MSc applied economics vs investment and finance

Hi I’m really confused. I understand neither increase you chances of being employed in the future - but if you were in my position - Which Msc would you choose and why?

I personally go for economics, because I am more interested in economics than I am in finance (even though I did both in a degree).

I think it's down to personal preference. Having said that, it also depends on what you want to do with the degree; if you want to research economic topics more, do economics; if finance, do finance.

Unless you intend to apply to a specific top end PhD course, then I don't think it would matter much which of the 2 that you do.

I also don't know which specific investment and finance course you're doing. If it's a degree accredited/recognised by the FCA, you might be eligible to be exempt from doing certain professional qualifications to work in specific roles in financial services.

What are you specifically confused about?

Hi ,

Thank you for your reply.

I have offers for both and the uni I have applied to is a top 10 uni for finance and accounting. It’s accredited by CIMA investment and finance MSC.

However, I would like to become an analyst in the future, but investment banking also looks appealing. I understand that neither actually help land a job but because my undergrad is in Biochemistry and Pharmacology - so basically I want to increase my chances of landing a job in the banking sector…

Thanks

I am going to throw a few spanners in the works:

Sorry for the late reply.

The thing is I finished with a 2:2. So I am hoping that a msc will help me getting into financial analyst role or asset management.

I don’t know if this will be possible. Hence why I’m confused.

Thank you for your reply.

My Msc is at Strathclyde university. Apparently with the degree there is also additional certificates that you receive.

Which professional qualifications would you recommend instead of CFA?

Thanks

My Msc is at Strathclyde university. Apparently with the degree there is also additional certificates that you receive.
I am not sure which of your MSc choices at at Strathclyde since you didn't made it clear, so I would include both for your reference.

https://www.strath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatetaught/appliedeconomics/
The accreditations on this page are for the business school only (just saying how good it is) i.e. they have nothing to do with the degree or professional qualfications. In other words, these accreditations don't strictly benefit you in your career, just your education (however you value that).
From the look of things, the degree seems like a standard economics degree, but not as intense or advanced as a standard master's in economics (I could be wrong).

https://www.strath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatetaught/investmentfinance
These accreditations would be for professional qualifications, so they directly benefit you.
CIMA is the professional accounting qualification, and it's the more ideal one for financial analysts that work for businesses (as opposed to investment managers).
The CFA recognition means that you would be provided the material for the first level (there are 3) of the qualification, but you won't be exempt from the exam i.e. you would still need to take the exam after your course.
GARP is one of the big names for financial risk management. I don't know much else about them, primarily because I am not a big fan of roles in financial risk
The CQF is the prime qualification if you want to work in quants. I am not entirely sure whether the degree means you would be exempt from doing CQF exams or whether it means it's just recognised by CQF. If you are exempt, then you're more or less qualification ready as a quant and you can program your own trading algorithms should you wish. However, from looking through the course content, I don't think this is the case. You might want to check with the uni to be sure.

Which professional qualifications would you recommend instead of CFA?
It depends on the role that you want to do, not what I recommend you should do. If your role requires you to have competencies in investments and the volatility of securities, your best bet is still the CFA, If you want a role that looks more into the financial performance and recommending your employer to take certain actions to boost the performance of the firm, then you're looking at an accounting qualification.

In terms of accounting qualifications, pretty much any accounting qualification should allow you to be come a financial analyst, but the most analytical and numerate of them all is CIMA, primarily because it's designed for in house accounting and analysis. Other accounting qualifications are primarily either for accounting practices or the public sector, but they still should have enough material for you to become a financial analyst.
Should you do other accounting qualifications and you later find yourself requiring to do CIMA for any reason (I can't think of any), you can use your accounting qualification to provide exemptions for the CIMA qualification (typically taking on an extra 8 papers from the 14 for the qualification).

All in all should you have to do an MSc for any reason at Strathclyde, I would go for the Investment and Finance MSc if you want to become any type of financial analyst over the one in applied economics.

Thank you so much for you input it helps a lot!

I have chosen to do the MSc investment and finance. Hopefully this helps moving forward. Let’s see where I am in a year.