How to Learn Finance

Considering a career in finance? This overview of finance, from its core definition to common career paths including CFO, Public Accountant, and Hedge Fund Manager, is a must-read for anyone interested in managing large sums of money.

Key Insights

Finance is the management of money and involves a variety of fields such as investing, lending, budgeting, borrowing, saving, forecasting, and studying money.
There are multiple areas of finance including personal, corporate, and public finance, each with its unique focuses and concerns.
Career opportunities in finance are abundant and growing, driven by the global economy's reliance on money management.
Popular career paths in finance include Chief Financial Officer, Public Accountant, Hedge Fund Manager, Real Estate Agent, Venture Capitalist, Commercial Banker, Financial Planner, and Investment Banker.
The demand and income potential in these careers can vary significantly. For instance, a Financial Planner may work more extensively with finance than a Real Estate Agent, but both professions require a solid understanding of finance.
There are multiple methods to learn finance, including books, video tutorials, and classes, allowing for a tailored learning experience based on individual preferences.

If you're interested in learning finance, it’s best to start with an overview of the topic and field. Finance, at its core, is the management of any amount of money, though, for our purposes here, it's the management of large amounts of money. Finance includes borrowing, saving, lending, forecasting, investing, budgeting, and studying money. Areas of note in finance include public, personal, and corporate finance.

Since money drives the global economy, finance career opportunities will always be available. Many of these opportunities are expanding at a fast pace. Before diving into the study of finance, it's essential to familiarize yourself with a number of its most common career paths. These include:

Chief Financial Officer
Public Accountant
Hedge Fund Manager
Real Estate Agent
Venture Capitalist
Commercial Banker
Financial Planner
Investment Banker

Some of these careers, like Chief Financial Officer, will deal with finance more than others. While a Financial Planner will work with finance more than a Real Estate Agent, the latter must still maintain a firm grasp of the subject to properly study the real estate market, both local and nationwide, and analyze real estate trends to become a top-producing agent.

The number of options for learning finance might appear overwhelming at first glance. There are books, video tutorials, classes, and more to choose from; it all depends on your learning style and personal preferences.

Here, we’ll discuss the various methods of learning finance so you can make an informed decision about how you’d like to get started.

What is Finance?

In its most basic definition, finance is the management of money. Finance includes investing, lending, budgeting, borrowing, saving, forecasting, and studying money. There are multiple areas of finance, including personal, corporate, and public finance.

Personal finance deals with keeping your debt down, budgeting, growing your assets, and increasing cash flow, among others. The three main types of corporate finance are capital budgeting, capital structure, and dividend policy. Among the significant concerns of public finance are the budgeting process and an entity’s revenue source.

Read more about what finance is and why you should learn it.