Financial Analysis vs. Computer Science

[avant-garde]

If you had a choice between becoming a financial analyst or a computer scientist (artificial intelligence, more specifically), which would you pick and why?

 

[will.c]

Me? Financial analyst. I find artificial intelligence to be immensely boring.

Unfortunately, I take it you don't find the choice quite so clear cut, and this is why your question is ill posed for the assistance you seem to be seeking.

 

[Cexy]

For me: finance, no question about it. Why? Because computer science is dull and finance pays 3-10x more.

 

[avant-garde]

For me: finance, no question about it. Why? Because computer science is dull and finance pays 3-10x more.

Haha. Is financing fun? Is it more than just punching in numbers on calculators?

 

[Locrian]

"Financial analyst" is a ridiculously broad term.

They don't necessarily make 3-10x a computer scientist does. There are http://jobview.monster.com/GetJob.aspx?JobID=75142481&JobTitle=Financial+Analyst+-+Financial+Planning+to+%2445%2c000&q=financial+analyst&rad=20&rad_units=miles&brd=1&cy=us&vw=b&AVSDM=2008-08-26+02%3a16%3a00&pg=1&seq=20 of examples of financial analysts who do well, but nothing out of the ordinary. Finance has gotten its reputation as a money maker largely from investment banking jobs. You can make tremendous money in investment banking, but the job hours are equally awful (depending a bit on who you ask). Its hard to be certain, but I feel confident saying that if you figure it up on an hourly basis there are actually few finance jobs that make more money per hour than computer scientists do on average.

I'd still go into finance, but that's just me.

 

[wildman]

I'd go with computer science myself, but really it is what one enjoys.

 

[zhentil]

I'd narrow down my interests first. Financial analysis and AI are light years apart, so if those were my career choices, I'd hunker down and ask myself what I want to do with my life.

 

[Cexy]

They don't necessarily make 3-10x a computer scientist does. There are http://jobview.monster.com/GetJob.aspx?JobID=75142481&JobTitle=Financial+Analyst+-+Financial+Planning+to+%2445%2c000&q=financial+analyst&rad=20&rad_units=miles&brd=1&cy=us&vw=b&AVSDM=2008-08-26+02%3a16%3a00&pg=1&seq=20 of examples of financial analysts who do well, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I was assuming that by "finance" the OP meant a good IB job.

You can make tremendous money in investment banking, but the job hours are equally awful (depending a bit on who you ask).

More like depending on what job you do. I worked ~60 hrs a week which I don't consider to be awful, and earned good money.

 

[Defennder]

If you're going into finance, beware of this:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/159226/output/print

 

[Hydroshock]

Financial Analyst does have it's issues right now, though 3 years down the road no one really knows. In reality though it's hard to find a job with it in the first place as there's long tenure in the field. It really comes down to what's more fun, but computer science let's you do a broad spectrum of things other than AI if that ends up being boring.

Oh yeah not to mention, if you know what you're doing, you can do Financial jobs with an engineering degree ;).

 

[kehler]

Computer Science without a doubt :).

 

[avant-garde]

Financial Analyst does have it's issues right now, though 3 years down the road no one really knows. In reality though it's hard to find a job with it in the first place as there's long tenure in the field. It really comes down to what's more fun, but computer science let's you do a broad spectrum of things other than AI if that ends up being boring.

Oh yeah not to mention, if you know what you're doing, you can do Financial jobs with an engineering degree ;).

Can't you also do a software engineering job if you are a finance major? (I wanted to broaden this topic from AI to any s. engineering job in general)

 

[Wax]

Computer scientist is a better job because it's more creative and much easier to find work.

The problem with a Financial Analyst is that they can do a variety of work. It's a broad term for a number of professions but they all have one thing in common. You will be making in the range of 30k to 45k a year when you graduate and in many cases you will be making nothing. You will be working at the bottom of the pool and the only way up is to prove yourself every day. Here are the only examples that I can think off the top of my head.

