Investing involves purchasing an asset at a lower price and selling it for more than this value. A return on the investment, or capital gain, is generated from successful investments. The amount the investment gains between when it’s purchased and sold is referred to as appreciation. When learning a new skill like investing, an important factor that goes into deciding to acquire this knowledge is researching complementary and related skills. Doing so will help you make more informed decisions about what you want to learn, and it will help you decide whether learning a specific skill is the right decision for you. You will also discover what kind of skills you may want to learn to complement your training later on. Read on to find out more about related Investing training options such as studying finance, business, or accounting.

What is Investing?

In the most basic sense, investing involves purchasing an asset at a lower price and selling it for more than this value. The return on this investment is a capital gain. One way to make money investing is to sell assets for profit and earn returns on them. The amount the investment gains between when it’s purchased and sold is referred to as appreciation. Another way investing operates is when individuals purchase and hold assets that generate income. In this instance, the goal isn’t to sell the asset to realize its capital gains but to purchase assets capable of generating cash flow in the long term and hang onto it. 

When they speak about investing, people often refer to financial markets in which investors come together to purchase and sell assets like bonds or stocks. It’s common for stocks to pay Investors dividends, which take the form of additional stock or cash distributed by public companies to shareholders. Those who work in income investing strive to earn a steady income flow from dividends without selling stock shares. Those who invest are looking to make compound interest on their investment. This occurs when the initial investment begins to earn returns of its own. Compound interest helps many individuals reach their investment goals for educational expenses or retirement.

Investment takes many forms. The most common types are stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and certificates of deposit (CDs). Stocks, also known as shares or equities, are the most widely known investment type. Those who purchase stock buy ownership stakes in a publicly traded company, such as Microsoft or Apple. When purchasing bonds, individuals lend money to an entity like the government or a business. Local governments issue municipal bonds, whereas companies issue corporate bonds, and the US Treasury issues Treasury notes, bills, and bonds, all of which are debt instruments purchased by investors. Mutual funds consist of a pool of money from many investors. This pool is broadly invested in many companies and is either actively or passively managed. ETFs operate similarly to mutual funds in that they are a group of investments tracking a market index. However, unlike mutual funds bought through a fund company, ETF shares are purchased and sold on stock markets. CDs are low-risk investments in which the investor provides the bank with a specified amount of money for a determined period and receives interest. 

What Can You Do with Investing Skills?

Knowledge of investing extends well beyond the realm of stock brokers and Wall Street. Today, strategies for investing have both professional and personal applications. Unlike in the past, where investments were largely handled by finance professionals like Stock Brokers, nowadays, anyone with an internet connection can invest in the market using mobile applications. One of the essential components of investing is selecting assets that are expected to increase in value over time. This can include bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, or physical assets like real estate, cars, watches, or jewelry. 

Those who know how to make sound investments and understand core financial principles can pursue careers in many in-demand fields. Investment Bankers serve as financial advisors for corporations who issue bond shares or stock to help their company raise money or merge with other companies. Financial Analysts are hired to perform tasks like monitoring market trends, studying financial statements, and creating financial models for their organization. Stockbrokers are licensed professionals who purchase and sell securities like stocks on behalf of clients. Within the banking sector, Bankers who have investment knowledge and financial literacy meet individually with clients and help these individuals manage their financial needs. Additionally, investment knowledge is widely used in FinTech. Those who work in this industry design new financial technology, such as banking and investing applications.

Skills Related to Investing

Investing falls under a larger umbrella of financial literacy. For this reason, many jobs in which investment training is necessary will also require knowledge of complementary fields, including finance, business, accounting, and FinTech. The following sections will take a closer look at what each of these closely related fields is, as well as how studying them can make you a more well-rounded financial professional.

Finance

Finance is a broad field that deals with money management. It requires knowledge of budgeting, saving, borrowing, lending, and forecasting. Those who study finance can pursue career options in accounting, data analytics, and business. There are many compelling reasons why people want to learn investing. Regardless of your industry of employment, organizations can’t operate without a steady stream of cash, which is used to pay salaries and invest in the company. Those with financial knowledge contribute greatly to their organizations. They can use their financial literacy to make more informed decisions, solve problems, and provide a better understanding of their organization’s current financial status, as well as how it may fare in the future. Finance-related careers are in high demand and often pay competitive salaries. Within the finance sector, investing is a useful way to build wealth and outpace inflation.

