, or providing advice on a potential acquisition.

Whether as an investment analyst or financial associate, the roles call for an arsenal of analytical skills and an aptitude for interpreting complex data. Employers generally prefer job applicants who hold a finance degree and other certifications, like the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

This career path has one of the greatest earning potential, but it requires long hours and commitment.

3. Learn About Financial Planning Jobs

At its core, financial planning is about getting people to where they want to go financially. In this role, whether you’re a financial planner or financial advisor, you may develop plans to save, invest money, or help individuals navigate the process of planning for retirement.

This career track does demand superior people skills in addition to financial acumen. Most professionals in this field go for certifications such as Certified Financial Planner (CFP) to improve their credibility and attract more clients.

4. Discover Accounting and Auditing Positions

Accounting and auditing are critical careers that monitor and maintain financial integrity and compliance. Accountants handle bookkeeping, tax returns, and regulatory compliance for companies and individuals.

Auditors review financial statements to check for any mistakes or wrongdoing. Both roles are greatly improved by a finance degree and expertise in financial software.

Entry-level positions often open the floor to higher ranking opportunities such as senior accountant or auditor. Obtaining additional certifications, like the Certified Public Accountant (CPA), can greatly increase your career opportunities.

5. Examine Roles in Risk Management

Risk management specialists work to identify and mitigate any financial risks for their organization. This might include measuring credit risks, evaluating market trends or developing plans to reduce future losses.

For example, banks hire risk analysts to ensure their lending practices are sound, while insurance companies rely on risk professionals to evaluate policy risks. In all of these roles, a strong foundation in finance and analytical and problem-solving skills are key.

6. Discuss Opportunities in Insurance

The insurance industry offers great opportunities for those with a finance degree. For one, you might find yourself as an underwriter, determining risk, or an actuary, applying mathematical models to the future.

A strong base of finance knowledge allows you to accurately analyze risk data, set premiums and loss reserves, and manage claims. Actuaries use sophisticated mathematical models and financial tools.

This is a field where your analytical skills can really take center stage!

7. Consider Public Sector Finance Roles

There’s a huge demand for finance professionals in every government agency and non-profit organization to help balance budgets, allocate resources efficiently, and increase transparency. Roles such as budget analysts or financial managers typically merge financial knowledge with organizational planning.

Salaries in public sector roles often fail to measure up with the private sector equivalent. They offer long-term job security and the opportunity to work on projects aimed at strengthening communities.

8. Explore Fintech and Technology-Driven Careers

Fintech is one of the most exciting and quickly expanding industries that combines the worlds of finance and technology. Careers in this new field are emerging with titles such as financial data scientists, blockchain analysts, or digital payment specialists.

These roles increasingly call for a combination of financial expertise and technological proficiency, including coding or data analysis capabilities. For instance, if the blockchain is the technology you’re working on, it might involve creating secure transaction systems for financial institutions.

This space provides compelling opportunities for innovation and expansion of the finance sector.

Skills Gained from a Finance Degree

Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills

A finance degree gives you the skills to confidently tackle compelling but complex data. Moreover, it trains you to spot trends and patterns that result in smart financial choices. Through finance coursework in financial theory and financial analysis, you learn how to take complex challenges and dissect them into simpler components.

For instance, you would evaluate a company’s fiscal responsibility by looking at its balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow. These skills are especially important in positions like budget analyst and management analyst. In these roles you must be able to translate complex financial data into actionable strategies.

Financial Modeling and Forecasting Skills

Financial modeling and forecasting are the cornerstones of the profession. You learn to build models to forecast future financial performance, taking into account factors such as market trends or economic indicators. This ability to make precise, rigorous assumptions is key for actuaries and commercial real estate agents.

That’s because accurate projections enable them to make smart, strategic investment decisions. Certifications such as CFA or CFP can further bolster these skills, providing practitioners with tools to make more precise forecasts and evaluate risk.

Communication and Presentation Skills

Financiers regularly turn technical details into digestible, actionable intelligence for a variety of stakeholders. A finance degree equips you with specialized finance skills to convey those discoveries through written reports, oral presentations, or board room meetings. For example, aspiring finance professionals, such as insurance brokers, need these skills to communicate financial risks and opportunities to clients in a way that builds trust and transparency.

