Is Finance a Good Major? A Comprehensive Guide

The answer to is finance a good major? is a resounding yes. The major opens many doors for college graduates and gives opportunities to students that other majors just don’t give. It also gives a great foundational learning of the lifeblood of every business out there: cash.

No matter what, understanding prudent cash management practices will always be in demand. Businesses will always need cash in order to survive, grow, and provide jobs for people. As a result, businesses will always have demand for finance majors and graduates, both undergraduate and graduate school.

I personally graduated with a finance degree and have been taking advantage of the degree ever since then. One thing that I regret is that I should have added a computer science degree on top of my finance degree. However, I can’t change the past and I’m pretty happy with where I ended up.

It’s given me opportunities that I never thought was possible. It’s what’s allowed me to have a $400,000 net worth just by the age of 26. I can’t imagine just how much further I’ll go. I’m not going to give up when the going is great, I’m going to keep going and see just how far I can take it.

So take it from me, someone who actually graduated with a finance degree, if you’re asking yourself is finance a good major? It will provide you opportunities and an edge over someone else who doesn’t have an understanding of the cash and money that businesses need.

Is Finance a Good Major? Who it’s For:

One way to answer is finance a good major? question is by SMASHING that social share button and posting to your favorite social media! Your friends could benefit a lot from the article. I know I needed the guidance when I was thinking about picking a major in school.

So with that said, let’s get into who the finance degree is for!

1) Someone Who is Good With Numbers

If you’re someone who’s good with numbers, finance is a great major for you to consider. There’s no PhD in math required. Finance is actually simple math where simple addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication will be the extent of what you need. There’s no need to do calculus.

Now, obviously, if you just cannot stand math and cannot stomach the thought of using any sort of numbers, then it’s not a major for you. However, if you’re lost in college and are looking for a generally good degree to take on, then it’s not a bad major to consider taking on.

Is finance a good degree? Yes, if you are good with numbers and enjoy it. I personally wanted to pick a major where I was good at the subject matter and that I could get a job in. I knew I had to follow my, “don’t follow your passion” advice when it came time to pick a major.

So that led me to pick finance and I have no regrets.

2) Interest in Money and Business

Some people just aren’t interested in money, and that’s completely OK. If you don’t have any interest in money and business, it’s difficult to stay with the subject matter for long. Maybe you’ll last 3 years, maybe even five years. However, you want to pick a major that you’ll stick with over the long term.

Is finance a good major? If you have an interest in how business make, raise, and spend money, then it’s a good major for you. School will NOT teach anything related to personal finance, however. That part, you will have to learn on your own by reading personal finance blogs such as Filled With Money.

However, if you’re a business nerd like me who has a vast interest in knowing how to become richer, how businesses thrive, and so forth, then it’s a good major to have. It gives you a broad range of knowledge and information because business schools require finance majors to take a breadth of business courses.

3) Stable Career

Is finance a good major for you? If you’re interested in a stable career and possibly even well-paying, then it’s a good major to have. Yes, computer science is all the rage these days. However, there are many software engineers who made even less than what I made as a Finance graduate.

Software engineers at big tech companies make the big money. If not, they make higher than average and sometimes even lower than average salaries than business school graduates. Please be practical when it comes time to picking your major. I knew I wasn’t going to follow my passions with a job.

I knew I was going to focus my time on my passions outside of working hours. You spend 1/3 of your life sleeping, 1/3 working, and the rest of the 1/3rd to do whatever you want. That’s the time to focus on your passions, not from a day job whose sole purpose is making you not go hungry.

4) It Provides a Good General Business Education

When I was a finance student, I had to take marketing, management, leadership, and accounting classes as well. Marketing, management, and leadership classes can honestly be figured out with just a couple of classes with good professors who know what they’re talking about.

Therefore, the core focus of classes that business students take should primarily be accounting and finance. The other classes as mentioned should be taken as a supplement. Is finance a good major? Absolutely because it gives you a well rounded education that other business majors don’t give.

It gives me confidence moving forward into figuring out what I need to do when it comes time to starting a business and/or creating it. I have a solid foundation on what it takes if I want to be an entrepreneur, as well because I took strong foundational business courses.

I don’t regret majoring in finance for a second.

Is Finance a Good Major? Who it Isn’t For

Now, that doesn’t mean finance is the best major to be invented since sliced bread. It’s not for everybody. So let’s go over who the major isn’t for. There’s always positives and negatives to every decision out there, especially when picking a major.

It’s necessary to analyze both sides.

