There are generally two kinds of people that end up in finance. First, people who genuinely like finance and are passionate about finance, investment or deals. Second are the people who understand that finance has a lot of benefits and they are drawn to the salary, prestige, and stability of a career in finance.

According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, finance sector jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2022-2030, adding about 750,800 new jobs. When talking about fulfilling and intellectually stimulating jobs, finance is a sector that always makes the list.

But the thing is, finance isn’t just one specific job. There are different roles and careers you could choose depending on your personality, interest and ambitions.

1.Investment Consultant

Investment advisors or investment consultants are professionals who have specialised knowledge in financial markets and investment opportunities. They work directly with high net worth clients with a 360 degree view of their finances.

So, they would consult on investment portfolios but also on pensions, taxes, inheritance, strategy and everything that related to the client’s wealth. To excel at these jobs you must be able to grow your pool of clients so it helps to be good at selling yourself and your knowledge.

If you can convince people then you will be growing your client space very fast. This will attract further business opportunities from bigger investment managers who will be after the relationships you build and the assets you advise. To work as an investment consultant, you need to have a bachelor’s degree in any finance related field.

You should also get qualified and regulated by the relevant financial authority because what you advise might directly impact the client’s financial situation. Investment consultants can make anywhere between $50,000-$100,000 as it really depends on the amount of fees charged and the amount of assets you are able to gather.

2.Trader

Where there’s money there’s people trading it. Traders are constantly buying and selling bonds, stocks and other securities on behalf of their clients. They have to constantly keep up with market fluctuations, figure out what is the best way to trade listed securities but also over-the-counter instruments such as derivatives.

It is a very hectic job because markets change all the time. There is a lot to keep up with. On top of that, not everything goes as planned every single time. So, they have to be able to deal with sudden losses and keep their call when they try to turn those into wins.

Personality-wise I would recommend this job to people who are very good with numbers and are also able to make quick decisions under pressure. If you are a thinker who likes to have time and a quiet space to reflect then probably you don’t have a natural calling for being a trader.

In terms of education, a technical background is required because you must have a deep understanding of the instruments you are going to trade. On average traders start at around $60,000 in the U.S. and $50,000 in the UK. Just like the other roles, the more experience you have the higher your bonus will be.

3.Investment Analyst

If you like researching, explaining difficult concepts and maths but also writing then this career might be good for you. Analysts collect all the relevant information surrounding an investment opportunity with the objective of analysing risk and potential rewards.

After the research, the positives and negatives are discussed with the rest of the investment team. So, it does help you feel good at presenting and communicating to people from different backgrounds. At the end of the day, your work fits directly into the investment decisions made on behalf of clients.

So, you know that your work directly impacts somebody’s savings and life. This can be scary at times because it carries a lot of pressure but it’s also very rewarding. In terms of personality, this is a job for people who are curious but can also deal with the occasional frustration when markets don’t move in line with your recommendation.

It’s a job where you learn one mistake at a time, so to say. But it does help to start with the right education and this would be at least a Bachelor’s degree in either economics, accounting, finance or business. On an average an investment analyst would earn $70,000-$80,000 in the U.S.

4.Business Development

Maybe sales is not the first thing that comes to mind when talking about high paying jobs. But in finance, business development can be a very lucrative career. This job is all about finding new prospects and building relationships with existing clients by pitching financial products and investment ideas.

If you are an expert, you are good with people and you love presenting, this might be the job for you. I should warn you that this job is not all fun everyday and you must be able to tolerate rejections, which can negatively impact your morale.

It does help if you are an optimist and somebody who can stay energised even when  things are not going well. Experiencing sales counts more than formal education. But a technical background would be advantageous because it will help you sound more confident in front of clients and also better understand their problems and needs.

In terms of pay, this is a high risk, high reward career because a big proportion of your salary would be variable and will be dependent on how much new business you actually get through the door. You can expect to make anywhere between $55,000-$75,000 in the U.S.

5.Investment Banker

There is banking and then there is investment banking. In the latter, the investment part is not just for possession, investment bankers actually have a very specific job. In simple words, investment banking is the business of advising clients, who are usually corporates, on what is the best way to raise money for their operations and to keep growing.

Other things investment bankers advise on are mergers acquisitions(M&AS), initial public offerings(IPOS) and debt restructuring. There’s always new business to win and new clients to make happy, the job of an investment banker never really stops.

