Starting career in finance

[GreatPig]

Not specifically for property finance, but finance in general.

Was talking to the 19 year old today and he's at a bit of a loose end as what to get into work-wise. He's currently doing a low-paid, relatively dead-end job as a technician repairing mobile phones, and is looking for something with more opportunity.

After discussing a range of possibilities, he looked in the jobs section of today's paper and saw an ad for a trainee finance person in some motor vehicle finance brokerage. While it did say entry-level position with training, it also said finance experience or a business degree would be beneficial, which of course he doesn't have.

So I was wondering, for someone that age interested in a career in finance of some kind, how would he best go about it? Would it be best to start off getting some sort of business or similar qualifications, going the trainee route above, or perhaps some other way?

Not being in that industry myself, I really have little idea.

Thanks.

GP

 

[Aceyducey]

Frankly anyone who wants to work in more than entry level in an industry does have to focus on constant learning.

In finance, just as in other areas, it's possible to get in the door with limited experience, but if you want to progress you need to focus on gaining the skills required.

If he's smart enough he can probably talk himself into a starting role in finance & then study part-time, perhaps with support from his employer, to open the doors to higher levels.

That said - you say he's currently in a 'relatively dead-end' job....Anyone who can repair mobile phones & has some technical skills can certainly look at the opportunities in the IT&T industry for highly qualified technical people....if he sees his current role as dead-end, he's already started to set his sights a bit low.

Perhaps he should first consider his attitude towards his current work, think about what he really wants to do and then go about doing what successful people do - create their own opportunities by getting in and learning what they need to move ahead.

If his attitude is wrong it doesn't matter what job he does - he's likely to stay near the bottom while more focused people educate themselves and move forward.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[geoffw]

Very good point Acey.

GP. I guess your friend has to determine where he wants to go- what he wants out of life and out of a job.

Finance can be a good option- but IT can be a good option as well.

Fixing mobile phones could lead into, say, LAN support or setup and the like (My current employer has lots of travel opportunities for people in LAN support- there's just a few undesirable areas though).

I'm 50 years old, and "just" a developer, cutting code.

I still enjoy that. I've been in management roles, and hated the politics. I have job satisfactrion, and feel that I am making a difference in the world.

That job will not get me out of the ratrace. But it does give me immense job satisfaction.

Your friend will have to determine for himself where he wants to go.

(A big lesson from the Cashflow game is that it doesn't matter how much you earn A janitor can get out of the ratrace more quickly than an airline pilot- simply because his expenses are also much smaller thanm the pilot's expenses).

 

[GreatPig]

Aceyducey & Geoff,

Thanks for your input guys. I think he was in one of those moods yesterday but I can understand why he's not really happy where he is now.

He's not really a technical person, and I don't think his current job requires much technical know-how. At school he was better at the art/business type studies, and even went to Darwin one year as part of a team in some school business competition. He got his current job primarily because his older brother works for the same company doing much the same thing (but he is more technically minded).

He says he doesn't want to study full time anywhere, like university, and originally got a job in a tiny (ie. one person) legal firm as an office junior. However, she had him working on conveyancing stuff, which I think he quite liked, but he didn't like her at all and he was only being paid a very minimal trainee wage. He eventually decided conveyancing wasn't his thing and that there were no other opportunities at that place (he didn't want to do law either), plus his brother could get him the other job which paid nearly three times as much.

But now he can see that that job is going nowhere either, and technical work is not his thing. He really doesn't know exactly what he wants to do, which is why we were discussing the possibilities. But he did say his goal was to know what he wanted to do by the time he's 25

I agree he needs to develop a more positive frame of mind (I'm trying to get him to read some motivational books, but he's not much of a reader), and I also think he needs to build up his self-confidence. I did suggest he go back-packing through some foreign countries by himself for 6 months, as that's one of the best things I've known for weaning someone from home, but of course there's the girlfriend, and how would he be able to carry all the essential hair gel, and so on

Anyway, we'll discuss it some more and hopefully when he's in a better mood we'll work something out.

Cheers,
GP

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

Great Pig,
I wouldn't worry about it too much. He seems pretty flighty, and he's only 19! I didn't have a concrete idea for what I wanted to do career wise until I was 27. If he wants to get into finance, he going to need to do some study. It doesn't have to be full time (I did my DFP by correspondence) but this takes discipline. Sometimes coming home after working all day to study takes a lot of motivation, cause all you want to do relax, haha.
But yeah, I am now looking for work in this area and it is extremely difficult (in my experience) to get in even on the ground floor. I've applied for close to 80 or 90 jobs so far, with only one interview. Most responses I get are a flat out no to 'not enough experience'. Even so, I keep plugging away. But if finance is an area he wants to get into, he's really going to need to do at least some study to get somewhere in this area.

 

[GreatPig]

Thanks Mark.