Business

Another skill set that’s related to investing is business. Business is a concept that has existed for thousands of years. Today, the term pertains to producing and selling or exchanging services and goods. Globally speaking, business-related practices can facilitate political alliances, drive innovation, and fuel economic growth. All industries require those with business knowledge to own and operate businesses and perform a range of professional tasks, including managing employees and finances, making key organizational decisions, and solving operational problems as they arise. Some business professionals serve as Financial Advisors or Business Analysts, career paths that involve managing, analyzing, and visualizing their company’s financial data to provide insights into improving business practices. Business Analysts use their investment knowledge to track market trends and provide data-driven suggestions for future investments.

Noble Desktop offers a Business Analyst Certificate for those interested in taking a deep dive into the skills needed to pursue a career in business analytics. Students graduate from this comprehensive program with knowledge of PowerPoint, Excel, SQL, and Tableau.

Accounting

Accountants are finance professionals who perform bookkeeping tasks for their company and prepare its financial documents. While accounting roles differ depending on the industry and place of employment, most Accountants perform daily tasks like working with Excel and other accounting software, writing reports, composing emails, meeting with clients, putting together tax returns, and crunching numbers. Being a successful Accountant requires a solid understanding of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), as well as how to manage accounts payable and receivable, create financial reports and statements, perform bookkeeping tasks, execute SEC reporting, and compile tax forms. Within the field of accounting, investing activities pertain to buying and selling business investments like long-term assets during a specific reporting period. Although not all Accountants offer their clients investment advice, some of these professionals may be more involved in the investment side of finance, in particular for clients who businesses.

One excellent way to learn more about accounting is to enroll in Noble Desktop’s Financial Accounting Bootcamp. This hands-on program teaches students basic accounting strategies, such as how to work with accounting statements, as well as more advanced skills, like handling investments and securities. 

FinTech

FinTech, which is short for financial technology, is another field closely related to investing. This broad term refers to software, technology, or apps that help organizations digitally access and manage financial-related activity and transactions. This includes PayPal, Venmo, payment applications, robo-advisors, cryptocurrencies, and entire companies. As digital tools have continued to grow in popularity over the last decade, the field of FinTech has met the increasing demand from customers to help them manage financial challenges and attain their financial goals. Today, FinTech is used for many tasks, such as lending, budgeting, banking, and investing. The field of FinTech is constantly changing investment management practices. With the advent of machine learning and AI, as well as the onslaught of big data, those who work in FinTech help clients optimize their portfolios, reduce investment risks, and spot new investment opportunities. Automated wealth advisors, also known as robo-advisors, are now commonly used to assist Investors with their investments.

Noble Desktop’s FinTech Bootcamp is available for those who want to learn essential finance technology skills, including financial analysis, Python programming, data science, data visualization, and machine learning. 

Learn Investing Skills with Noble Desktop

If you’re interested in learning how to invest like a pro, let Noble Desktop help. Noble offers classes in corporate finance, business investing, and stock market investing so that learners at all levels can find coursework that meets their professional needs.

In Noble’s Stock Market Investing class, participants explore the core components of the stock market, including valuation, investing, and stock movements. Students study financial statements, valuation techniques like DCF analysis and P/E ratios, and the factors that affect stock prices. Those enrolled study recent earnings releases and valuation multiples from companies like Apple and Google to establish a framework for investing. By course completion, all learners will have a robust understanding of financial markets.

Noble also offers a Financial Analyst Training Program that takes learners from basic spreadsheet skills into intermediate-level Excel training. Participants study financial accounting and corporate finance concepts and create a valuation model for a public company. This comprehensive program prepares students to work with basic Excel concepts, such as shortcuts, formulas, functions, and PivotTables. Learners then move into more complex spreadsheet skills, such as working with cash flow projection tools and financial functions. Instruction is also provided on DCF modeling techniques and corporate valuation principles.

This bootcamp is designed to prepare students for a job at a top financial firm. Those interested in enrolling will find it helpful to have prior knowledge of finance and accounting. A short pre-learning guide is sent to all students one week before class begins.

In Noble’s Financial Modeling Bootcamp, students receive hands-on training in core accounting and finance concepts. Participants study corporate valuation, finance, and accounting in this intensive program. They also build a financial DCF model based on a real company using Excel. Prior financial experience is helpful, though not required, as a prerequisite. Additionally, intermediate-level Excel for business knowledge is required, including knowledge of iF statements, PivotTables, and VLOOKUP. 

All Noble classes are taught in person in New York City and are also available live online. Tuition includes the option of a free course retake for up to a year.