Financial Analysts

I. JOB SUMMARY

Main Topic: Human Geography
Secondary Topic: Environment and Society

Overview:  Financial analysts provide guidance to businesses and individuals making investment decisions. They assess the performance of stocks, bonds, and other types of investments. Financial analysts evaluate investment opportunities. They work in banks, pension funds, mutual funds, securities firms, insurance companies, and other businesses. Financial analysts are also called securities analysts and investment analysts.

Financial analysts generally focus on trends affecting a specific industry, geographical region, or type of product. For example, an analyst may focus on a subject area such as the energy industry, a world region such as Eastern Europe, or the foreign exchange market. They must understand how new regulations, policies, political situations, and economic trends may affect investments.

Investing is becoming more global, and some financial analysts specialize in a particular country or region. Companies want those financial analysts to understand the language, culture, business environment, and political conditions in the country or region that they cover.

Geography skills and awareness, therefore, are absolutely crucial for financial analysts.  If they are not geographically literate, they could be providing disastrous advice to their employers or clients.  But by understanding geography, and the complexities and contexts of regional differences in culture, economics, law, politics, and physical geography, they will provide much better information and analysis and be much more successful.

Geographers at work:  Business geographer, industrial geographer, cultural geographer, economic geographer, human geographers

Recommended College Courses:  Business geography, urban geography, economic geography, cultural geography, industrial geography, human geography, physical geography

Skills:  Understanding of economics, finance, markets, human behavior, and especially how business is influenced by geography (people and places); computer and database systems; critical thinking; teamwork

Occupation Group: Business and Financial

Learn more about Financial Analysts from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/financial-analysts.htm#tab-2