Decision-Making and Strategic Thinking Skills

Forward-looking strategy is a common characteristic of finance. Courses and real-world applications are teaching you to look at the multiple choices, focus on the long-term benefits, and select the most advantageous route.

So regardless of if you’re going to work as a tax associate or a business development officer, making informed decisions is central to realizing people’s financial dreams.

Industries Hiring Finance Graduates

Banking and Financial Services Sector

The banking and financial services industry is still the number one employer for finance graduates. This industry provides both private and public sector jobs such as financial analysts, loan officers, investment bankers, and risk managers.

These careers are all centered on the management of assets, understanding of market trends, and assisting individuals or companies in reaching financial objectives. Most positions in this sector require at least a bachelor’s degree.

If you’re pursuing more senior positions, getting certifications such as CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) can help you stand out. Careers in finance provide access to a fulfilling career with a rewarding median annual wage of $76,570 as of May 2021.

They claim to offer more long-term growth opportunities. The other benefit is the consistent demand, with major job growth projected through 2031.

Technology and Fintech Companies

Tech and fintech companies are pretty quickly changing the finance landscape. These companies employ finance graduates as data analysts, financial modelers, and product managers.

A solid foundation in finance, paired with a technology-oriented mindset, is hugely coveted in this space. Examples such as PayPal, Square and Robinhood show us how technology intersects with finance.

For aspiring professionals, this rapidly growing sector combines advanced finance with innovative and rapidly developing technology.

Consulting and Advisory Firms

Consulting and advisory firms such as Deloitte, PwC, and others employ finance graduates to advise companies on proper budgeting, forecasting, and merger activities.

The resulting one-on-one mentoring and advice makes all the difference, and so these are high-impact roles. Obtaining advanced education—like a master’s degree—can open up more career possibilities.

Government and Non-Profit Organizations

Government and nonprofits, the so-called “civic sector,” require skilled finance professionals to manage complex budgets, audits, and compliance.

These organizations provide plenty of opportunities for roles such as budget analysts and auditors. Nonprofits have very strict IRS guidelines they must follow, and thus require a high level of financial scrutiny.

How to Get Into Finance Without a Finance Degree

Pursue certifications or additional courses

Certifications and self-directed courses can help you fill in the blanks if you’re transitioning from a non-finance background. Platforms like Coursera and LinkedIn Learning offer affordable, flexible courses in topics such as accounting, financial modeling, and business strategy.

Prerequisites and transference Licensing courses through the Canadian Securities Institute can help set you apart. They show that you’re committed and prepared for a career in finance. Excel is extremely important in finance, from budgeting to data analysis.

By getting a handle on it, you can dramatically boost your confidence and increase your chances of landing a job.

Gain experience through internships or entry-level roles

Internships are a major key to landing full-time finance jobs. Summer internships, especially, are greatly coveted as most companies hire directly from their intern class.

Further, entry-level roles in related sectors such as sales or customer service may equip job seekers with transferable, foundational skills. Even unpaid internships can provide you with valuable hands-on experience, exposing you to industry standard financial tools, ways of industry practice, and connections with possible mentors.

Network with finance professionals

Networking is incredibly important in the finance industry. Becoming a member of finance-related groups on LinkedIn or attending local industry functions allows you to meet industry professionals and keep your ear to the ground.

Flipping through financial news such as the Financial Times can be a gateway into some powerful conversations and takeaways as well.

Leverage transferable skills from other fields

Your present skills are the big factor that you can control. Soft skills – think collaboration, creativity, adaptability, and other traits – are critical to the future of finance, according to 65% of finance professionals.

Creating a blog or YouTube channel where you talk about financial issues would help demonstrate your skills and enthusiasm for the industry even more.

Alternative Careers for Finance Graduates

Entrepreneurship and Business Ownership

A finance degree provides you with the skills needed to be able to open your own business and thrive in that environment. An education in budgeting, forecasting, and financial market analysis will provide you the skills to manage the financial operations of any company.

