maths, economics etc.. basically any subject with a "quantitative" background. engineering also..



economics -- work in the financial sector/bank etc.
maths -- work in the financial sector/bank, statistician, etc.. although with maths you might want to take some subjects in financial maths etc. search for terms like black-scholes, ito's lemma etc. to know more

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Added on April 2, 2010, 6:51 pmwith maths degree, u can then specialise in financial maths (involves maths/calculations like actuarial science, but financial maths is more "pure maths" instead of statistics like actuarial science).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_finance

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Added on April 2, 2010, 6:51 pmyou might want to take a course like this below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Quantitative_Finance

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Added on April 2, 2010, 6:53 pmif you have a masters degree in financial maths (see link above), you are very well placed to go into alot of areas in the financial sector (investment banking, banking, finance all these stuff etc.)

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Added on April 2, 2010, 6:55 pmif you like stats, then maybe actuarial science would suit you. if you like more pure maths, financial maths would suit you more.

This post has been edited by gomes.: Apr 2 2010, 06:55 PM

Financial engineering is more of pure mathematics, such as analysis, differential equations, linear algebra (well you rely alot on those 3 areas), and probability. but NOT stats. (there is a difference between stats and probability)

basically financial engineering is mostly pure maths (analysis, differential equations, linear algebra), and some probaility (stochastic processes), but less of stats.

where as actuarial science is more of statistics.

personally its really up to you, but financial engineering IMO has better career prospects in the financial sector because its not so directed into actuarial/insurance stuff.

read this: about financial engineering (also called quantitative finance, etc.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_Finance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%C5%8D's_lemma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black%E2%80%93Scholes

and most people do financial engineering/financial maths etc.. as a masters degree 1 year course, whereas actuarial science alot of people do it as a 3 years undergrad course.

You can go into investment banking, working in the financial sector etc..
http://www.campusrecruitment-tradingfloor....Business-Areas/
Just look under analyst, in general, you could go into those areas, i think..

Does this kind of jobs depends on economical state of a country? ---- most jobs do, but it doesnt necessarily mean you will lose your job when the country is in a bad economic state..

Really depends, if you do engineering, you either work like in a plant/factory, as the plant manager, or go into the sales division. with the sales division you need good interpersonal skills and stuff to suceed when talking to customers and clients etc.. but that generally has more potential than a plant manager and you can rise up higher to a high position etc..

personally its up to you. i had no interest in engineering (didnt like sciences at alevels), but i preferred maths and economics etc. so i chose to go the financial field (financial engineering etc. quant finance) pathway.


What I did:

1. do alevels (at taylors/help/mckl etc..)
2. go to uk do 4 year degree like MORSE (warwick) http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/undergradu.../depta2z/morse/, or just a 3 years maths degree and then do a masters in financial maths (http://www2.lse.ac.uk/maths/Degrees/MSc_Financial_Mathematics.aspx)
3. you can start work in the financial field


With actuarist, some people dont find "spending the whole life in excel with statistics and all that" boring. And personally, i dont think its that boring as the outside world portrays it, but it really depends on you. if you still are not sure, just spend some time working in an actuarial firm and find out if you like it or not.

personally, i dont really like stats, but i like puremaths. so thats why im doing financial engineering and not actuarial stuff.

parents paid for my course, and im not doing the ADP actuarial science in taylors. erm, maybe scholarships, or just take a bank loan, or like mortgage loan.. i guess there might be other options, but im not sure.



I think its somewhat different, because getting A1 for add maths/maths at SPM doesnt really mean you are THAT good in maths. if you are really really brilliant at maths, there is a good chance you will suceed in actuarial science/to become an actuary.

people may have got A for maths/add maths at SPm, and think they are good enough for actuarial science, but thats not the case, and thus leading them to dropping out/failing to qualify fully (the later papers are quite tough) as an actuarist.

you can still work in the bank/finance etc. and do non actuarial work if you have an actuarial science degree though, so thats somewhat a "fall back" plan.

if you are fully qualified as an actuarist, then you will be in demand.

alot of people with actuarial science degrees (speaking mainly for UK based degrees, e.g. LSE) dont necessarily became actuarists. they just work in the financial sector, like in a bank or something, but not related to actuarial. so with an actuarial science degree you can get a job in the financial sector, like analyst/graduate programme in banks etc. thats what quite a number of people with actuarial science degrees from the UK do