High School
Useful high school classes include finance, business, accounting, economics, computer science (including artificial intelligence), English, and speech. Participation in business or investing clubs will also be useful.
Postsecondary Education
A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in finance, statistics, mathematics, computational finance, financial engineering/financial mathematics, or a related field is needed to work as an analyst. Many analysts (especially those in senior positions) have graduate degrees. The International Association for Quantitative Finance provides a list of colleges and universities that offer degrees in financial engineering/financial mathematics at http://www.iaqf.org/academic-programs.
Certification
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, hedge funds, investment returns and risks, due diligence, risk management, and other topics. Visit https://caia.org/programs/fundamentals for more information.
Other Education or Training
Many professional associations provide continuing education opportunities. For example, the CMT Association offers webcasts such as Building a Career Using Technical Analysis and U.S. Financial Market Update. The New York Alternative Investment Roundtable, CFA Institute, International Association for Quantitative Finance, Investments and Wealth Institute, and CFA Society New York also provide professional development classes, webinars, and seminars.