Finance is just one thing we looked at, but I really don't know it he'd like it or not. I'll have to try and get him to read a book or two on the subject and see what he thinks.

GP

 

[Henry]

Great Pig,
I wouldn't worry about it too much. He seems pretty flighty, and he's only 19! I didn't have a concrete idea for what I wanted to do career wise until I was 27.

same here.... i am also looking to start a career in finance. i should be starting the diploma in fin. planning in aproximately one month. do you think it is particularly advantageous to finding work in this field to have done this course? any advice for me Mark? or anyone else? would be much appreciated!

and as for your original question, great pig, i'd say go the trainee way, but study as much as you can along the way. there's so much to learn! good luck to you and your boy.

i don't know if this is what you had in mind but it may help:
financial planning careers info

 

[GreatPig]

Henry,

Thanks for the link, although I'm not sure that financial planning would be his best option in that industry.

Personally I can't see a great career in recommending poorly performing managed funds and agricultural tax havens

GP

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

Henry,
From checking your link (without actually going there) I assume you linked to the FPA website. My recommendation to you is to not do the DFP through the FPA but through Tribeca. I'm doing my Units 5 - 8 through Tribeca and the information provided is excellent. You can find their website at: www.tribeca.com.au

Mark.

 

[Peter Parker]

So I was wondering, for someone that age interested in a career in finance of some kind, how would he best go about it? Would it be best to start off getting some sort of business or similar qualifications, going the trainee route above, or perhaps some other way?
GP

Maybe he doesn't feel excited about looking for jobs because he's lukewarm about working for someone else?? What's his thoughts about self-employment, investment, long-term financial independence, etc?

Have you suggested 1. stay in current job and 2. directing his finance interest towards buying an IP or two and after then possibly 3. consider changing jobs?

The IP may offer some 'diversional therapy' and could actually increase his satisfaction in the current job, so a change may not be required. Incumbency in a current job would help in getting finance, hence my reason for suggesting IPs before a job change.

Regards, Peter

 

[GreatPig]

Maybe he doesn't feel excited about looking for jobs because he's lukewarm about working for someone else??

I'm not sure. Sometimes I think he might be lukewarm about low pay and having to study .

What's his thoughts about self-employment, investment, long-term financial independence, etc?

We talked a bit about doing his own business, which was one of the reasons starting in finance seemed like a reasonable idea. An understanding of finance can only be beneficial to starting your own business.

However, I think he's a bit young to have thought much about the long term future. At the moment I think he's more interested in just thinking about girls and partying .

I asked him again the other day if he'd done anything about this, and he said he'd been talking to a friend of his older brother who's apparently an accountant with Price Waterhouse. I think he was telling him about what sort of course to do and so on. His last comment was that he's thinking of just staying in the job until the end of the year and then looking at doing whatever course it is at TAFE and then trying to transfer to the University of Western Sydney (I'm not sure what that's about, but apparently that's what his brother's friend was telling him).

I suggested that he could benefit by using the next 6 months to start some background reading on the subject, but he didn't seem overly enthusiastic about that either. He seems to have an aversion to reading, probably hoping that they'll bring out the Japanese Manga version by then .

Oh well, you know what they say about leading a horse to water.

GP

 

[Henry]

Henry,
From checking your link (without actually going there) I assume you linked to the FPA website. My recommendation to you is to not do the DFP through the FPA but through Tribeca. I'm doing my Units 5 - 8 through Tribeca and the information provided is excellent. You can find their website at: www.tribeca.com.au

Mark.

yes, it's the FPA site. I am planning on doing the course through TAFE, but they'll only run it if they get the numbers. why do you recommend against the FPA? Thanks for the link you provided but it doesn't seem to work?

Great Pig, my aspirations involving the finance industry do not involve recommending poorly performing managed funds and agricultural tax havens I see financial planning as a means to an end. ie learning more about/being immersed in the world of finance and investing, meeting the right people/networking, and developing useful skills. I also have never had an inclination for working for someone else. I would really like to be a business advisor and eventually a successful investor/business owner.

I know that financial planners don't have a huge number of loyal fans right now, and i can understand the reasons why. i have no intentions of being a "regular" fp for the rest of my life. As Robert Kiyosaki (and probably many other wise people) once said, i want to "work to learn"

Maybe you & your son should think about the types of companies/positions that would aid him in learning the most relevent skills for the future?

 

[XBenX]

This thread is amusing for someone who is doing a MFP (remind me why I started again?) and working in the industry (no, Im not a planner)

The reason its amusing is because Im working to get out !!!

 

[Henry]

hi xbenx,

sounds like you have a sick sense of humour maybe you could post some pro's and con's of the industry for us? why are you trying to get out? what do you want to do instead? and do you beleive i can get what i want out of this industry based on my last post? i'm well aware that i am quite naive about the industry but it doesn't bother me.
cheers mate.