Salary

• The salaries vary widely. Entry level jobs for a financial planner have salaries of around $40,000, while an investment banker could start in the $100,000 range. The salaries significantly depend on what type of position the person with the degree in finance is in. The bigger the workload, the bigger the salary. There is a direct correlation between workload and salary.
  
  

Financial Analyst

• The financial analyst will most likely be hired by a big corporation and be required to analyze internal company data. The goal of the financial analyst will be to find the areas which have the most issues and therefore would have the most potential for improvement. The career route would then include a financial manager and other senior financial positions. The highest position possible to attain in this type of role is chief financial officer of a company.
  
  

Investment Banker

• Going into investment banking will lead to the highest pay out of the careers possible for a person with a degree in finance. However, it will also bring the highest stress and workload. The job of an investment banker is to help companies with corporate transactions. These transactions could be acquiring a company, selling a division, selling debt or selling equity. Investment bankers have to prepare ideas for different types of transactions by valuing companies and preparing reports. These reports have to clearly state the benefits of doing a respective transaction. Companies that house investment bankers are paid when the transaction occurs so it is very important to have a steady volume of transactions if an investment banker wants to continue to have a job.
  
  

Investment Research

• One career route that a person with a degree in finance can also follow is investment research. The investment research career route is basically about researching securities. The analyst will be responsible for researching various stocks or industries and presenting his ideas to the portfolio manager or the clients. Strong performance is necessary for analysts or they will be replaced by someone who has stock picks that outperform the comparable funds.