What should I major in to be an investor/speculator?

College Majors
1

<p>My question is more complicated than the title of my thread entails, so hear me about before you give your opinion. I’m considering going into a career where I become an investor or a speculator in the financial markets (stock, bonds, currency, commodities, it doesn’t matter I’m interested in any of them to be honest). </p>

<p>However I know there is much more to being an investor or a speculator than just being, an investor or a speculator. There’s many different ways to invest and speculate. For example there are people who do technical analysis, they are speculators who buy financial assets and sell those assets on the exact same day. These people read the charts to make money. There are quants, who read charts and use complex mathematics to make their money. There are investors who go through businesses financial statements to determine what company they want to invest in, this is what an accountant would do. There are many other forms of making money in the financial markets I haven’t mentioned.</p>

<p>My problem is, since there are many different types of investing and speculating, there isn’t just 1 college major that I’m aware of that encompasses all those perspectives. For example an accounting major would be good at looking through businesses financial statements, but they would not be good quants since they don’t have the mathematical knowledge.</p>

<p>When it comes to the financial markets and investing, I’m interested in these perspectives. I enjoy economics, for example I enjoy researching on what the federal reserve does, inflation rates, interest rates, etc, etc. I also very much enjoy researching the economy of other countries when I consider buying bonds from another country. So macro and micro economics is something I’m interested in. Being able to read financial statements is something I also wouldn’t mind being able to be good at. However I don’t know if that is completely necessary because to be honest I’m more interested in speculation than investing (however I still enjoy investing). I don’t want to be a quant, I would not enjoy doing speculation where you’re only or mainly looking at charts. However despite this, I am good at mathematics. Mathematics is not an obstacle for me, so if a college major requires high mathematics, that is something I’m capable and willing to do. One more thing about my interest in markets, I’m also interested in the psychology of it. In my own investing (I already invest on my own) I try and understand what the public mind is thinking, and I take advantage of it. I think markets function very similarly to a somewhat big and irrational group of people, and I find that very interesting to research into and consider when I make my decisions.</p>

<p>Also just to give a short background on my personality, I’m an introverted person. I would not enjoy being a stock broker where most of my job is talking to clients that I barely even know if I know them at all. I do not mind working with people, as long as it is a small group of people I know very well and I work with regularly. I absolutely love analysis, that literally is the purpose of my life. Anything that is really really complex I love to analyse and try and understand. As the cliche says, I’d rather be the person who works in the background than the person who works in front where everyone notices them. I enjoy being with a small group of people or being completely alone, and analyzing very complex problems.</p>

<p>I also want to go beyond a bachelors degree. I have the financial security and the GPA to do whatever I want with my life at this point. I would not feel comfortable with just having a 4 year degree. I’d prefer having at least a masters and I wouldn’t mind getting a PHD. After all if I decide not to go into finance, I will probably get a PHD in mathematics. </p>

<p>Thanks for all your opinions, and any links to information that would help me would be great.</p>

2

<p>I don’t know sh-t about math or economics, but I know philosophy, so I’d just like to applaud your choice of username. It’s nice to see that some people on this site read books for, you know, pleasure.</p>

3

<p>Yeah I do read for pleasure, probably a bit too much to be quite honest. But I do think reading philosophy is actually helpful, it isn’t just for fun. Philosophy teaches you to think critically and think outside the box, I also think philosophy is a good way to learn how to think in different perspectives.</p>

<p>I’ve taken lots of classes that people would consider difficult in college, and no other subject has taught me to think more outside of the box than philosophy. I think the hard sciences and mathematics can teach you to think critically, but it teaches you to think critically in a deductive mechanical way. Philosophy in my experience has taught me not only how to think in that same way, but to think in creative ways while staying rational and logical at the same time.</p>

<p>One thing I disagree with my peers when it comes to education, is that I have a feeling that most of my peers believe that all that matters when it comes to education is what is put on their diploma and what they can put on their resume. That stuff is important, unfortunately we have to live in something called reality, but I do think many people my age (young twenties, late teens) lose sight of what education should really be about. Education should really be about exploring new ideas and learning to think in different ways. I don’t think most people my age view education in that way unfortunately, I think people my age see education only as a means to a job and that’s it. I find that unfortunate, and I think a lot of people miss out about lots of things in the world when they have this idea that just because X major won’t get them a high paying and prestigious career (say a philosophy major) that means the entire subject is worthless and not worthwhile in exploring.</p>

<p>Fortunately there are people like you who get to explore the amazing world of philosophy and respect what it has to say about life.</p>

4

<p>Econ or Finance or both.</p>

5

<p>Finance, Accounting, Economics, or Statistics/Math.</p>

6

<p>Depending on your college, you could minor in econ/math, just to suggest to employers that you’ve had banking on your mind.</p>

<p>That said, a professional economist I know says that philosphy is an excellent major.</p>