Comfortable with numbers and love crunching them? Finance has everything you need. However, the question is how far can you go? According to the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), the average starting salary for finance majors is $73,000 a year. But that’s just an average — there are many positions in this field that pay well above the national average.
With the economy still enduring, many students are still finding themselves unemployed with a degree in their chosen field…My first job out of college was in the Financial Analysis Department of a large bank. Though I’m no longer working for them, I have to say it’s been a fun ride and I’ve learned quite a bit about the industry as well as business in general. If you are pursuing a career in finance and planning on getting your MBA or CFA designation, here is some salary information that might be helpful to you.
Average starting salary for finance majors
There are various factors that determine the average starting salary for finance majors, including the individual’s experience in the industry, academic background, and job level. Typically, entry-level finance professionals with a bachelor’s degree or higher see a higher average salary compared to those with an associate’s degree or less. There are also differences in average salaries between men and women in the same position at a financial institution. The wide range of salaries offers flexibility to move up the career ladder quickly while on a performance-based incentive plan or within the company based on experience.
The starting salary for a finance major is an attractive $62,000, but the variation between majors is big.
Finance majors, even those who enter the workforce with limited experience, begin their careers with an average starting salary of $50,000. While this doesn’t mean that a graduate of this program should immediately seek out a position in the business world, it does suggest that finance majors will have an easier time acquiring lucrative employment upon graduating than most of their non-business major counterparts.
The growing interest in finance majors is understandable, given that potential finance professionals are expected to do quite well for themselves compared to other careers. The field is projected to grow by 6 percent within the next eight years and the average starting salary of a finance professional is over $70K.
The numbers listed above show just how promising a career in finance can be. And although many factors will come into play when determining your particular starting salary, we hope that this information can act as a starting point for negotiation with prospective employers.
Generally speaking, those who want to pursue a career in finance need to be good at mathematics and possess strong critical thinking and communication skills. The highest starting salaries are reported by financial analysts; the lowest come from retail sales representatives.
