MajorsMajor
Finance: what you'd study and do
From public data · Every number cited
The short answer
Finance is the study of how businesses and people raise, manage and invest money: how a company pays for growth, how it plans and tracks its cash, and how investments are chosen and valued. Students take business basics, accounting and statistics, then corporate finance, financial markets and investments. It leads to jobs like financial analyst and personal financial advisor, and, after years of experience, financial manager.
Try the job first
These lessons let you do a real task from the work. Those marked “Asks if you liked it” let you say so afterwards, and your answers collect in one place.
- Closing the books13 minFree
- How a financial advisor makes money14 minFree
- Profitable and still broke?14 minFree
- Margins: where each dollar goes14 minFree
- Budgets and forecasts13 min(members-only)(included in your membership)Asks if you liked it
- Controls and audits13 min(members-only)(included in your membership)
- Profit, cash, and what you own14 min(members-only)(included in your membership)
See what you've answered so far in Your major match.
What you'd study
Every college's program is a little different. These are the kinds of classes most of them have.
Business basics
Every college differs, but most finance programs start with the same business classes: accounting, economics, statistics or business analytics, marketing, management and business law, plus a math class.
The finance classes
Then come the finance classes: corporate finance (how a company decides what to spend on and how to pay for it), financial markets (stocks, bonds and banks), and investments and portfolios, with electives such as banking, risk or international finance. The US government's description of the major lists accounting principles, financial instruments, capital planning, managing assets and debt, budgeting, financial analysis and investments.
Spreadsheets everywhere
Much of the work is building and checking models in spreadsheets: what a company will earn, what an investment is worth, what happens if sales fall. The statistics and analytics classes in the business basics prepare you for it.
Jobs it leads to
Median pay means half the people in the job earn more and half earn less. Pay also changes with the place, the employer and experience.
Financial analysts
A day at work
You study companies and numbers to help someone decide where money should go. You read a company's results, build forecasts in spreadsheets, judge whether something is a good investment, and present your recommendation. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects about 29,500 openings a year
, and growth of 7% from 2025 to 2035, which it calls much faster than average. - Median pay
- $103,570
/year - Expected job growth
- 7%
The usual start
Usually a bachelor's degree in finance or a related field such as business. BLS says some jobs need licenses from FINRA, the securities industry's licensing body, but most need an employer to sponsor you, so companies don't expect you to have them before you start.
Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
Personal financial advisors
A day at work
You help people and families with their money. You ask about their income, spending, insurance, taxes and goals, build a plan, recommend investments, and check in as their lives change. Finding clients is part of the job. BLS expects slow growth, 1%
from 2025 to 2035, and about 17,100 openings a year . - Median pay
- $105,070
/year - Expected job growth
- 1%
The usual start
A bachelor's degree; BLS says employers usually don't require a specific major, and business, social science and math are common. Then more than a year of on-the-job training, and the licenses for what you advise on or sell.
Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
Financial managers
A day at work
You run a company's money team. A controller makes sure the books close on time and the reports are right; a treasurer watches the cash, invests what's spare and borrows what's needed. You lead the people who do billing, payroll, budgets and reports. BLS lists 5 years
or more of related work experience first, often as an accountant, loan officer or financial analyst, so the pay reflects years of experience, not just a degree. BLS expects about 65,600 openings a year . - Median pay
- $166,570
/year - Expected job growth
- 10%
The usual start
A bachelor's degree in business, economics or a related field, plus years of experience in a related job.
Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
How to read the growth numbers
BLS expects all US jobs together to grow 3.5%
The pay on each card is the median: half of the workers earn more and half earn less. Pay changes a lot by place, company and experience.
Pay isn't everything
Weeks can be long. Among treasurers and controllers who answered the work survey of O*NET, the US Labor Department's database of jobs, 80%
People who tend to enjoy it like numbers, careful checking and explaining what the numbers mean. BLS lists analytical skills, math, attention to detail and communication; for advisors it adds sales skills and earning clients' trust.
BLS says advisors may meet clients in the evenings or on weekends. How they're paid varies: a salary plus bonuses at many financial firms, or a flat fee or commissions at planning firms and for the self-employed.
Licenses: what needs one, and what you can do early
You don't need a license to study finance, or to work as a financial analyst at most companies. To sell stocks and funds, you need licenses from FINRA.
FINRA's first exam, the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE), is open to anyone aged 18 years
Advisers who give investment advice for a fee register with their state or with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and usually pass an exam such as the Series 65. The rules depend on the state; Washington's is below.
After graduating
The New York Fed looked at people who majored in finance, using Census survey data for 2024. Among full-time workers with only a bachelor's degree, the middle pay was $70,000
These are national middles: they say nothing about one college or one person, and pay is only one thing to weigh next to how the work feels day to day.
The College Scorecard, from the US Department of Education, shows what graduates of each college's finance and related programs earned a few years later. Read it with its own warnings: it counts only students who got federal grants or loans, it leaves out graduates who didn't work that year or went back to school, and pay soon after college may not show pay later on. Results also vary a lot from college to college. You can look up any college at collegescorecard.ed.gov.
- Finance, early career: $70,000
- All majors, early career: $58,000
- Finance, mid-career: $112,000
- All majors, mid-career: $87,000
Dollars per year.
Median pay of full-time workers with only a bachelor's degree, 2024, New York Fed. Context, not a ranking.
Sources:newyorkfed.org ·2024
Licenses and rules
Some rules depend on where you live. Check the official page for your state.
In Washington, to give investment advice for pay as an investment adviser representative, you must have passed the Series 65 exam, or the SIE, Series 7 and Series 66 together, unless you hold a designation the state accepts instead, such as the CFP or CFA. The exams must be recent unless you've stayed registered. A Form U4 is filed for you. Other states set their own rules, so check your state's securities regulator.
Check the official page(wa.gov)(opens in a new tab)Last checked
You don't need this major to work here
You can work in finance from other majors. BLS says employers of personal financial advisors usually don't require a specific course of study, and financial managers come from business, economics and related fields. The licenses come later, through an employer or your own firm, whatever your major.
Related majors
Also related: Economics, Business administration, Mathematics or statistics, Information systems or business analytics.
Common questions
- Is finance the same as accounting?
No, but they're close. Accounting records and reports what happened to a business's money. Finance uses those numbers to decide what to do next: invest, borrow, save or spend. Many finance majors take accounting classes.
- Do I have to be a math genius?
No. You'll use algebra, statistics and spreadsheets, carefully, every day. BLS lists math and analytical skills among the qualities that matter, next to communication and attention to detail.
- Can I start on a license in high school?
Not quite. FINRA's first exam, the SIE, is open from age 18 years
finra.org ·2026, students included, with no firm needed. The exams after it, such as the Series 7, need a firm to sponsor you. - Is finance all Wall Street?
No. Every company, hospital, school district and city has people who plan and watch its money. BLS lists many kinds of financial managers, from controllers and treasurers to credit, cash and risk managers.
- Which college is best for finance?
We don't rank colleges. The College Scorecard lets you look up any college's finance program; read its warnings about who's counted.
- What do these jobs pay?
BLS's median was $103,570
/year bls.gov ·2025 for financial analysts and $105,070 /year bls.gov ·2025 for personal financial advisors in May 2025. Half earn more and half earn less, and pay changes a lot by place, company and experience. Pay is one thing to weigh; how the work feels day to day is another.