This post will look at 3 important traits you need to succeed in the finance world.
As financial services are an industry that centers around statistics and reacting to changes, having a strong intellect is pivotal to success. Particularly, individuals must have strong numerical capabilities with an importance on studying mathematical trends and figures. To succeed you need a real knack for pinpointing issues or anomalies in any set of information, and this takes a keen eye for detail. Naturally, the most capable financiers come from a mathematical history, where they would have mastered something like mathematics, economics, or accounting at their universities or colleges. There are lots of instances of people who do not study number-based degrees who become successful in the financial services industry; all that is required to be a strong candidate for a top investment company, is that you have good analytical ability and a excellent work ethic. An example of the kind of work ethic you need is from Lars Windhorst, who started out his first business when he was at school. While this is very exceptional, it is the level of persistence one should aim for to become successful in the investment world.
Among the most essential characteristics you can have in business, but specifically in the financial sector, is to be motivated and tough. The nature of the industry means setbacks are common; there are very few people, if any, that have had a long career without having some sort of hurdle to tackle. Not only is this quality important in overcoming obstacles, it is useful because there are very long working hours that are full of busy schedules. As many people wish to work in finance, you must keep up a high work ethic to fend off potential replacements. The compensation for the intense work load is generous pay and numerous other perks. With this sort of pay, people can retire early, such as JP Livingston, who retired at 28 after a short yet successful career in finance. This choice is not for everyone, with many investment bankers working at financial institutions well into their 70’s, but it is undoubtedly a enticing prospect.
Finance and investment are all about trust building and persuading people that you are more reliable than your opponents. The financial market is very competitive, so persuading clients you are their best choice is crucial. To do this one needs to have good people skills, whilst also being watchful of potential bad customers. It helps to be charismatic without being too arrogant, in order to instil confidence but not so much that they believe you are not meticulous in your decision making. Having attributes like these are what would have helped somebody like Thom Weisel have such a successful career; trading and drawing investment is down to constructing successful relationships.