What makes a skilled investment manager today? Review the article below to learn more
Among one of the most fundamental finance skills that almost every single finance enthusiast needs to develop would focus on their finance and financial knowledge. Many people tend to think that accounting and finance skills are only needed if you are actually considering a career in accounting. However, as William Jackson of Bridgepoint Capital would know, the financial industry environment is interrelated, and each position within financial services requires you to understand the three main economic reports to a minimum of an intermediate degree. Firms rely on these financial statements to manage budgeting, performance evaluation, and determine the expense of operations with the choice of the most appropriate financial investments that might comprise bonds, equities and property. This is why you see numerous bankers, insurance analysts, and even wealth managers coming from a chartered accountancy foundation, and that is simply because of the essential understanding accountancy and finance can give you prior to you focus in your financial career.
Nowadays, among one of the most obvious hard skills in finance would certainly include your numerical skills. Numbers and data-driven data in general are the core of every finance occupation. As Ferdi van Heerden of Momentum Global Investment Managers would certainly know, many banks often tend to hire their interns, trainees, or apprentices from quantitative fields, such as mathematics, financial services, chemical engineering fields, and computer science. This is because, as a financial expert, you are expected to go through detailed spreadsheets that are full of quantitative information that you will likely need to evaluate, and having comfort with numbers is definitely a crucial tool to have in this case. One can argue that also back-office roles that do not necessarily include spreadsheets still call for applicants to have some level of numerical or analytical experience, and this again reinstates the fact around numerical information being the cornerstone of each process within a financial services sector organisation nowadays
One can easily suggest that soft skills in finance are as important as domain-specific knowledge. As Toby Raincock of Shard Capital would understand, being client facing in a financial setting is possibly the most challenging roles you can ever before find yourself in. This is because customers are entrusting you with their personal money and investments, and therefore, you need to have the capacity to form lasting working connections with these clients, serving as their partners, and making their concerns your very own. The stronger your connection is with the client, the simpler your job will certainly be. Such relationship-building skills means that interaction skills are also essential in the world of financial services, especially when it comes to providing insights and guidance to customers. Additionally, you should likewise be able to adapt your style when interacting with various audiences, adjusting among internal and external stakeholders, depending upon their level of financial understanding and familiarity.