what is like to be an financial analyst?

HI,

Im graduating soon , like in october 2015, and im really intersted in becoming a financial analyst, but i dont know where to ger advice from . i asked my lect and my guidance counsellor , but they seem not to have any idea what is financial analyst real daily task and job scope…my question is:

what is like to be financial Analyst? what are the day to day task?

what sort of requirement to be a good financial anayst?

if im bad in math,(im unable to do calculus) can i pursue this as my career? how good is good in math?

Im not a straight A’s student, im below average, must you be brilliant? like straight A’s student?

how to prepare yourself to be a good financial analyst during university?

(Ps: im interning on may)

you dont need to be amazing at math. calculus is useless. you really need to get good grades though. they typically have the pick of the litter so good grades and top schools are a must. relevant degree is pretty necessary, but i;ve seen poli sci from top schools squeeze in.

day to day. its really following markets. reading a lot .looking at fianncial statements. there is a lot of detective work. some have to deal with clients (i dont have to).

for exmaple. i had to look at two publicly traded company owned by this guy through a private company. the guy has majority control and owns both. 1 is trading at a premium the other is trading at a discount. sell side analysts beleive a merger is imminent and 1 will be acquiring the other, one who has issues a sell rating said the discounted will acquire the premium at an even greater premium.

but does thier reasoning make sense? so really its this head honcho who controls everything that will decide. do you honestly think this guy will dilute himself? no. so u follow where his assets are. my job is to find out how he is positioned. how his relatives are positioned. but this is juss 1 tiny aspect. of course there are others. but usualyl this is the first thing i check. follow the money.

while career counselors are generally pretty terrible, they probably had no idea what it is because “financial analyst” is such a broad term that two of those ppl with the same title can be doing totally different things.

there’s no set day-day tasks, math can be important or not at all, and background finance knowledge is generally good to have, but by no means a requirement.

intellectual curiosity, doing tasks diligently and efficiently, and can think broadly and solve issues are great traits to have

I think 1/2 is your financial skills and ability to think critically

the other 1/2 is computer skills, so you can organize and move data efficiencly

It’s totally awesome. Coke, Models and bottles all day and all night! and you must be la creme de la creme from a top school with a CFA charter to even break in! Truth be told, the job title “Financial Analyst” fits a very wide spectrum from back office jobs, to business analyst/consulting roles, to BSD ER and trading positions. It’s a question of what you want to do. If it is Equity Research that you desire, good luck. That job function is increasingly competitive and shrinking.