After you graduate you can become a financial adviser but I bet you have no idea what they do. Financial advisers are hustlers and they hustle everyday. As a financial adviser you will be required to go door knocking and put your creative skills to the test on how many people you can get to trust you with their money. You will have to convince people to give their life's savings to you. Think about that for one second... You will have to convince people to hand over their entire life's savings to you. This is an extremely hard task and on top of it, you will be making absolutely no money when you start out. None, zip, zipo. Your income as a financial adviser comes form how many clients you can score and there is no chance in heaven that you would be able to live off of 5 clients a year. Most people in this profession do not make it and end up having to hand over all their clients to other financial advisers in the business. They end up working for other financial advisers making 30k or less a year. I've seen it with my own eyes.

The only other option is to work at a bank. At a bank you can make a cool 40k or 45k a year as a loan officer but there is no room for advancement. You'll be competing with other loan officers to get raises and promotions. They're limited.

Lastly, you can move to New York if you are determined to make it big. Also, your education doesn't stop when you finish college as a Financial Analyst. You will be required to take 3 exams if you want to deal with people's money.

Edit: I'm not trying to discourage you from what you might want to do but I'm trying to show you the reality of the situation. As a financial analyst, the only way to make it big is to grow your client base. You will struggle for the first few years but if you make it through then you have the potential to make around 100k a year but that's only if you grow your client base.
The questions that you must ask yourself are...

Can you hustle?

Are you a people person?

Do people trust you?

Can you lie to your clients with a straight face and voice? You will be making up stories everyday. At least, that's what I see the good ones doing. All the nice honest ones are working for the big shots, seriously. This is a scumbag profession and you must be a scumbag to do it. The type of lies you will be telling range from very small to very large but they are still lies. Financial Advisers are cool people but when it comes to money they will say anything, seriously. They put on a face to get you to hand over your money, that's why they seem so cool. Once they have it they will tell you anything to hold onto it. That's how this profession works.

Do you have the ability to sell yourself?

Do you have a large network of rich friends? <<----If no then you should absolutely not do this. Where will your clients come from if you don't know people? Don't expect to land a job at a big investment firm without a client base. They only take people with a proven record.

 

[avant-garde]

Lol. I am going to apply to Wharton next year. (no desire for ibanking, though)
I can't decide if I want to do UT Austin school of engineering, or even McCombs school of business.

Let's just say that I enjoy both finance and CS at similar amounts.

 

[Wax]

Lol. I am going to apply to Wharton next year. (no desire for ibanking, though)
I can't decide if I want to do UT Austin school of engineering, or even McCombs school of business.

Let's just say that I enjoy both finance and CS at similar amounts.

Please don't tell me you're going to be the next Bernie Madoff.
Gosh.. My post does seem pretty funny after I read over it. heh..

 

[avant-garde]

Yeah, I couldn't really imagine a Wharton or McCombs grad struggling as you described above. And besides, can't a finance major do some software engineering job if he really wanted?

 

[avant-garde]

Just wondering wax, but what field are you in?

 

[Wax]

Yeah, I couldn't really imagine a Wharton or McCombs grad struggling as you described above. And besides, can't a finance major do some software engineering job if he really wanted?

I have no idea. You probably could do software engineering if you know your stuff. I can't imagine you getting an interview without that degree on your resume though.

As for what I told you above. It doesn't matter where you graduate from. You have to see what it is that you want to do with the degree. If you want to be a financial adviser then I have no doubt in my mind you will struggle that way. It doesn't matter where you graduate from. A job of a financial adviser is to hustle. Think about it. Where does your salary come from? It comes from your clients. When you graduate you will have NO CLIENTS!

 

[Wax]

Just wondering wax, but what field are you in?

I'm actually going back to school for chemical engineering. I use to work in a firm as a financial adviser assistant. I could have worked my way up but I honestly didn't like what I saw. You don't need a degree to be a financial adviser.

 

[Locrian]

It doesn't matter where you graduate from.

Wow. That's stupendously wrong.

Wax, every post you've made in this thread treats a "financial analyst" as if their only working job is a financial advisor. It isn't. It's not even the majority.

You're clueless.

 

[Wax]

Wow. That's stupendously wrong.

Wax, every post you've made in this thread treats a "financial analyst" as if their only working job is a financial advisor. It isn't. It's not even the majority.

You're clueless.

If you bothered to read my post correctly, I said that a financial analyst can do a variety of things. The only two that I know from experience off the top of my head are financial advisers and a banker but since I'm so "clueless" then why don't you enlighten me? What do the majority of people do with a financial analyst degree do? Do you even know? Seems like a bold statement to me.

