Careers in Finance

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• Corporate Finance

  Corporate finance professionals make the financial decisions of businesses using financial tools and analysis. The most common areas within corporate finance include accounting, operations, financial planning and analysis, treasury, and investor relations. Corporate finance creates strategic plans to address a company's activities. This can include allocating scarce resources, identifying reinvestment opportunities, and prioritizing communication between management and stockholders. Corporate finance is an essential part of a company.

  Resources: CFA, CPA, MOS Excel Certification, Wall Street Prep, Adventis Financial Modeling

• Investment Banking

  Investment banking spans various activities, including underwriting, syndications, and financial advisory services such as M&A and restructuring. Investment Banking is an intensive career path, but it can open the doors to many opportunities in Private Equity, Venture Capital, Hedge Funds, or Corporate Development. Examples of "Bulge Bracket" investment banks include Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America. Additionally, there are "Boutique" and "Middle Market" banks that execute smaller deals or work in a specific region. Due to an accelerated recruiting timeline, those interested in Investment Banking should start preparing during their freshmen and sophomore year.

  Resources: Financial Markets Institute, Wall Street Prep, Adventis Financial Modeling, MOS Excel Certification

• Wealth Management

  Wealth management professionals provide comprehensive advice and a broad range of investment products and services to satisfy the complex needs of both individuals and high-net-worth investors. Wealth management combines financial/investment advice, accounting/tax services, legal/estate planning, and many firms also specialize in insurance. Wealth management primarily focuses on providing financial advising for an individual's overall lifestyle. Many large firms have wealth management groups, along with regional firms that specialize in wealth management.

  Resources: CFP Exam, MSU Financial Planning and Wealth Management Program

• Sales and Trading

  Sales & trading encompasses the fixed-income, equity, currency, and commodity markets. Sales professionals work with a variety of institutional investors to distribute securities originated by the investment bank. Trading's primary role is market-making and managing the bank's risk exposure within their area of responsibility. Trading is broken up into two main categories: Proprietary trading and Agency trading. In comparison, Proprietary traders make their own trading decisions purely for their own financial gain. Agency traders work at a sell-side financial institution, like a large investment bank, and you execute orders for clients throughout the day.

  Resources: Financial Markets Institute

• Equity Research

  Equity Research includes analyzing public companies to give a Buy/Hold/Sell recommendation on stocks. In addition, equity research analysts will consider the company's financials, financial ratios, industry trends, and other factors to predict how companies will perform in the future using financial modeling. Equity Research analysts are split into the buy-side and sell-side. While both roles are similar in terms of tasks, buy-side analysts work for firms investing in different companies, whereas sell-side analysts will advise other investors and provide research.

  Resources: CFA, Financial Markets Institute, MOS Excel Certification

• Commercial Banking

  Commercial banking professionals work primarily on the client-facing side of a bank. For example, Bank of America is a bulge bracket bank but also provides checking accounts, loans, investments, etc. The job of a commercial banking professional is to sell loans and accounts to customers and provide personal service to them.

  Resources: MOS Excel Certification, Sales Skills

• Private Equity

  The private equity industry focuses on the investment of private companies. Their investment strategy consists of purchasing an entire business with leverage and implementing operational improvements to increase the value of the business. A private equity firm will typically hold an investment for 5-7 years before selling the company at a higher value. This is a highly competitive career path; most people will go through two years of investment banking before entering a private equity firm as an associate. However, there are opportunities for a select few to join a private equity firm out of college as a private equity analyst.

  Resources: Center for Venture Capital Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance, Wall Street Prep, Adventis Financial Modeling, MOS Excel Certification, Financial Markets Institute, Investment Banking Experience, MBA Recommended, CFA Optional

• Venture Capital

  Similar to private equity, venture capital professionals invest in private companies. However, venture capitalists invest in startups rather than mature companies. Many new companies seek venture capital funding to start their business and to grow rapidly. Venture capitalists decide which startups to invest in and advise them throughout a series of funding. They also provide support by adding members of their firm to the boards of the companies. They usually exit the investment in these companies via a buyout or IPO.

  Resources: Center for Venture Capital Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance, MBA, Wall Street Prep, Adventis Financial Modeling, MOS Excel Certification; Experience in a start-up, large tech corporation, Investment Bank, or Hedge fund; Financial Markets Institute Optional (not as helpful for this career but still provides networking opportunities and investment banking experience), CFA Optional

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Recruiting Resources

Handshake

Handshake is the official career recruiting website for Michigan State University. The website posts jobs, internships, and part-time opportunities specifically targeting Michigan State students. It also includes information about career fairs and other recruiting events being held on campus.
https://msu.joinhandshake.com/login

Linkedin

LinkedIn is a career resource that can help you find alumni or other outside connections at companies you want to work at. This is a key resource for networking and finding valuable connections in the workforce.
https://www.linkedin.com/

Sage Corps

Sage Corps offers internship opportunities abroad with an emphasis on startup companies.
https://sagecorps.com/studentgroups​

