What is an Investment Analyst? Explore the Investment Analyst Career Path

The Day-to-Day as an Investment Analyst

An Investment Analyst is a finance professional who evaluates financial and investment information and acts as a liaison between investment bankers, clients, and potential investors. Investment Analysts can work on the buy-side for investment banks that work on: mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, equity research, sales and trading, and asset management, or the sell-side for mutual funds and financial advisory. They can find full-time work in-person at bulge bracket banks, middle-market banks, mutual fund banks, financial advisors, and regional or elite boutique firms.

Investment Analysts almost always work at least 40-hours per week, often more than 50-hours per week, and are sometimes required to be on-call. They work with Researchers, Associates, other Analysts, Sales Staff, Directors, and Administrators. Every Investment Analyst’s job is different, but you can find them: juggling emails, arranging and attending meetings, compiling data, negotiating, creating presentations, creating spreadsheets, analyzing assets, editing reports, modeling data or finances, compiling notes on companies, and researching and gathering information on companies and the market.

What Skills Should Investment Analysts Have?

Communication is the most important skill for an Investment Analyst. They’ll be regularly communicating via email, phone, in-person meetings, presentation decks, and reports, which means that their written and oral skills must be top-notch. A keen eye for detail will be necessary as well, to catch any errors in spelling, hierarchy, numbers in a spreadsheet, or jumbled jargon. Fantastic social skills will be valuable to an Investment Analyst as networking is the top way to earn promotions and a good reputation.

Investment Analysts should understand basic probability and math, accounting, and data and financial modeling. They must be skilled researchers and multitaskers. Their stamina for long, stressful hours should be high. They must have a high-level understanding and passion for investment banking. They should get to know investment banking jargon and their abbreviations, such as IPOs, M&A, IOI, LOI, CIP, DCF, LBO, and NBP.

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Learn the Skills You Need to Become an Investment Analyst

Excel

Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft that runs on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. It is used for calculation, graphing, data visualization, and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro programming.

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Investing

Investing is allocating money with the expectation of a future benefit. Benefits accrued through investment are called returns.

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Financial Modeling

Financial modeling is the use of a tool built into Excel to forecast the future financial performance of a business. These predictions are based on the historical performance of a company, and inferences of the future.

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Finance

Finance involves the management, study, and creation of money and investments. Finance dictates how a company, individual, or governing power acquires necessary capital. Finance typical uses tools like Quickbooks, Oracle, and Excel.

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Accounting

Accounting involves processing, measuring, and communicating financial information about businesses. Accounting often uses software like QuickBooks, Excel, and other office communication tools.

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Investment Analyst Salaries

An Investment Analyst in the United States makes, on average, $86,841 annually, according to Indeed.com.

Salaries for Investment Analysts vary by region within the the United States. Listed below are some Investment Analyst salaries for specific areas with the United States compared with the average national salary:

U.S. Average $86K source n/a
Washington, D.C. $104K source
+20.77%
New York City $100K source
+15.32%
Los Angeles, CA $97K source
+11.98%
Fairfax, VA $92K source
+6.63%
Orange County, CA $87K source
+0.45%
U.S. Average $86K source n/a
Dallas, TX $80K source
-7.88%
Chicago, IL $79K source
-8.56%
Alexandria, VA $71K source
-17.35%
Miami, FL $57K source
-33.58%
Houston, TX $43K source
-49.38%

Typical Qualifications to Become an Investment Analyst

Investment Analysts are almost always required to have at least a bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, accounting, statistics, or a related field. An MBA is not required for this position but may be desired by many employers. Investment Analysts without an MBA might also find it more difficult to get promotions, as most higher-level positions in finance do require it. If you are pivoting from another career, an MBA is the most efficient way to enter the finance industry and can lead to an Associate position directly after graduation.

Investment Analysts can earn their Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Certification which requires three exams and several hours of studying. A CFA is not required but can boost the chances of a promotion for an Investment Analyst.

Searching for Investment Analyst Jobs

Investment Analysts can work on the buy-side for investment banks that work on: mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, equity research, sales and trading, and asset management, or the sell-side for mutual funds and financial advisory. They can find full-time work in-person at bulge bracket banks, middle-market banks, mutual fund banks, financial advisors, and regional or elite boutique firms. You’re more likely to find high-paying jobs on finance-specific job boards or via word of mouth, but you can find low-level Investment Analyst listings on general job boards as well.

Investment Analysts can find jobs on these sites:

Tips to Become an Investment Analyst

Investment Banking is an extremely competitive industry. Investment Analyst is an entry-level position and it is usually awarded to candidates during their last year of college or an internship. Landing a position at a firm within a financial hub will be difficult. Examine the different types of investment banking you want to do and the type of bank you’d like to work at. You’ll need to be sure that the culture of the bank you want to work at is a good fit for you and your aspirations.

Location matters for this job. You’ll likely need to be in a larger city and you should look into banks in the region that you’d like to live in before applying to jobs because it is unlikely that you’ll find an investment banking job that is fully remote. The school you go to also matters for this position. Investment banking firms will often hire candidates from specific schools. If you haven’t gone to school yet, consider this when applying.

In banking, networking is absolutely essential. Have conversations with people who are already in the field to learn more about the job and the bank that they work for. You’ll get exposure to the experiences of that person’s position, which can ease your onboarding experience. Leverage any connections to make more connections with others by asking for recommendations on who else you should talk to within the bank. They might not be able to refer you to someone else, but you might be able to ascertain whether this bank is right for you, learn more about the bank to boost your knowledge in your interview, and get you name-recognition among employees at the bank, which would help during the recruitment process.

Beyond your resume and technical qualifications, you’ll need to stand out among a large pool of candidates through three major questions: “Why should we hire you?”, “Why do you want to work at this bank in particular?”, and “Why did you choose an investment banking career?” These questions may be expressed in a way that tests your culture-fit, by asking about how you’ve acted in team settings or challenges. Practice these particular questions through mock-interviews, with anyone you can - like friends, family, classmates, a mentor, or even in your mirror or on camera by yourself. You’ll need to know your answers to these questions and be able to say them with confidence.

What Job Titles Would an Investment Analyst Hold?

Investment Analyst is an entry-level investment banking position that is well-defined. The only aspect of this job title that varies is the type of bank you’ll be working for. Some banks will elaborate on their specialization within the advertised job title such as in wealth management or portfolio investment.

Investment Analysts can look for these positions:

Investment Analyst
Junior Analyst
Portfolio Investment Analyst
Wealth Management Investment Analyst
Senior Investment Analyst

The Day-to-Day as an Investment Analyst

What Skills Should Investment Analysts Have?

Learn the Skills You Need to Become an Investment Analyst

Excel

Investing

Financial Modeling

Finance

Accounting

Investment Analyst Salaries

Typical Qualifications to Become an Investment Analyst

Searching for Investment Analyst Jobs

Tips to Become an Investment Analyst

What Job Titles Would an Investment Analyst Hold?

Related Careers

Salary Comparison to Investment Analyst

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