The OP said he didn't want to go into banking. The only other option is a financial adviser which is a more in dept version of a broker.

 

[avant-garde]

Well, I thought there was a category for "financial analysts" standalone? lol.. idk.
I might do undergraduate business/finance, however, there is a general consensus that undergraduate business is not worth very much compared to an MBA..

 

[Wax]

Well, I thought there was a category for "financial analysts" standalone? lol.. idk.
I might do undergraduate business/finance, however, there is a general consensus that undergraduate business is not worth very much compared to an MBA..

If you really want to succeed as a financial adviser then the best tip I can tell you is to make a lot of friends in college, especially with the medical students. They will be your client base down the road. Get their phone numbers and host parties once a year like a reunion. You don't have to start from scratch like most people. The parties should be sophisticated and not wild. Remember what you're doing here is gaining people's respect and building your image. What they don't teach you in school is that 80% of what a FA does is social, 15% is legal paper work for handling other people's money, and 5% is actually researching the market.

 

[boredjavi]

i would think things through very carefully. i works for Wells Fargo as a personal/bus. banker and i they talked to me about going through training to get everything i needed to become a financial advisor, but i turned them down. with the economy the way it is i found that its hard to get ahead in that career, you have to get your own customers... high end customers (200k min) and those are the customers who are most worried about their investments because they have the most to lose, not to mention those are the customers that don't want to deal with somebody new and would prefer someone who has been doing it for decades(not even years). and yeah things should get better in a few years or so but to the employers that means nothing you have MONTHS to prove your worth or your out. i started as a teller when i was 17 and am now 22 and as a personal/bus. banker i made 50k-65k a year( depending on bonuses) and a new financial advisor, at Wells Fargo anyways would earn less then that.

 

[Wax]

i would think things through very carefully. i works for Wells Fargo as a personal/bus. banker and i they talked to me about going through training to get everything i needed to become a financial advisor, but i turned them down. with the economy the way it is i found that its hard to get ahead in that career, you have to get your own customers... high end customers (200k min) and those are the customers who are most worried about their investments because they have the most to lose, not to mention those are the customers that don't want to deal with somebody new and would prefer someone who has been doing it for decades(not even years). and yeah things should get better in a few years or so but to the employers that means nothing you have MONTHS to prove your worth or your out. i started as a teller when i was 17 and am now 22 and as a personal/bus. banker i made 50k-65k a year( depending on bonuses) and a new financial advisor, at Wells Fargo anyways would earn less then that.

Are you here for a career change too?

 

[boredjavi]

oh yeah! like i said i WORKED for the bank... i was top in sales did great one of the youngest and successful bussiness banker in my area. i was just closing my last big account that i needed/ they asked of me to become an assistant branch manager. it turned out that an old manager of mine a year back got a hold of my username and password and stole 20k from a CD(thats why it took so long for all this to happen) and made it look like i did it all. luckily i was able to clear things up he made a big mistake of transfering that money to one of his uncles accounts who i met once but still remembered his name, and i was cleared of all charges after they had me in a room for 6 hours. although i was cleared they still "let me go". so now i am receiving unemployment (california) and getting close to 2k a month for doing nothing and that's why I am thinking about going back to what i always wanted to do astrophysics... well at least hoping for it.

that's anothing thing about working in finance you are dealing with money and even though you are a good person there is always that temptation, maybe not with you but with others and yes they do have policys and procedures to minimize the risk of something like this happening... its still there and it can happen

 

[boredjavi]

Computer scientist is a better job because it's more creative and much easier to find work.

The problem with a Financial Analyst is that they can do a variety of work. It's a broad term for a number of professions but they all have one thing in common. You will be making in the range of 30k to 45k a year when you graduate and in many cases you will be making nothing. You will be working at the bottom of the pool and the only way up is to prove yourself every day. Here are the only examples that I can think off the top of my head.

After you graduate you can become a financial adviser but I bet you have no idea what they do. Financial advisers are hustlers and they hustle everyday. As a financial adviser you will be required to go door knocking and put your creative skills to the test on how many people you can get to trust you with their money. You will have to convince people to give their life's savings to you. Think about that for one second... You will have to convince people to hand over their entire life's savings to you. This is an extremely hard task and on top of it, you will be making absolutely no money when you start out. None, zip, zipo. Your income as a financial adviser comes form how many clients you can score and there is no chance in heaven that you would be able to live off of 5 clients a year. Most people in this profession do not make it and end up having to hand over all their clients to other financial advisers in the business. They end up working for other financial advisers making 30k or less a year. I've seen it with my own eyes.

