Investing Certifications and Certificates

One way to demonstrate your skills as an investor is to become certified. The number of certifications and certificate programs available may overwhelm you. You may also have several questions regarding these programs, including will becoming certified help me get a job? Do I need to be certified? Should I get a certificate or certification? Is there a difference between the two?

This article attempts to answer these questions to help you choose the right action for investing certification. Keep reading to find out more. 

What is Investing?

Investing is dedicating money to purchasing assets that increase in value over time. The main function of investing is to generate returns from invested assets. Investors can invest in several kinds of investments, including stocks, bonds, funds, trusts, private equity, and real estate. Investing in almost any industry can help build capital for businesses. 

Investing puts money to work. On the surface, investing can appear like saving money; however, saving money sits in an account, gaining little per year, as saving accounts have an average of 0.7% growth per year. Investors can choose to actively invest, which means they manage their portfolio or passively invest, which means they take a less involved approach to investing. They can also choose to invest in high-growth companies with higher Price-earnings (P/E) or invest in companies that have lower P/E but have higher dividend yields. Both approaches can pay large sums; it depends on how much risk they want to include in their investment portfolios. 

Read more about what investing is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Investing?

When you think of investing, the image that comes to mind is Stock Brokers frantically calling in trades as they watch the numbers scroll by on the screen. Stock Brokers are a large part of the investing world. They deal with the stock market every single day. They help keep the economy moving. However, there is more to investing than just stock brokers. 

With the internet, anyone can invest in the market using mobile apps. You can also invest to save for retirement or various other reasons. When starting with investing, you want to start an investment portfolio. Often, these portfolios include bonds, stocks, mutual funds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), real estate, and cash equivalents. However, some people choose to invest their money in more unusual ways. One of the key parts of investing is choosing assets that will increase in value over time. Investments can be physical assets as well. One good way to invest is to buy a vacation or rental property that you can rent out. This option allows the money you used to purchase the property to bring more money back to you. Others invest in other items like cars, handbags, or even watches. Each of these items needs a lot of research to ensure they are worth purchasing and if they will bring in more money if sold later. 

Certifications vs. Certificates: What’s the Difference?

Often certification and certificate are used interchangeably in a professional setting. However, the two are different and require a different process to obtain. Certifications generally require a certain amount of training and experience and will require an individual to sit for an exam. Certifications are designed for those who want to demonstrate mastery of a particular skill and can be required to obtain certain jobs. 

Certificates are earned upon completion of an industry-recognized program. Beginners can enroll in many of these programs and still earn the certificate. They are not typically required for employment but can be helpful when applying. Certificates can also help prepare for certification exams. However, any certificate can be a great addition to any resume. 

Top Certifications & Certificates for Investing

Regarding investing and the financial sector, various certifications are available depending on the career path one chooses. One can also take courses to receive certificates in these areas. 

For those seeking a career in investing, consider one of the following certifications: Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), or Financial Risk Manager (FRM). Each of these certifications can help one pursue a career in investing. The CFA institute can help individuals prepare for any of these certifications. 

Noble Desktop offers a few certificate courses that can help one in their investing career. You could take the Financial Analyst Training Program. This certificate course helps students learn the important financial and corporate concepts to become a Financial Analyst. This course can help prepare for the CFA certification. For more analytical certificates, consider the Data Science Certificate. This course will help prepare you with the analytical skills to analyze and prepare large sets of financial data.

Should I Get Certified in Investing?

Getting certified is unnecessary if you are pursuing a career in investing. Thousands of people invest every day without being certified. Depending on your goals, you can invest without ever becoming certified. 

You can consider becoming certified if you are pursuing other investing positions with enough experience. Certification can help you obtain certain positions as it demonstrates mastery of particular skills. It may also help you receive a pay increase within your current position. 

How to Get Certified in Investing

If you decide to pursue a certification, you may wonder how to get that certification. Before seeing what it will take to become certified, you will need to know which certification you want to pursue, as each one will have different qualifications before you can take the board exam. 

The two certifications that require the most from an individual are the CFA and CFP. Both require a college degree, preferably a bachelor's degree, and between 4000 and 6000 hours of work experience to demonstrate your level of knowledge and pass the exam. For the CFP certification, you must also meet professional conduct or ethical standards. 

The other certifications require the necessary knowledge to pass the exam. They are less intensive than the other two. 

Learn Investing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop provides an array of Investing and Financial classes that meet various scheduling requirements and learning styles. No matter how you enroll in these courses, students will learn from expert instructors in small classes. Students may attend in-person training at Noble's Manhattan campus or remotely from anywhere. In addition to the courses, all students can retake the course within one year of completing it for no extra charge, giving them more time to hone their skills. 

For those interested in beginning their investment journey, Noble offers a short introduction course, Stock Market Investing, teaching students the fundamentals of the stock market and how to invest. Students will learn what moves the stock market and how investors value stocks. Students will understand P/E ratios and DCF analysis as they dive into different financial statements. While this course does not provide enough information to start your investing career, it does provide vital information that will help you out in your career and get you on the right path. 

Students may consider the Financial Analysts Training Program to jump-start a career in the financial sector or with investing. In the program, students work with financial modeling and valuation. As students learn basic and advanced features of Microsoft Excel, they learn to utilize the program for long-term planning, financial functions, and cash flow projection. Those interested in becoming Financial Analysts may also consider the Python for Finance Bootcamp. This course teaches how to use the Python programming language’s financial libraries to gather and manipulate financial data. Both of these courses can jump-start your career in investing!

Key Insights

• Certifications show mastery of a skill and require one to pass an exam. 
• Certificates are completion based. 
• Neither is necessary for a career in Investing, although it can be helpful for certain positions.
• You will want to know which area you want to pursue before choosing the certification you want to receive.
• Check out Noble Desktop's in-person or live online courses to receive a certificate or help prepare for certification with comprehensive training.