Thinking About Finance? Keep Your Options Open

The New York Times wrote an interesting article this weekend about finance students at top at “top universities”.  If you are interested in mathematics or finance, you may be rethinking your possible major in college.  While I think it is good to keep your options open and get a well-rounded education, if you like finance,  stick with it.

The key words here are “like” and “interest”.  Too many people in the last 15 years went to college, then realized, “I can make a TON of money going into finance!” so these people major in econ and try to get a job at an investment bank or a hedge fund.  And yes, a lot of them have made a TON of money.

But those times are over.  If you have been following the news, there are fundamental changes happpening in banking and finance—and the people who got into it just for the money, are even more miserable than they were when they were working 18 hours a day.

Don’t choose a major because it seems like you’ll be able to make easy money with your degree.  You won’t.  Making money is hard, and will involve either hard work, or boring work, or both.  If you do something you like, and are an absolute rock star at it, you will make money.  A TON of money.  Don’t be a lemming and just follow what seems like the easy road to success.  Be extraordinary.