Economics/finance career

I've been considering a career in finance but Im not sure which degree is better: economics/finance or maths degree. The reason I'm considering maths as well is because people i know have said economics is really hard at uni so maths might be a better option, but i thought maths will also be hard, so im really confused.

Reply 1

kamillll10

have you tried getting an apprenticeship instead

Reply 2

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by ggggred

This question makes little sense on a number of fronts.

I've been considering a career in finance but Im not sure which degree is better
As far as I know, no country in the world requires a specific degree to go into finance. They require you to have an appropriate professional qualification for the role that you are applying for in the country that you intend to apply in.
For example, if you want to become a stockbroker you would need a specific qualification in the UK, but that same qualification can't allow you to legally become an accountant, financial advisor, or insurance salesperson. In the same light, a stockbroker qualification in the UK would not allow you to become a stockbroker in the US, Canada, France, Germany, etc.
There is only a handful of financial qualifications that can be used across borders in different countries.
Also, there is only a handful of qualifications that would require you to have a degree in order to enrol onto the qualifications in the UK (most of these qualifications don't have specific requirements i.e. you can do them even if you don't have any GCSEs). One is CFA, which doesn't require the undergrad degree to be in any specific subject. The CQF requires you to have a mathematical background (they don't specify what exactly though). Neither of these qualifications are absolutely mandatory for the roles in the UK, but they are highly recommended for their respective roles.
In the US, you would need to do 150 credits in business/accounting/economics modules (depending on the state) before you can become a CPA. It's recommended that you do a degree before you enrol onto the CPA Canada qualification. In Australia, you would need to do an accredited degree in actuarial science before you can be an actuary. There might be a few exceptions for other countries, but generally you don't need a degree to get into the finance sector, especially not in the UK.
If you have a degree, it won't particularly matter that much in your application for UK firms in the finance sector. Should you decide to opt for a graduate scheme, they generally don't consider your degree that much, especially when the professional qualification is what actually counts.

which degree is better: economics/finance or maths degree
This is an annoying superficial question with zero relevance to the jobs you want. So I won't bother answering this.

The reason I'm considering maths as well is because people i know have said economics is really hard at uni so maths might be a better option, but i thought maths will also be hard
Eh? Math degrees tend to be more difficult than those in finance and economics. The maths you use in quantitative finance and economics degrees tend to be applied maths that's simpler than those in a maths degree.
Sure, economics uses mathematical modelling, but they would be using a narrow subset of maths that you would otherwise be using in a maths degree.
Similarly, a finance degree would contain a narrow subset of maths that you would otherwise use in a maths degree.
If anything, you would have an easier time doing either economics or finance at uni than maths.

Having said that, there are joint degrees in:

•

Economics and maths

•

Finance and maths

•

Economics and finance

I haven't seen a degree that covers all 3 subjects equally though (kind of like PPE, but for the above subjects)

If you want to pick degrees that specialise in particular types of subjects but uses like 20-10% of another, consider:

•

Financial economics (10-20% finance, 90-80% economics)

•

Financial mathematics (10-20% finance, 90-80% maths)

•

Mathematical Economics (10-20% economics, 90-80% maths)

Reply 3

Kiddo276

Maths is harder than Economics at university. I did Maths modules for a Physics degree but dropped out because the maths was not immediately relatable to anything i studied - maths at university is very very abstract.

I would suggest do an Economics course or Finance course, depending on the kind of financial career you want to go into.