1) If You Want to Get Rich Quick

Is finance a good major from a career perspective? Absolutely. It gives lucrative opportunities. My income is in the top 5% of my age group. However, it took long hours, weekends, and nights in order to make this happen. Finance is NOT a get rich quick major for you to take advantage of.

Even if you get into a lucrative career field straight out of school like investment banking where analysts are pulling in $150k – $180k the first year out of college. The money IS going to get old. A $6,000 bi-weekly paycheck is not enough to motivate you to keep going if you’re not at least interested in the subject.

You could get wealthy and rich eventually. However, even then, that still requires a lot of sacrifice in order to get there. You still need to save at least a decade’s worth of salary and invest it in order to accumulate the FU money that you are desiring.

Finance is not the major if you want to be a deca-millionaire in five years.

2) Mistaking a Finance Degree for a Personal Finance Degree

The only personal finance class that I knew of in college was taught to MBA students (If you’re wondering, “should I get an MBA?”) with the age range of the students between 27 – 32. WHAT!! Are you kidding me? By the time you start your personal finance journey at 27 – 32, that’s a late time.

It’s not too late to start, but it’s better to start earlier than later. A finance degree will not teach good personal finance habits to students. It’s business finance and not personal finance. Whether we like it or not, we have to learn personal finance from the free resources out in the world.

I’m so lucky my parents instilled the passion of personal finance and money into me at an early age. It led me to scouring the web and to look for any sort of answers that’ll give me an edge into moving up in life through money.

Finance is not the degree for you if you are looking to learn about personal finance, you will have to do that on your own.

3) Thinking it’s the Same as Accounting

Accounting is a much more technical and specialized subject matter of a business education that will always be necessary. People and businesses will always need to pay taxes so there will never be a shortage of demand for people who understand the complex tax codes.

Accounting is a much more technical subject matter than finance. Finance and accounting are related, but it’s not the same thing. Accounting deals with the debits and credits of a journal entry of a transaction while finance deals with managing the company’s cash, investing, and the like.

The two are not the same.

Is finance a good degree? Yes. Is accounting a good degree? Yes. However, the two are distinct, separate subject matters with their own sets of pros and cons. It would be a shame to go into a major with one set of expectations while the reality is completely different.

It’s important to know what you’re getting yourself into.

Is Finance a Good Major? Salary Data

So now, here are the salary data for popular finance major graduates’ jobs and the corresponding job titles there.

Investment Banking Analyst. Base: $100,000 – $110,000. Bonus: $35,000 – $110,000. Investment banking analysts work long hours and get paid well as a result. It’s one of the most popular jobs that college students go after because it is quite lucrative.

Financial Analyst: Base: $70,000 – $75,000 Bonus: $0 – $10,000. Financial analyst at a Fortune 500 company deals with forecasting, budgeting, and the like. Some companies do not offer a bonus for corporate finance roles and some do, it’s based on the luck of the draw.

Investor Relations Analyst: Base $80,000 – $95,000 Bonus: $0 – $15,000. There are fewer opportunities for fresh college graduates to land a role as an investor relations analyst. Investor Relations mostly deal with handling relations with investors, answering questions, and helping investors understand the company’s strategy.

Corporate Banking Analyst: Base: $85,000 – $95,000 Bonus: $5,000 – $35,000. The bonuses vary wildly on the group coverage you’re on and the bank itself. Some banks highly reward energy corporate bankers and other banks don’t. It completely depends on the bank you’re going to work for.

Above are just some of the samples of the finance jobs that you can get and the respective salary ranges. Compared to the average salary of $58,260 as of 2021, a finance major is a lucrative one that you can take advantage of.

Is Finance a Good Major?

By now, I hope you’re convinced the answer to the question, “is finance a good major?” is a resounding yes. Not only does it provide lucrative career options, it actually teaches you something about businesses if you were to start one on your own.

While it’s not for everybody, it gives a good general business education.

I got really lucky that I got interested in finance/money/economics from a young age from watching my parents save a dollar. They taught me the value of saving money. The investing part, I figured out on my own. However, my parents drilled down the value of saving money.

I’m so lucky and glad to have chosen the lifestyle. I have one of the highest net worths out of anyone in my friend group and I’m hoping to grow that more by the year. It was only made possible because I chose and stick with a finance major.

I’m working in the finance field and can’t imagine working any other job. The company I’m working for is so great that I’m hoping this will be my last job before I retire, as well. Slowly but surely I’m creating a life for myself that I envisioned and that I wanted.

Is finance a good major? It absolutely is. Consider your choices very carefully. You may just make the best decision you may possibly ever make by choosing to major in finance. The opportunities are what you make of it. But having a finance degree sure doesn’t hurt in getting you those opportunities.