The only other option is to work at a bank. At a bank you can make a cool 40k or 45k a year as a loan officer but there is no room for advancement. You'll be competing with other loan officers to get raises and promotions. They're limited.

Lastly, you can move to New York if you are determined to make it big. Also, your education doesn't stop when you finish college as a Financial Analyst. You will be required to take 3 exams if you want to deal with people's money.

Edit: I'm not trying to discourage you from what you might want to do but I'm trying to show you the reality of the situation. As a financial analyst, the only way to make it big is to grow your client base. You will struggle for the first few years but if you make it through then you have the potential to make around 100k a year but that's only if you grow your client base.



The questions that you must ask yourself are...

Can you hustle?

Are you a people person?

Do people trust you?

Can you lie to your clients with a straight face and voice? You will be making up stories everyday. At least, that's what I see the good ones doing. All the nice honest ones are working for the big shots, seriously. This is a scumbag profession and you must be a scumbag to do it. The type of lies you will be telling range from very small to very large but they are still lies. Financial Advisers are cool people but when it comes to money they will say anything, seriously. They put on a face to get you to hand over your money, that's why they seem so cool. Once they have it they will tell you anything to hold onto it. That's how this profession works.

Do you have the ability to sell yourself?

Do you have a large network of rich friends? <<----If no then you should absolutely not do this. Where will your clients come from if you don't know people? Don't expect to land a job at a big investment firm without a client base. They only take people with a proven record.

i just wanted to add that this is very good and accurate! kudos on that especially on the hustling i remember my FA asking me to call all my high end customers to set appointments for him HA yea right give him my customers who i worked with for years... GO GET YOUR OWN

 

[Wax]

i just wanted to add that this is very good and accurate! kudos on that especially on the hustling i remember my FA asking me to call all my high end customers to set appointments for him HA yea right give him my customers who i worked with for years... GO GET YOUR OWN

lol. That was a funny smile.


I know what you're talking about when handling other people's money. It takes a real disciplined person to be able to handle money that doesn't belong to you. I remember hearing of at least two cases within one year, in which a financial adviser used their client's funds for vacation money or something. One worked at our branch and the other one didn't. The guy who worked at our branch, we never saw him again but his clients kept calling in asking where he was and why they were being transferred to another financial adviser. The one who didn't work at our branch, I know about because he had to sell off his clients to one of our financial advisers. Most of the clients probably never knew why they were really being transferred.

Edit: We never talked about it in the office and it was something that we were not suppose to bring up. I don't know why but I guess it was just something that everyone knew that you're not suppose to talk about.

 

[Wax]

If the OP wants any tips and tricks for how FAs get clients. I know them all. Well, I pretty much told you how earlier.

 

[ajassat]

Still related to finance but makes more use of a computer scientists skills:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_analyst

 

[nike5]

I don't know how related this is to financial analysis, but can anyone offer some insight into what mathematicians do in finance.

 

[ajassat]

I don't know how related this is to financial analysis, but can anyone offer some insight into what mathematicians do in finance.

-Predict the stock market
-Calculate success rate of future investment
-Calculate derivatives
-Predict future economic growth
-Contingency planning (during economic downturn)

Prediction involves use of statistical mathematics and price derivatives. Calculus in multiple variables is used heavily in economics and contingency planning.

For more information on Mathematical Finance see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_finance

 

[AsianSensationK]

Computer scientist is a better job because it's more creative and much easier to find work.

The problem with a Financial Analyst is that they can do a variety of work. It's a broad term for a number of professions but they all have one thing in common. You will be making in the range of 30k to 45k a year when you graduate and in many cases you will be making nothing. You will be working at the bottom of the pool and the only way up is to prove yourself every day. Here are the only examples that I can think off the top of my head.

