A Finance Career: More Than Just Managing Money

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After studying with the same internationally recognized professors as on-campus students and attending the same graduation ceremony, your Master's in Finance degree from the University of Miami online is in your hands — you're officially a Hurricane. A finance degree lays your career trajectory out before you, but it can be a wildly branching path.

As modern career paths become less linear and more fluid, it's time to embrace the diversity and explore just how varied your options truly are.

Online Finance Degree Provides Support

Whether you end up trading securities or officiating loans, it's crucial to know your strengths — and what to expect — from the start. Equipped with an online Master's in Finance, you will attend classes ranging from Derivatives for Financial Modeling to Quantitative Finance and Microstructure. You can balance your accounting and financial knowledge while honing quick decision-making and efficient communication skills. Having these abilities in your pocket keeps your job search open to a wide range of possibilities.

You'll have the backing of more than 180,000 UM alums from around the world every step of the way, ready to answer your career queries and plug you into their own financial networks. With an AACSB-accredited degree, you'll know you can comfortably seek positions earning about $76,000 per year — the median annual salary of those with a Master's in Finance. You'll find most major Master's in Finance jobs fall into a few key categories.

Finance Degrees and the Banking World

About three-quarters of global trade relies on commercial banking, and its versatile, front-facing qualities make this vibrant financial community a perfect fit for outgoing and confident professionals. If you prefer a more intimate work environment, your master's degree lends itself to positions such as branch manager or loan officer at your local bank branch. That branch's corporate headquarters will also need operations staff if you prefer something faster paced. 

Look to the investment banking industry if staying local isn't your style. Professionals in this high-profile sector issue and trade corporate securities and act as high-level financial advisers to both corporations and private investors. Investment banking pulls deeply from the communication skills your UM finance degree sharpens, and it serves as a time-tested stepping stone into fields like venture capital, private equity and hedge fund management.

Master’s in Finances Helps Pave the Corporate Path

You're used to flexibility as an online grad — it's a factor that builds both confidence and accountability. Both of these factors come into play in the corporate finance world where you can put your Master's in Finance degree to work as a financial analyst, internal auditor or treasurer. Those in corporate finance focus on helping companies maximize gain and minimize risk on a day-to-day basis. It's a field well suited to those who enjoy variety and can roll with the punches — you'll find yourself working on everything from sales forecasts and long-term financial strategizing to creditor negotiations.

Your Finance Degree and Professional Risk Management

Look toward a career in financial planning or risk management if you're an online finance degree grad who thrives on keeping track of trends. Planners are essentially one-on-one advisers who possess a keen understanding of market trends as they create investment plans, wealth preservation strategies and tax strategies for individuals. It's a job perfectly suited for forward-thinking people. 

Risk management is a finance job primarily found in the insurance sector and operates on a similar principle. You'll exercise your knowledge of upcoming financial trends and historical precedents to help everyone from individuals to corporations predict risks and take the steps necessary to protect themselves from loss. It's a good fit if you're interested in data analysis and a little bit of policy-making with your finance. You'll analyze financial reports and transactions and create company-wide policies to help businesses run a watertight financial ship.

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