I want to learn about finance

VeryMan

Hello! I am interested to get into inv. banking as career and I know almost nothing about finance. I started to read but I have many unknown words, like what is securities? What is derivatives? What are options? Etc. Is there a book or books or other ways to learn from scratch in a methodic way? thanks!

Flobberchops

The website investopedia has many good articles and videos that introduce concepts and break down the jargon. It's a US-centric site but many of the same principles will apply to UK investors.

bigfreddiel

VeryMan wrote: »

Hello! I am interested to get into inv. banking as career and I know almost nothing about finance. I started to read but I have many unknown words, like what is securities? What is derivatives? What are options? Etc. Is there a book or books or other ways to learn from scratch in a methodic way? thanks!

Before learning about finance and economics, I would brush up my English and grammer first.

If you don't understand why I'm saying this then I think other career opportunities beckon.

Good luck fj

bigadaj

bigfreddiel wrote: »

Before learning about finance and economics, I would brush up my English and grammer first.

If you don't understand why I'm saying this then I think other career opportunities beckon.

Good luck fj

Grammar, possibly?

bigadaj

VeryMan wrote: »

Hello! I am interested to get into inv. banking as career and I know almost nothing about finance. I started to read but I have many unknown words, like what is securities? What is derivatives? What are options? Etc. Is there a book or books or other ways to learn from scratch in a methodic way? thanks!

I think investment banking might be a little unrealistic, is your family independently wealthy, do you have qualifications from a top university, if not then your chances are very small.

Reading up on finance for personal information and do ensure you save and invest for your future is definitely worthwhile, read up the basics on the website monevator, there are many books, smarter investing by Tim hale is the one most frequently quoted.

Pincher

Get a Waitrose card.


On Sundays, you can get the Sunday Times for free, if you spend £10. Get a cappuccino for free, and you only need to spend about £6. Read the Money section.
AND the Business section.


Your local library may have the Financial Times for free.


If you can sneak into a University library, that should help.


http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/




If you are really serious:


http://www.stir.ac.uk/postgraduate/programme-information/prospectus/management/investment-analysis/


£6,100 for Home/EU students. A real bargain. It's a proper MSc.


There are other universities.


https://www.cfainstitute.org/community/university/Pages/cfa_program_university_partners.aspx

BananaRepublic

VeryMan wrote: »

Hello! I am interested to get into inv. banking as career and I know almost nothing about finance. I started to read but I have many unknown words, like what is securities? What is derivatives? What are options? Etc. Is there a book or books or other ways to learn from scratch in a methodic way? thanks!

bigadaj is correct, I knew many people who went into investment banking, all had first class degrees mostly in physics, and higher degrees from world renowned universities. And good grammar. I'm not jealous, no really, well, not much, well okay, I'm green with envy.

What is it about investment banking that appeals? Is it the money? If so, there are ways into finance which will allow you to trouser a good wodge, but you will need to study and get qualifications, and almost certainly need good presentational skills. There are related professions such as actuarial work, but the training takes many years, and you need good qualification. A friend who is an actuary has a first in maths, and a PhD in maths, both from very good universities.

VeryMan

Thanks but I did try to read FT yet I had many unknown words that made it difficult to understand and impossible to read as I had to google every third word and had to read definitions that had OTHER uknown words and so on.

Isn't there a book or something explaining that stuff? They use words that are not self explanatory. Eg. what securities is? I know what security is but I doubt they have to do with that.

All I am after is a book or resource that will introduce me to the basics. I can't believe how such thing doesn't exist. Finance is a human creation so easy to describe and understand, it's not a physical phenomenon that scientists cannot explain in human words!

I could do a course, but not a masters, is there a BTEC or any seminar or something?

cte1111

The 'For Dummies' books are good at explaining concepts from scratch, so might be worth considering the Investment Banking for Dummies book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Investment-Banking-Dummies-Matthew-Krantz/dp/1118615778/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1461516612&sr=8-3&keywords=finance+for+dummies

VeryMan

cte1111 wrote: »

The 'For Dummies' books are good at explaining concepts from scratch, so might be worth considering the Investment Banking for Dummies book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Investment-Banking-Dummies-Matthew-Krantz/dp/1118615778/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1461516612&sr=8-3&keywords=finance+for+dummies

Yeah I bought that book and it's hideous. It repeats itself all the time, probably to write more pages to sell more. Plus it uses terms like securities and equity as known.

BananaRepublic

Wikipedia is often very good when you need to understand a concept such as securites, or unit trust. But be careful as sometimes a page appears to be written by someone with a vested interest in promoting a particular viewpoint.