Develop your career and enhance your financial health by gaining knowledge in finance, a skill that's in demand across all industries. High-paying finance jobs are abundant and a strong understanding of finance concepts can significantly improve your problem-solving abilities and personal financial future.

Why Learn Finance?

Finance deals with the management of money. This includes budgeting, forecasting, lending, saving, investing, and the study of money. Certainly, you've heard the term finance many times, whether it deals with personal, public, or corporate finance, but have you ever explored all the things finance can do? The field of finance is highly versatile and used in a wide array of industries, from real estate to investment banking. 

Here, you'll learn more about the types of careers that benefit from finance and how it can enhance your professional life. Regardless of your overall goals, learning finance is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume. 

What is Finance?

In its most basic definition, finance is the management of money. Finance includes investing, lending, budgeting, borrowing, saving, forecasting, and studying money. There are multiple areas of finance, including personal, corporate, and public finance. 

Personal finance deals with keeping your debt down, budgeting, growing your assets, and increasing cash flow, among others. The three main types of corporate finance are capital budgeting, capital structure, and dividend policy. Among the significant concerns of public finance are the budgeting process and an entity’s revenue source. 

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

What Can You Do with Finance?

At its root, finance deals with managing money. This includes investing, saving, budgeting, forecasting, borrowing, and lending. Here are three solid career paths to follow with a firm understanding of Finance.

1. Accountant - This lucrative field is ideal for anyone with a love of numbers, though it is not necessary to be successful. Within a company, an accountant often creates, interprets, and analyzes a wide range of financial statements. Company accountants and management come together as partners to create budgets. Finally, accountants handle the tax matters of a company, including filing returns and planning out tax liabilities.

2. Business Development Officer - Companies hire Business Development Officers to develop and execute strategies that lead to increased sales and higher profits. These officers also seek out business opportunities and secure the best business deals. They are responsible for negotiating deals and meeting with potential investors.

3. Financial Data Analyst - These professionals analyze data to assist financial institutions in making better business decisions. Among their numerous responsibilities is compiling information from different divisions of a company. These analysts also look for ways to improve the company's current methods of data collection.

Common Professional Uses for Finance

You might be curious about what job opportunities await you after you build your finance skill set. While looking into careers in finance, you'll find seemingly endless options. The more you learn and increase your skills with on-the-job experience, the more options and opportunities will present themselves. From Real Estate Agent to Chief Financial Officer, studying finance is your ticket to gainful employment.

Popular careers for those with finance training include:

• Investment Banker
• Commercial Banker 
• Public Accountant 
• Real Estate Agent 
• Hedge Fund Manager 
• Venture Capitalist
• Chief Financial Officer
• Financial Planner 

As you can see, the future looks bright for those trained in finance. Once you get your foot in the door in any of these positions, you’ll want to work hard, learn the ins and outs of your company, and continue to expand your finance skill set to be first in line for promotions and salary increases.

Build a Solid Foundation to Remain on The Cutting Edge Of Finance 

It's been said that money makes the world go round. There's a lot of truth in the statement. Since the beginning of humanity, finance has played a role and remained in a constant state of evolution. Long before actual currency was invented, humans used a barter system. During the Babylonian Empire, banking entered the picture, and temples and palaces were used as safe sanctuaries to store valuables. Around 600 to 650 BC, we see the emergence of metal coinage. 

Of course, since 650 BC, finance has significantly evolved and will continue to do so. Perhaps nothing was more revolutionary to finance than the advent of the Internet. Let's take a look at some of the major ways it changed the field:

• The Internet has made investing money more accessible with arguably less risk. Today, investors can monitor their investments in real time through apps. This allows them to develop more efficient strategies and even incorporate algorithms. These apps have made investing simplified and accessible to everyone.
  
  

• We now live in an age where banks no longer hold all the cards when it comes to lending. Now more than ever, those seeking loans have options thanks to how the Internet connects us. Peer-to-peer lending circumvents banks to connect borrowers with private lenders, something unheard of only a few decades ago.

• It wasn't that long ago when an individual needed to visit a physical bank to move money around, check their bank statement, or even obtain a cashier's check to pay a bill. Today, all you need to do is sign in to your bank account, and you can instantly move money, pay your bills, or quickly see if you qualify for a loan.

These examples are only a taste of how quickly finance is evolving in the digital age. To keep up with all the exciting new evolutions of finance, it's essential to build a solid foundation on the subject and make staying up-to-date on technological advances a lifelong practice.

Learn Finance to Get Ahead While Building Soft Skills

When you set out to learn finance, you position yourself to gain a highly marketable skill that is in demand in several industries. While learning something new is always a nice distraction from your day-to-day responsibilities, when you set yourself up for a lucrative career path and upgraded quality of life, you benefit not only yourself but your entire family. Learning the ins and outs of finance will enable you to move forward in your career with confidence.

Training in finance will also help you sharpen several soft skills. During your job search, time on the job, and when you seek promotions, these skills prove to be equally crucial to your success as your knowledge of finance. Learning finance demonstrates to hiring employers that you have patience and follow through. Additionally, it shows that you know how to collaborate with others, think critically, and communicate and work well with your peers.

