How to become an Investment Analyst

630

2,225

£32,000/y

avg. starting salary

Do you know the difference between NASDAQ and EuroNext? Then becoming an Investment Analyst could be your true calling… You could call investment analysts the hidden faces of investment; they provide financial data, advice and recommendations to stockbrokers, fund managers and traders, so they know how to best manage their clients’ investments. Investment analysts are employed by a range of companies, such as investment management companies, investment banks, private equity firms and stockbrokers. An Investment Analyst may also choose to be self-employed and work with a range of clients. The tasks an investment analyst performs can typically include:

Researching a company’s financial history
Analysing a company’s financial data, including accounts, profit and loss and cash flow
Creating financial models to produce financial reports on companies that could be potential investment opportunities
Keeping up-to-date with economic and political developments that affect the financial markets worldwide
Presenting research back to fund managers, stockbrokers and traders
Ensuring all work and research undertaken meets strict financial regulations

You don’t have to be cut-throat and willing to do anything to get the deal done to be an investment analyst. In fact, the job is mainly research and analysis based. You’ll have to be confident interpreting complex data and working with numbers as you’ll be spending a large proportion of your time researching companies, looking at their trading history and analysing their accounts. An interest in economics, politics and business will help, as you’ll also need to keep an eye on situations that are happening or developing around the world that could potentially affect investment markets, for example, fluctuations in currency, recession and political instability. Other key skills for an investment analyst include:

Initiative
Written and verbal communication
Research skills
Analytical skills
An interest in world economics and politics
IT skills

Junior financial analyst

Up to £32,000

Investment analyst

Up to £40,000

Senior analyst

Up to £80,000

"When I explain to people what I do, they tend to think that being an investment analyst is a boring job, where I’m stuck behind a computer writing reports all day. While I do write reports, there’s a lot more to the job than that. I get to use my love of maths to create complex financial models that help determine if an investment opportunity is sound. If you’re looking for a job that’s 9-5, this isn’t the job for you as it’s not uncommon to work slightly longer hours at times. But if you can get over that, investment is an exciting fast-paced sector to work in."

Get qualified

You'll usually need a degree in finance to become an investment analyst. However, you may also be able to work your way up through more junior finance positions, with the right level of training and experience.

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