How to Enter the Field of Finance, Options to Choose From

This blog post that you are reading on how to enter the field of finance may have a little less technical research and much more anecdotal evidence than you are used to seeing on our website, this is because I am writing this post at a Starbucks in order to try and get some writers inspiration and can’t seem to get my laptop to connect to the Wifi, not exactly a win so far since now I’m writing this post in Notepad instead of wordpress with no internet access, but lets make the best of a bad situation and see what I can throw together here, I also originally came here to study for the CFP which doesn’t seem to be happening so lets give this blog post thing a try here.

In today’s article, as someone who has been in the field of finance in one way or another for about 5 years now, I will tell you what I did to break into the field, how my journey into Wealth Management and finance really started, and of why I am so happy that I have been given the opportunity to break into the field.

In this post, I’ll tell you my story of breaking into Wealth Management, how I started out as an SEO Specialist at a technology company, and how I used this to pivot to the large Wealth Management firm that I have now been working at for going on 3 years now. As always, read on or subscribe to our blog for additional details and information, as I will be starting to give away E-Books on SEO and Finance for our subscribers, the blend of these two skills is a really fantastic way to make a lot of money in your spare time!

How I Broke Into Finance, My Story on How to Enter the Field of Finance

I always wanted to have a career in the field of Finance, ever since I became interested in Day Trading, stock picking, personal finances, and working at
a bank when I saw “Limitless” way back in 2011 when I was like 16 years old, and I am really glad to say that about 12 years later, I am doing just that.
And while it’s not necessarily as fun…or even quite as profitable as they portray it to be in the movies, it is definitely very lucrative, and has a pretty
awesome long term career outlook.

My own personal story in Finance started when I was about 18 years old and became interested in writing, which looking back was a pretty powerful skill to build up for my industry considering the volume of emails that I have to write to clients on a day to day basis. I started off writing novels and trying to sell them online, which led to me learning blogging and SEO as a way for me to sell the books.

This quickly turned into me building and selling affiliate websites for some time, and led to me even making around $100,000 per year at this at one point. I would eventually sell out, and turn my attention towards working in the field of tech and internet marketing, in that I managed to use my tech skills and internet background, as well as my BA in Finance to land a job as a financial analyst at an internet start-up company, making about $70,000 per year, not a bad gig right out of college.

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I did pretty good for my literal first rodeo at a 9 to 5 job right out of college, but eventually was laid off after about 9 months there full-time, partially due to my performance and me being only like 25 years old, but also because the company restructured, and forced layoffs on about half of their staff. That was a nice little smack in the face as I went from the top of the dominance hierarchy for my age, down to living off of unemployment. This period of time lasted about 6 months and probably was one of the most gloomy of my entire life, I am extremely goal oriented and am generally pretty satisfied as long as I am making money and have something to attack, and this was gone for the first time in my life.

How to Enter the Field of Finance with Designations

From here, I went on almost 50 interviews for financial positions, before finally landing a big break at one of the big firms due to a good interview for How to Enter the Field of Financea banking associate position. For the next 2 and a half years I racked up as many licenses as I possibly could, building up my resume as much as humanly possible, saved as much money as I could, and worked 60+ hour work weeks while taking no vacations, not wanting to risk losing again like I had at my previous company. Now on what is technically my second rodeo, I am feeling much more secure in my job and like I belong and have a place there, I have relationships built, and have really managed to make a name for myself at the firm. I even feel somewhat comfortable going on there everyday, which is the first time I can fully say that about a job.

And so, with all the above being said, here’s how to enter the field of finance, if I had to start from scratch again.

If you’re in college, pursue a double BA in Accounting and Finance – Difficult but extremely profitable.

-Take the SIE Exam
-Become a Notary public and buy a textbook so you know how to notarize documents
-Obtain the Enrolled Agent Designation, this looks good for prospective employers in both tax and Wealth Management and adds letters by your name.
-Take the Series 65 exam (the one WM license that you can take without sponsorship)
-Get the 2-15 and 2-20 license.

From here, get some work experience in the field of finance or accounting. Accounting, Tax at H&R Block, Insurance, or anything of the sort should do the trick as far as getting your foot in the door initially into the field. Do this for about a year, and this plus the above licenses should open the doors to a Wealth Management interview, which realistically is how you make the real money in the field of Finance. From here, the interviews should open up, look for Client Services Associate positions or Relationship banker positions at the big firms, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, etc. these are your
best bet at getting that first big name on a resume (polish those interview skills while you have it also.)

From here, if you keep interviewing state-wide or country wide, you will land a position. Make sure to get the Series 7 and Series 66 as fast as possible
from here, once you get these licenses under your belt, it opens the doors to other firms as well. Getting your foot in the door is the hardest part,
however it is by no means easy from there, working in the field of Wealth Management is among one of the most difficult jobs you can do over the long term it is incredibly stressful but also incredibly rewarding. Be prepared to work your ass off, and you will be compensated in the process.

Final Thoughts on How to Break Into Finance

If you have a passion for Finance, you can absolutely make some headwind in the field using the above steps. Get your social skills and your technical
skills as good as you possibly can on both fronts, you will need to use both at a pretty high level in order to make the job work long term. Wealth Management is about 45% technical and 55% people skills, and the more of each one of these you have in terms of competence, the better. Hope you enjoyed the blog post, comment down below if you are interested in obtaining more information on this topic, I am happy to comment on any more specific licenses, or detailed questions you may have. Cheers!

*Inflation Hedging.com

 

Sources:

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/cds/cd-rates/

https://money.cnn.com/data/markets/

 

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