How to become a financial analyst
If you think you are good with numbers and management then financial analyst might turn out to be a good career choice for you. In this age the purchase of stocks, bonds and equities is heavily dependent on what the financial analyst has to say about. Financial analysts are in high demand at banks, insurance agencies and hedge funds and have a very promising and lucrative career up ahead. With emerging data technologies penetrating its way into the financial markets, the needs for financial analyst will increase exponentially with in.
Embarking your journey towards becoming a financial analysts requires a rigorous data analysis training, after all financial analysis is one branch in the wide range of data analysis domain. To ease you in and help you make a better decision we have put together this guide about what a financial analyst really is and what skills does a qualified financial analyst needs to have. We will also cover some in demand job roles and their estimated salary ranges well. Let’s dive right in.
What does a Financial Analyst do?
A financial analyst is someone who will analyze and process a company’s financial data and extract key indication points from it. However, according to the company needs and model a role of a financial analyst may change drastically but one thing remains common, financial analysts make investment related suggestion by weighing potential losses and gains against every business opportunity. In the digital market financial analyst analyze sales number and marketing channels to determine overall performance and give investment related advices.
Some key responsibilities of a financial analyst are:
- Stay in touch with the market, learn about trends and business models to understand the industrial eco-system better
- Track and understand the economic situation both domestic and internationally
- Create a model for buying and selling recommendations based of data analysis
- Conducting meeting with corporate level management and come up with investment strategies
- Facilitate trading policies to increase revenue
- Make trade related decisions for the company or third party (depends on your position)
- Become an expert in our niche, know the ins and outs of your industry
- Minimize the operational costs for a firm or third party vendor by analyzing business trends globally within the same sector
- Create detailed financial model for the company’s growth and accommodate all relevant channels accordingly
Financial analyst have a huge amount of responsibility when it comes to the financial decisions of the company. Which makes it a high pressure that requires fast decision making and confidence. From working in corporate offices to travel across the globe to either meet or cater clients, financial analyst are doing it all which makes it a very broad-scoped profession.
What do you need to become a Financial Analyst?
Education and Qualification:
Financial analysts are typically required to have a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, economics preferably even many MBA’s make their way into the financial analysis market. But in this age need to conventional college education doesn’t cut it anymore, for the companies the competition is tough and they are on the lookout for skilled individuals that where data analysis trainings come in. Although it is true that you need a college degree to make to management level but data analysis trainings can act as a gateway to start your career as a financial analyst.
The reason why I emphasize on data analysis training more is because of its skilled orientated approach instead diluting the core subject with optional subjects online data analysis trainings focus on key skills and techniques that you need to kick start your career as a financial analysis. Having solid commands on advanced analytics skills will make you more relevant to the companies that a degree can ever could.
Experience:
Often organizations prefer individuals having 2, 3 years of relevant industry experience when hiring for financial analyst. Relevant experience may include banking, accounting level experience. However if you are skilled in data analysis techniques that experience shouldn’t hold you off. You see there is a huge demand for financial analyst in the market right now and companies cannot afford to waste good talent.
Just be sure to acquire in demand skills in your data analysis training and let your skillset do the job for you.
Skills:
Financial analyst require an arsenal of skills and command of tools in order to effectively penetration the industry. Some of the most in demand skills required for a financial analysts are:
- An analyst must know how to make a financial model of the business needs, a model usually indicate key performance indicators for the company and highlights action items
- An analyst must know all data analysis techniques to extract useable information from company’s financial data. Conducting an accurate analysis is the key to making effective decisions that can help the company grow.
- An analyst have marketing skills as well. Selling your vision to others is a big part of a financial analyst’s job, in order for people to implement your decisions to have to very convincing.
- A financial analyst must be good in adapting to change and must be an efficient decision maker. With changing financial market is it important to adapt and implement changes accordingly.
- Financial analysts also require technical skills as well, the bear minimum a financial analysts must know are:
- Transact SQL
- Data Visualization
- Microsoft Excel
- Power BI
- Descriptive Analysis
Don’t get overwhelmed by the technical skills, check your data analysis training where we cover all of these plus more in great depth.
Career outlook for Financial Analysts
According to the Bureau of Statistic Labor, financial analyst as a career will enjoy a fast growth of 15% for the next 10 years. The rapid digitalization in emerging markets will only increase this number more.
A career as a financial analyst is highly lucrative and a rewarding one. With immense job security and perks, financial analyst because of their exposure to senior management from the very beginning are most likely to make to the top than others. Join our Data Analysis bootcamp to launch your career as a financial analyst.