Top 4 Misconceptions About Careers in Finance

The finance industry is seen as a dog-eat-dog world with high risks and huge rewards. Stress levels are off the roof, too. Imagine stockbrokers and how they need to watch the market, play their hands and take a few people with them on their financial ascent. Imagine financial consultants who need to study their client's accounts and advise them on what to do to save a little bit of money while earning a whole lot more. Financial careers seem to be fruitful, but why are there not a lot of people in the industry? It's because of several misconceptions about it that puts off a lot of people.

Insane Hours

One of the main reasons why a lot of people don't want to take a career in finance is because of the hours. They believe that for them to make a lot of money, they have to work fifty to sixty hours a week. While working that amount of hours is not impossible in finance, it is optional and highly dependent on how good you do your work. For instance, if you are a financial consultant, you actually have control over your hours. If you feel like the usual eight hours isn't enough, you can add more clients for you to earn even more.

Get Rich Quick

Another misconception with financial career is that it is the promised land of financial freedom. With insane hours comes insane income, right? Not necessarily. Granted that financial jobs pay really well, but the pay you receive will be proportional to the amount of work you are doing and have already done. Initially, you'll only be able to earn a lot by adding a lot of hours. Let's take the consultant scenario again. As a newcomer, you'll be posed with problems on finding clients. When you do find them, you start at a lower rate. This means you have to be working for more clients to earn good pay. Once you have already made a name for yourself and are valuable to your clients, you can start charging a higher rate.

It's a Grind

If there's anything people hate as much as working too much, it's working too little. Some would look at financial careers as a grind; that it involves doing the same things over and over again for years. This isn't true. When you embark on a financial career, you actually learn a lot of new things that you didn't learn before you graduate. The more you stay in your chosen path, the better you become.

All About Banking

Finally, people think that a financial career only involves working at a bank. You actually have a good number of career paths with finance. If you've got the skills, you can work for any other company that deals in finances. For instance, you can work at loaning companies that cater to government employees. You can take your accounting skills and put them to use in insurance companies. If you really think about it, there's a really big market for finance.

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Howard Smith used to be a head-hunter for a recruitment company in his city. After more than a decade, he decided to work as a freelance consultant where he incorporates his knowledge about the human resources industry.