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Certifications

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

The Chartered Financial Analyst certification is a 3 exam program that teaches you the extremes in financial knowledge. It is helpful for many different careers but is highly sought after for those going into Equity Research and Corporate Finance. This program takes a large time commitment with about 300 hours of studying per exam. Once you pass all three exams, you are certified for life, and it can have a high payoff in your future career.
https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/programs/cfa/exam

Certified Financial Planner (CFP)

The Certified Financial Planner exam is necessary for people interested in a career in Wealth Management. It is recommended to take at the end of your undergraduate program to jump-start your career. MSU offers a Financial Planning and Wealth Management Program which allows students to complete the requirements during their undergraduate experience and be eligible for the exam.
https://www.cfp.net/

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

The Certified Public Accountant exam is an accounting exam sought after for many corporate finance positions and accounting positions. It can also be helpful in other careers by proving you are proficient in accounting. It requires you to have 150 credits which often leads to students completing a graduate degree program after their undergraduate experience. This enables to be eligible for this exam.
​https://www.aicpa.org/becomeacpa/cpaexam.html

Excel MOS

Excel MOS Certification is Microsoft's Official certification to prove your proficiency in excel. It requires you to take a proctored test which involves many excel simulations. This exam proves that you are indeed proficient in excel and can be included on your resume. These skills are necessary for many financial analysts so going through this program is highly recommended. It is not enough to put "Proficient in Excel" on your resume because employers assume you are proficient in it. Employers will also assume you know Pivot Tables, VBA, Combo Boxes, VLookups, Data Validation, and many other excel components.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/office-certification.aspx

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Expand Your Skills

Adventis

Adventis is a two-day financial modeling workshop offered usually once or twice a semester. After going through the workshop, there are optional certifications you can obtain by passing a test on the knowledge you learned. Level I focuses on DCF modeling and basic financial knowledge. Level II focuses more on LBO modeling and quantitative knowledge that you will need for High Finance Careers. Make sure to look out for fliers or any information we send out about sign up dates since this program fills up fast.

Books

How To Win Friends & Influence People
By: Dale Carnegie

Security Analysis
By: Benjamin Graham

The Intelligent Investor
By: Benjamin Graham

Zero to One
By: Peter Thiel

Corporate Finance Institute

Corporate Finance Institute is an online resource that provides articles and videos about the different career paths and skills required in the finance world. The website also includes free videos in Accounting, Excel, and Corporate Finance. 
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/
https://courses.corporatefinanceinstitute.com/collections/free 

Current Events

Financial Times

Morning Brew

New York Times DealBook

The Wall Street Journal

Financial Markets Institute

The Financial Markets Institute is an organization at MSU that provides high quality networking opportunities along with the support of the FMI staff and fellow scholars.  To become an FMI scholar, a student must be have at least 25 credits but not more than 55 credits (typically during sophomore year) to apply. It is never too early to reach out to the FMI staff about the admission process. The process is highly competitive and requires a demonstration of technical knowledge of the finance industry along with soft skills. This is highly recommended for anyone looking at a career on Wall Street (Investment Banking, Equity Research, Etc..). 
​https://broad.msu.edu/undergraduate/opportunities/fmi/

Financial Planning & Wealth Management Program

This program is invaluable for students interested in Wealth Management. It provides you with all the classes needed to succeed in wealth management and informs you of the requirements needed to sit for the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Exam. Without this program, you would need to fulfill these requirements after graduation before you can sit for the exam. This program is a good way to get a head start in this career.
https://broad.msu.edu/finance/financial-planning-wealth-management/

Investopedia

Investopedia is a great resource to learn basic finance terms and knowledge. It is viewed a Wikipedia for finance-related content.
https://www.investopedia.com/

Mergers & Inquisitions

 Mergers and Inquisitions provides articles about Corporate Finance, Investment Banking, Private Equity, Hedge Funds, recruiting, and day-in-the-life schedules. This website also provides advice for cover letters, resumes, and interviews. Mergers and Inquisitions is recommended primarily for students interested in corporate finance or investment banking.
https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/articles/

Wall Street Oasis

Wall Street Oasis is an online discussion board with topics in high finance careers like Investment Banking, Private Equity, and Hedge Funds. Wall Street Oasis is recommended primarily for students interested in Investment Banking.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/

Wall Street Prep

Wall Street Prep is a training program targeted to students interested in high finance careers. Michigan State University Finance Association members can access Wall Street Prep’s entire online catalog of training courses and interview prep webcasts for a deeply reduced fee of $300. A membership includes online courses in Accounting, Corporate Finance, Financial Statement Modeling, DCF Valuation, LBO Valuation, Excel Workshop, and more.
https://www.wallstreetprep.com/passport/msu-2023/ 

Disclaimer: These positions are not endorsed by the Michigan State Finance Association. Please do your own independent due diligence on the companies, programs, and positions. 

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