This role suits you well if you are fast and good with numbers if you don’t mind spending many hours on spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations. You must be ready to make work your priority and work long hours under a lot of pressure.

The better education, the higher the chances of securing an internship and from there, a permanent role as an analyst. A bachelor’s or master’s degree in finance is the obvious one but people do get hired from a variety of backgrounds.

This job takes a lot of effort but it is compensated pretty well when you consider that as an analyst you could be baking anything between $135,000-$220,000K in the U.S.

6.Hedge Fund Researcher

Hedge funds are pools of money collected from institutional investors directed towards a single lucrative strategy. Hedge funds typically use leverage. So, when they get it right they can achieve massive profits but they have a lot of money put at risk.

That is why being a hedge fund researcher and then manager is not the easiest job to get. Nowadays, hedge funds hire PhD students out of maths and physics. They want them to be extremely skilled at programming software such as Matlab or languages such as python.

This is because they need to be able to analyze massive data sets and extrapolate trends to build short-term trading strategies. If you like programming and econometrics and you don’t mind studying towards a postgraduate qualification then this might be the job for you.

In the US, a hedge fund researcher can be expected to start with a salary of $105,000. These are just base pay which you have to add a bonus which is usually linked to the overall performance of the hedge funds.

7.Quantitative Analysts

This role consists of creating algorithms and statistical models specifically to solve problems in the financial markets. As you can imagine their backgrounds are in fields like physics, computer science or mathematics. Now this role is actually relatively new and it’s increasingly high in demand especially as the finance industry has transitioned into more computer based.

Within the quant world, there’s actually many different roles. Some are more focused on Risk Management in which they try to control the risk of certain trades. Others are more focused on Algorithmic Trading in which they try to develop an algorithm that will trade in the financial markets for them.

Other roles like Front-Office Quant, Library Quants and so on. Skills required for these types of roles are numerical, you should know how to code. As for the pay, it’s extremely high especially because they are in high demand. A Quantitative Analyst can be expected to start with a salary of $100,000-$150,000.

8.Commercial Banking

Commercial Banking has to do with offering deposits and lending money to people and companies of all sizes. Usually if you are fresh out of college, you will start off as a credit analyst and in this kind of role you are providing clients with credit products like term loans, line of credit, mortgages and other products.

The goal for them is to be able to pay you back. So, you will be looking through their credit history, their financial statements, spending habits and so on. Based on that you will be assessing whether they will be able to pay the bank back.

The skills for this role are quite numerical, excel maths and finance knowledge can definitely come handy. People do regard commercial banking as quite a stable career in which there’s a good work-life balance and it does have quite a competitive pay as well. A Commercial Banker can be expected to start with a salary of $70,000 a year.

9.Broker

A Broker buys and sells securities on behalf of the client’s wishes. These securities can range from shares to bonds to options and more than that. Some people get confused between a Broker and a Trader but a Broker executes trades on behalf of the client’s wishes. Once a trader executes trades on behalf of the portfolio manager or the investment manager’s wishes.

A Broker does have a lot more of a people element as well because there are alot of clients that he/she handles. When it comes to the pay, there is a big myth that all stock brokers are millionaires but realistically as an entry level broker you probably start with $60,000. There is a high upside down, depending on how much you can earn off commission. So, there is a good potential in that sense.

Among the most useful skills required for this job is communication, working under pressure especially when the market is open and sales. When it comes to licensing the series 7 as well as the series 63 are some of the main ones because it gives you the authority to trade on behalf of clients.

10.Financial Audit

Financial Auditing is got to do with verifying the accuracy of the financial statements of a company. It’s about investigating whether there’s potentially any errors or fraud in there. This can either be in the form of an internal auditor or an external auditor.

Internal auditor basically means that you are employed by the company that you owe it. For example- You could be employed by Coca-Cola and you would be Coca-Cola’s financial statements internally.

On the other hand, we have external auditors where you go around auditing different companies out there. You might spend 2-3 weeks in a particular company, auditing their accounts and then move on to the next company.

Auditors do work towards a designation known as the CPA which stands for the Certified Public Accountant in the US. A financial Auditor can expect to start with a salary of $60,000-$70,000.

As for the skill set, this mainly has to do with finance and accounting. Excel work, sales and presentation skills will be considered as well.