By Sydney Moses
Studying to be a finance major can be difficult and at times very stressful, but if you are passionate about business, the hard work pays off. There are many different routes of careers in finance, such as an investment banker, a financial analyst, a portfolio manager, a trader, and a stockbroker. This post will provide information from a variety of sources, specifically a personal interview with Steve Moses, who works in Finance, an Elon Poll, and the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
What Employment in Finance Depicts?
The profession I researched was in finance. The typical requirements for an entry-level position include an education level of a business administration (BA), a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and a chartered financial analyst (CFA). Successful completion of Series 7 & 63 licenses is usually strongly desired because the exams certify and grant permission to work in the stock market. Non-educational requirements include being able to work in groups or independently, formulating strategies, and working in high-pressure environments. The average salary range for entry-level individuals working in finance, specifically in wealth management is $60,000, and successful professionals is $80,000 a year (Occupational Outlook Handbook). States such as New York, California, Massachusetts, and Texas are locations that one could pursue a career as a financial analyst and major companies are JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America Securities. Having an internship is vital nowadays for employers to see your interest in the career and to receive skills that are not obtained in the classroom.
Different Kinds of Regularly Applied Writing in Finance:
Genres employees of finance routinely compose include online chatting with other employees, firms or asset managers, hedge funds, and brokers. Another genre used frequently is emailing, which provides follow-up answers to questions about strategies that would arise in phone calls while consulting with clients. Email is also used to communicate internally to gather a company consensus on different problems that have become apparent and requires everyone’s opinion. Later on, in this post understanding the importance of email in finance will be demonstrated through an interview with a person from the career. Jobs in finance also require a high proficiency in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Other writing genres include progress or expense reports and business proposals.
Writing Challenges that Employees in Finance Face:
Writing clearly and concisely is an important skill a member of the finance community requires. For example, when developing a marketing deck, an employee should be direct and transparent. Furthermore, when creating a PowerPoint, use bullet points as not to give too much information, and “rank the bullet points in terms of importance.” Another writing challenge is soliciting businesses to answer the question “WHY” to provide clients a reason to retain your products or services (Moses). A massive problem an employee in finance might face is an immensely large quantity of emails received. Some emails are not necessary or relevant to the employer and can result in emails being inefficient at times.
Findings Compared to the National Survey Findings Reported by the Elon Poll and the Center for Engaged Learning:
The Elon University Poll: “High Impact Undergraduate Experiences and How They Matter Now,” a survey of college graduates age 18 to 34 conducted June 7 to 12th, 2019, has findings that show how often employees use different writing genres. As illustrated earlier, knowing how to write for different disciplines is important even for jobs that are number oriented. According to the poll, which describes genres written weekly, depicted that 31.8% reported writing “Reports (e.g. expense reports, progress reports, white papers, etc.),” 13.6% created “Proposals (e.g. business proposals, grant proposals, etc.),” 20.6% built “Presentations”, and 35.5% utilized “Client correspondence.” The most significant genre used by the employees surveyed were “Emails,” which 70.4% wrote weekly (Elon Poll). In finance specifically it is important to understand when it is necessary to send emails and how to write them.
Interview with an Employee in the Business World:
Steve Moses is currently an owner, a managing partner, trader, and risk manager at Additive Advisory and Capital RIA (registered investment advisor). The responsibilities Mr. Moses’ profession entails are trading, monitoring markets from a directional and volatility perspective, reading fundamental and derivative research, looking at technical stock charts, and communicating with brokers about what they are thinking and seeing. Writing genres he actively uses include email, “Slack,” and “Bloomberg” to communicate with other employees, brokers, and potential clients. As seen throughout this post email is crucial to work communication, as illustrated in the interview, poll, and research. The most rewarding part of the interviewee’s career is discussing a trade idea or strategy either by sending an email or having a phone conversation with a current client or prospect, portraying how important writing eloquently is for financial success. A challenge Mr. Moses faces is potential clients not responding to phone calls or emails or giving very little feedback. Since feedback and responding to clients is a significant element of running a business, he informed me that he “prefers a no response versus being strung along!” Mr. Moses also advised me that he wished he knew more about markets and investing and had a mentor to help guide him before starting his career.
Takeaways:
- Writing in business, specifically, finance can be challenging.
- Individuals must be clear and concise when writing emails, engaged in client correspondence, building decks, and customized reports.
Works Cited
“Financial Analysts : Occupational Outlook Handbook:” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/financial-analysts.htm?view_full.
“High Impact Undergraduate Experiences and How They Matter Now.” Elon-Poll, 2019, www.elon.edu/u/elon-poll/wp-content/uploads/sites/819/2019/07/2019_7_31-ElonPoll_Report.pdf.
Moses, Steve. Personal interview. 8 September 2019
This post is part of a series on writing in the professions. Posts were written by students in Dr. Jessie L. Moore’s fall 2019 Writing: Argument & Inquiry class and include research from the June 2019 Center for Engaged Learning/Elon Poll survey of college graduates, age 18-34, High Impact Undergraduate Experiences and How They Matter Now.
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