Or you might open a small business consultancy to assist startups with their financial forecasts. Or maybe you would venture into e-commerce by running your own online shop. The value of a master’s degree in finance can be immeasurable in strengthening your candidacy.

It shows potential investors you know your stuff, which can help you attract funding or strategic partners. Strong communication and relationship-building skills are equally important here in order to facilitate great interactions with clients, vendors, and stakeholders.

Data Analysis and Market Research Roles

Data analysis is another emerging career path in which finance grads can use their skills learned in finance to interpret complex data sets. By discovering patterns, forecasting future trends, and proposing actionable solutions, analysts help businesses make informed decisions.

In ESG roles, you might assist firms in analyzing social and environmental impacts to inform investment strategies and corporate practices. This could involve determining what locations a new retail chain should open new stores in by analyzing demographic trends.

A master’s degree in finance allows you to further specialize even more. It opens up access to senior positions that employers so greatly covet. Knowledge of financial laws and regulations provides another level of assurance and reliability, guaranteeing not only compliance but the security of sensitive information.

Management Consulting Opportunities

Management consulting is another great alternative career for finance graduates, as these specialists help companies learn how to best improve operations, cut costs, and increase profits. Consultants will frequently review financial statements to identify areas of inefficiency and advise on the necessary course of action.

For example, you might work with a healthcare company to optimize its budget or assist a tech startup with scaling operations. Exceptional communication skills are the most important skill in this industry, where conveying ideas clearly and effectively and developing trust with clients are essential.

Individuals who have advanced degrees tend to have greater access to leadership positions, where they would be responsible for multidisciplinary, large-scale projects and teams. The attractive pay of finance-related careers only increases their allure, with median wages well over a third higher than the national average.

Conclusion

The possibilities are endless. It empowers you with valuable analytical, quantitative, and communicative skill sets that can be utilized across different sectors — whether it be finance, technology, or healthcare. You might choose a career as a financial analyst, investment banker, or in corporate finance, for example. Even if you move beyond traditional finance roles, the critical problem-solving and decision-making skills continue to be an asset.

For anyone who isn’t a finance whiz, no need to fret. Alternative routes, such as certifications or hands-on experience, pave the way for your foot in the door. A finance graduate has the opportunity to make a switch to a more consulting focused, tech focused, or entrepreneurial career.

The options only expand with a good strategy and hard work. Don’t wait, take the next step and begin your finance career with us. Your path to a world-changing career starts with the decisions you make today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a finance degree?

At its core, a finance degree is all about learning how to manage money effectively. A finance degree program from a top college prepares students to apply budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, and economic principles. Graduates often pursue different careers in banking, corporate finance, or financial consultancy.

What jobs can you get with a finance degree?

Among the many finance careers available to you with a finance degree include financial analyst, investment banker, and financial planner. These roles, particularly in demand across industries such as banking, real estate, and insurance, offer diverse job opportunities.

What skills do you gain from a finance degree?

A finance degree hones in-demand finance skills such as data analysis, problem-solving, and financial modeling. You’ll become proficient in tools like Excel and financial modeling software, making you a valuable asset in various financial occupations across every industry.

What industries hire finance graduates?

Professionals with a finance degree are in high demand across various sectors, including banking, investment, and healthcare. These finance careers require skilled financial professionals to create and manage budgets, analyze market trends, and assist businesses in developing financial plans for expansion.

Can you work in finance without a finance degree?

In short, yes, you can break into finance careers without a finance degree. Certifications such as CFA or CPA, experience in applicable fields or adjacent industries, or simple networking goes a long way. Expertise in specialized finance skills, quantitative analysis, modeling, and financial instruments are essential too.

What are alternative careers for finance graduates?

Finance graduates may find themselves pivoting to diverse finance careers such as data analytics, business consulting, or technology (particularly fintech), or even starting their own businesses, leveraging their finance skills for broader opportunities.

Is finance a good career choice?

Yes, finance offers some of the highest paying jobs and rewarding fields, with many finance careers available. It provides various career paths and upward mobility in numerous sectors.