How boring is a job in finance?

Are there any financial jobs that are not boring, not highly stressful and pays well?

'Boring' is subjective.

Boring as in sitting in front of a computer screen

Not everyone is in it for the money!

A lot of people like maths and find maths related finance jobs quite interesting. Not everyone is in it for the money!

lol. I think that would depend on how you take on the job. Or maybe how you define boring? How do you see a " not boring, not highly stressful and pays well" financial job anyway?

Boring as in sitting in front of a computer screen

I love maths too but most of the time the computer does all the work meaning no one actually has to do the maths

I don't think this is really true. An Excel model can crunch numbers faster than you can in your head, but someone still needs to actually build it and tell it which calculations it needs to be doing. That person has to do a lot of Maths. It's a bit like saying a person doing a Maths exam in which calculators are permitted is not actually doing any Maths. Of course they are.

Also, whether it's boring to sit in front of a computer screen or not surely depends on what you're actually doing on the computer?

Good luck getting a job in finance that doesn't involve that.

Most of the time there are software that can manipulate the numbers and produce all the documents.

I don't mind a non-physical jobs but am i right in thinking most finance jobs involve the same routine?

I'm most concerned about the stress tho... I've heard in investment banking the working environment is hostile with peers hunting your jobs and basically cut throat.... Am i right in thinking most finance jobs are like that.

The software is just there to make your life a bit easier, so you don't have to do thousands of calculations all manually. But I wouldn't underestimate the amount of work that the user of the software has to do. If it was simply a case of clicking "go" and getting all the results you need, a monkey could probably be trained to do that, and people who work in finance wouldn't be getting paid as much as they are.



I think most jobs involve the "same routine" to some extent, because that's how people become experienced at what they're doing. You could say a footballer's job involves the "same routine" because every day he trains or plays football, or a doctor's job involves the "same routine" because every day he's seeing and treating patients.

Some jobs in finance are like that as well, where you're essentially doing the "same thing" at regular intervals, but each time it will bring up some new challenges, and as you get more senior you'll become more experienced as to how to deal with any situation, then move more into management and direction of others. Then again some jobs in finance are not at all like that. They may be "project" based, whereby you work on one project for a few months to a year, and then once it's completed you move onto another one which had nothing to do with the first, and it's almost like starting a new job every so often.

Again, if you're worried that a job in finance is going to literally turn out to be one in which you do exactly the same thing every single day without variation, and in which "anyone could do that", look at the amount the job pays and ask yourself if any sensible employer would pay that kind of money for someone to just sit there doing the same repetitive action over and over again.



Investment banking is a bit like that, but I don't think they're like that in general. I'm a (nearly qualified) actuary, and I must say that other than when I'm taking exams, my stress levels tend to be pretty low.

Thanks for the help
The main concern for me was the stress and the hostile environment that i've read upon. I don't want to be an investment banker but what kind of jobs do you think has scope for a variety of challenges and good pay?

It's difficult to give an exhausted list because obviously, I can only tell you what I have experience of. I work for one of the "Big Four" firms in Actuarial Consulting, and for myself I genuinely think I've found the perfect job in terms of being highly paid, challenging enough that I feel satisfied when I complete my job rather than feeling like "anyone could have done it", respectable in that it requires extensive expertise in a niche area, and low stress in that it involves working smart rather than working hard. The only downside is that the exams are really difficult and take up a lot of time, but they'll be over soon I hope. Other than this, I might have also been interested in things like Corporate Finance, Finance Consulting, Asset Management or Equity Analysis etc.

In terms of your working environment do you get along with your peers?

Also how demanding is your boss? Are u expected to give in work within a strict deadline?

Would the transition from being an econ graduate to an actuary take a long time?