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To most, the financial industry conjures up very specific images: Wall Street, stock market tickers, big banks...But this traditional view of the industry only tells a small part of the story. A career in finance can take you down vastly diverse paths and sectors, and getting a finance degree can open doors that you might not have ever considered or known existed.
Finance covers a wide variety of fields unified by their role in providing financial services to individuals or companies. Banks, insurance companies, real estate brokers, and investment firms are all included in the financial sector, and finance companies make up a huge portion of the S&P 500; in other words, many of the largest companies on the stock exchange offer financial services.
As of 2022, there are approximately 6.6 million Americans working in the finance and insurance industries, and the years ahead show promise for even more opportunities to enter the field. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that in the next 10 years, the financial sector will experience a faster rate of job growth than the average for all occupations, with 963 thousand jobs projected to become available each year. With so many opportunities, it’s an incredibly opportune time to consider a career in finance.