Learn Finance to Improve Your Resume

You can improve your resume and prepare for an entry-level job in a finance-related field by completing a finance-related bootcamp. Noble Desktop’s Python for Finance Bootcamp or FinTech Bootcamp will set you up for success as you move into your desired career field. These thorough courses provide in-depth training in areas ranging from analyzing financial data with Python to using machine learning to build sophisticated statistical models.

In your finance training, when you learn a programming language like Python, you beef up your resume and position yourself for a bright future in multiple careers, including Investment Banker, Public Accountant, Hedge Fund Manager, Venture Capitalist, Real Estate Agent, and Financial Planner. Potential employers will note that your financial training includes analytical thinking, financial decision-making, investing, and management skills, among others. These skills improve your resume and make you an appealing candidate for the previously mentioned positions and other career fields. Hiring managers note that those who study finance and have developed these skills are dedicated, detailed, professional, and ready to follow through on what they say they will do. All of these are highly desirable traits to employers.

How to Start Learning Finance

To learn finance, you'll need to gain a variety of skills. Among those are corporate strategy, accounting, and financial modeling. Those new to finance or busy professionals looking to expand their knowledge need training. When individuals choose their ideal learning avenue, they should factor in availability, learning style, and budget.

Live finance courses, which most students prefer, offer numerous benefits. These trainings are interactive and hands-on, where students can interact with their expert instructors in real time and gain answers and insights to any questions. If live online finance classes you can take from anywhere sound like your style, look at Noble Desktop's finance training options. The FinTech Bootcamp, Financial Modeling Bootcamp, and Python for Finance Bootcamp offer training in areas you'll need to get ahead in the world of finance, including data visualization, risk management, and financial analysis. 

Perhaps on-demand finance training is another option that could work for you. Through these courses, students can work at their own pace to learn all about finance. Featured topics include navigating and customizing spreadsheets, pivot tables, and generating charts for data visualization. For details, including any required prerequisites, check the course listings.

You can take advantage of free tutorials, blog posts, and seminars and use them as a unique opportunity to learn about finance as a beginner. Noble Desktop provides numerous classes, blog posts, and videos on financial topics for those looking to learn the subject. Take a look at their YouTube playlist for finance and find finance articles on the Learn Hub site. Indeed, this is a great way to get started, but you won't receive the same feedback or build your skill set and portfolio as you would from a live in-person or online course. 

You can also benefit from the free seminars offered by Noble Desktop. The Exchanging Excel for Python seminar examines why so many industries, including finance, are switching out Excel for Python.

Read the full guide on how to learn finance. 

Learn Finance with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Some believe the only way to learn finance, whether for a career or personal benefit, is through a lengthy, time-consuming degree program. Luckily, there are many alternatives. Many people feel the bootcamp or certificate training model is the superior path.

As a premier provider of online education, Noble Desktop provides multiple ways to learn finance. They offer numerous thoughtful educational options to expand your finance skill set quickly, whether you're new to the field, already working in finance, or in a position that requires a deep understanding of it. Here are some of Noble Desktop's most popular programs.

• FinTech Bootcamp - Taught by expert instructors, this extensive FinTech bootcamp is intended for beginners. You can complete this course in four weeks full-time or four months part-time. Among the topics covered are the fundamentals of Python, data structures, and how to use SQL to query databases.

• Python for Finance Bootcamp - This 18-hour detailed Python for Finance Bootcamp is designed for Risk Managers, Financial Analysts, Portfolio Managers, and those seeking a career in finance technology and data analysis. Students will learn the major Python financial libraries, how to analyze financial statements from the SEC website, and how to apply statistical measures.
  
  
• Financial Analyst Training Program - While some knowledge of accounting and finance is helpful for this seven-day Financial Analyst Training Program, it is not necessary nor required. If you're looking to carve out a career path at a top financial firm, this bootcamp is the most effective and affordable course to learn these skills.

Other Noble Desktop courses to consider are the Premiere Pro Bootcamp, Video Editing Certificate, and Premiere Pro classes and bootcamps.

Key Takeaways

• At its core, finance deals with the management of money. This includes:
  • Budgeting
  • Forecasting
  • Lending
  • Saving
  • Investing 

• Common professional roles in finance include:
  • Investment Banker 
  • Commercial Banker 
  • Public Accountant 
  • Financial Planner 
  • Chief Financial Officer 
  • Hedge Fund Manager 
  • Real Estate Agent 
  • Venture Capitalist 

• Why learn finance?
• To build a solid foundation of the subject so you can remain on the cutting edge of finance as it evolves. 
• To build soft skills such as patience, follow through, and the ability to work well with others. All of these are desirable traits to employers.
• In today's highly competitive job market, no matter which field you choose, listing knowledge of finance on your resume gives you an edge over the competition.

• Learning finance positions you for success in seemingly endless career fields. Additionally, a solid knowledge of the topic will enable you to manage your money more wisely.
  
  
• You can receive comprehensive finance training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.