Students with big ambitions should take up finance.
Financial commentator Janine Starks wrote in a stuff.co.nz article that it would be wise for parents to stick the money industry in front of teenagers who are weighing up career options.
Starks said the insurance world is not just about brokers, but marketing, risk management and actuarial skills. Then there's the world of funds management – running a portfolio of shares and bonds and attracting billions of dollars of retirement savings.
Also, there is more to a financial career than becoming an accountant or bank manager – accountancy careers are more than debits and credits and banks don’t just sell mortgages, deposits and Kiwisaver accounts.
Careers in accountancy have tax arms, specialists in mergers and acquisitions, valuation teams and consultancy arms that restructure or liquidate businesses, while banks trade foreign exchange, interest rates and commodities, Starks said.
“They advise and protect the exposures of large companies. They train you and pay handsomely for the skills,” Starks said.
According to Starks, in New Zealand, salaries of $200,000 are commonplace at the senior degree-educated end of the industry.
“Do not be fooled by surveys showing a personal banker earns $50,000, a bank manager $90,000 or a management accountant $120,000. That's like focusing on the size of a Malteser chocolate and forgetting the Mars bond deal, which netted hundreds of millions for
Berkshire Hathaway and billions of dollars profit on their Wrigley chewing gum stake. Can you imagine the multiple of Malteser bonuses paid on that?”
Students who would pursue a maths degree, should consider a double in finance, Starks said. “It'll be a walk in the park and a direct route into investment banking,” she said.
“A financial career opens the door to run your own firm or be on the boards of others. Sure, we don't save lives, but this is a future full of emotion, disaster management and life-changing prosperity for clients,” Starks said.
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