Financial Services Brokers

High School

If you are interested in becoming a financial services broker, you should take courses in business, accounting, economics, mathematics, government, computer science, and communications.

Postsecondary Training

Because of the specialized knowledge necessary to perform this job properly, a college education is increasingly important, especially in the larger brokerage houses. To make intelligent and insightful judgments, a broker must be able to read and understand financial reports and evaluate statistics. For this reason, although employers seldom require specialized academic training, a bachelor's degree in finance, quantitative finance or analysis, business administration, economics, or accounting is helpful. Many brokers earn a master’s degree in business administration, which often makes them eligible for higher level positions, large signing bonuses, and better compensation.

The International Association for Quantitative Finance offers a list of programs on its Web site, https://www.iaqf.org/academic-programs. It also provides an extensive list of student resources at https://www.iaqf.org/student-resources.

Certification

The Investments & Wealth Institute offers an essentials of investment consulting certificate program. The Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association offers the Fundamentals of Alternative Investments Certificate Program. In this online, self-paced course, you’ll learn about traditional vs. alternative investments, risk management, investment returns and risks, due diligence, private equity and venture capital, hedge funds, and other topics. Visit https://caia.org/programs/fundamentals for more information.

Other Education or Training

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association offers continuing education classes such as Focus on Emerging Markets, The Impact of Technology on the Financial Sector: A Focus on Mobile, Social Networking, Collaboration and Cloud Technology, and Fundamentals of Market Returns. It also partners with The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to offer the Securities Industry Institute, a six-day executive development program for financial services professionals. Contact the association for more information.