After you graduate you can become a financial adviser but I bet you have no idea what they do. Financial advisers are hustlers and they hustle everyday. As a financial adviser you will be required to go door knocking and put your creative skills to the test on how many people you can get to trust you with their money. You will have to convince people to give their life's savings to you. Think about that for one second... You will have to convince people to hand over their entire life's savings to you. This is an extremely hard task and on top of it, you will be making absolutely no money when you start out. None, zip, zipo. Your income as a financial adviser comes form how many clients you can score and there is no chance in heaven that you would be able to live off of 5 clients a year. Most people in this profession do not make it and end up having to hand over all their clients to other financial advisers in the business. They end up working for other financial advisers making 30k or less a year. I've seen it with my own eyes.

The only other option is to work at a bank. At a bank you can make a cool 40k or 45k a year as a loan officer but there is no room for advancement. You'll be competing with other loan officers to get raises and promotions. They're limited.

Lastly, you can move to New York if you are determined to make it big. Also, your education doesn't stop when you finish college as a Financial Analyst. You will be required to take 3 exams if you want to deal with people's money.

Edit: I'm not trying to discourage you from what you might want to do but I'm trying to show you the reality of the situation. As a financial analyst, the only way to make it big is to grow your client base. You will struggle for the first few years but if you make it through then you have the potential to make around 100k a year but that's only if you grow your client base.
The questions that you must ask yourself are...

Can you hustle?

Are you a people person?

Do people trust you?

Can you lie to your clients with a straight face and voice? You will be making up stories everyday. At least, that's what I see the good ones doing. All the nice honest ones are working for the big shots, seriously. This is a scumbag profession and you must be a scumbag to do it. The type of lies you will be telling range from very small to very large but they are still lies. Financial Advisers are cool people but when it comes to money they will say anything, seriously. They put on a face to get you to hand over your money, that's why they seem so cool. Once they have it they will tell you anything to hold onto it. That's how this profession works.

Do you have the ability to sell yourself?

Do you have a large network of rich friends? <<----If no then you should absolutely not do this. Where will your clients come from if you don't know people? Don't expect to land a job at a big investment firm without a client base. They only take people with a proven record.

This is brilliant. The best part is, I know not one word of this is a lie. A lot of kids who study finance wind up as financial advisers. And being a financial adviser these days is no different from selling insurance. It's all bologna.
----------------------------------------------
To avant-garde: I know I've mentioned this in another thread, but seriously, if you're interested in finance, do not study economics or finance. Study accounting and a little bit of finance. Get a CPA. You can have a slightly better job handling people's taxes, bookkeeping for small business, and maybe a little bit of retirement and estate planning. The best part is, you will not be needing to lie through your teeth every day to your family and friends, because you have other means to generate revenue for yourself. If you do well at a notable school for accounting like Texas, you might even land a job as an auditor at the big 4 (in a big city). Then, a world of corporate finance jobs open up to you after you put in your time.

To swerve back on topic, I would probably pick both business and comp-sci if I could've gotten away with it. It's a lot of work though.

 

[Wax]

Yes! They are salesman and I agree with you on getting a CPA instead of a finance degree. You can still be a financial adviser with a CPA and have the reassurance of a steady income if financing didn't work out for you.

I think there is a large disconnect with how the Media portrays what an investor or financial adviser does compared to the real deal. Most of the time the media only spot lights figures such as Bernard Madoff as some glamorous individual, giving the wrong impression in this field.

A financial analyst degree is not a desk job in which a university teaches you a skill and you get to track the stock market all day long. This is a salesman job that does not require a bachelors degree. You will be physically door knocking or cold calling on a daily basis. Researching the market plays an extremely small roll in this field and you will be putting up a face everyday to your clients.

As proof of this, think about the past year. Not one single Financial Adviser in the entire world was able to see this recession coming and capitalize on it. (Peter Schiff doesn't count. He's a permanent bear and his firm still lost money) In fact, every single investment firm in the entire world took a large nose dive in the past year which should be a clear signal as to how much those guys are really paying attention to their client's money. What type of answers do you think they told their clients when they had no idea what was going on with the recession?

 

[TheDoorsOfMe]

I don't know if anybody has suggested this yet or not but I would major in both if you have an interest in them. I say this as a holder of a Finance degree. The degree is not the hardest program in the world and usually not that many credits. Many of your classes will even crossover. Or at least they did at my school. Plus, there is a huge demand for quantitative financial traders called quants who use programing to select stocks. These are some very high paid positions on wall street. So why not have the best of both worlds and get paid an ungodly amount of money!