degree in stocks, money markets, investments?

is there some type of degree available, whether it be undergraduate or graduate that provides education in investing, stock market, money markets and finances?

sorry if this is a dumb question. i may just be overlooking a general degree already available with these concentrations.

if so, what are the top scools for the major?

thanks.

 

I don't know of a degree in "investing" per se, but there is the College for Financial Planning (www.fp.edu) if you are interested in becoming a CFP.

 

You want an MSc in Finance or Investment Management (as it's called on this side of the pond). It's probably an MS in Finance/Banking/Investment Management over on the other side of the pond.

Alternatively, do an MBA with a concentration in finance.

At the heaviliy quantitative end, there's the MS in Finance at Princeton http://www.princeton.edu/~bcf/master.htm

There's also an MSIM at BU http://management.bu.edu/gpo/msim/index.asp

If you plug masters "investment management" site:edu in to google, you should get a fairly wide range of courses.

Alternatively, have a look at the professional courses in investment management. On this side of the pond, we have an investment management certificate, which is the required competency exam for anybody engaged in discretionary or advisory investment management. I assume that there's something similar on the other side of the pond, and there will be plenty of firms happy to sell you training for it.

Angela

 

programs in finance, investment...

I have been looking for DL graduate finance programs that focus more on financial instruments and less on corporate finance and financial management. I have found three programs that you may like to look at.


The University of Reading in the UK has a DL MSc program in International Securitites, Investment and Banking. This is a two year part-time program with instruction being delivered via CD. Tuition runs about 9,000 pounds (about $18,000 USD based) over two years.

MSc International Securities, Investment and Banking

Also, to add to one of the earlier posts, the College of Financial Planning has an online MS in Financial Analysis. From their website they claim that the program curriculum is based on the CFA Body of Knowledge. This would leave me to believe that there would be a good deal of security and debt analysis, security valuations, devivatives and the like. Tuition runs at $700 USD per course and about $9,100 USD for the entire program.

CFP MS Program

I also found a MS program in Financial Markets from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Currently this is a B&M program. However, they do have a an online certificate in Financial Markets. I have e-mailed them to try to find out if and when they will have their entire MS program online, but I haven't received a response yet. For the MS program: They allow 9 units of transfer credit and the credits from the online certificate can be applied used for the MS. So you can complete over 50% of the MS program, via DL and transfer credit. They have plaenty of concentrations like fixed income, equites, trading, investment and risk management. Now here is the bad part. Tuition runs at $680 PER UNIT. This means that it would run you about $43,000 USD (assuming no transfer credit) for the entire program. HOWEVER, jobs in this field are generally carry better than average salaries so a 43k investment may be well worth it.

IIT Center for Law and Financial Markets

 

As Angela says, you're looking at an MS (MSc) in finance or investment management. On the American side of the pond, see also financial economics. Financial economics on the other side usually means more economics and less finance.

For the heavily quantitatively inclined, there is financial engineering, which has all the math you don't learn in a straight finance or finance mba: some truly nasty stochastic calculus, optimization, and lots of numerical analysis/programming. If you want to really understand how stock prices are modeled (essentially they move like a drunk on a bridge, or at least that’s how they’re modeled), then this is where you want to be.

There are some online certs in financial engineering (Illinois, and Stevens Inst. of Tech.). The University of Reading online program mentioned earlier is the only masters (that I know of) that is focused on the quantitative stuff beyond straight finance. Otherwise, all the players in financial engineering (Chicago, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Princeton, and a bunch of others) do not (yet) have online programs.

Lots of DL possibilities in straight finance, especially if you want to combine with an mba. University of London External has MSc in financial management and one in financial economics. University of Leicester has a similar program.

 

Columbia has a certificate program in Financial Engineering. It's quite expensive, though.

http://www.cvn.columbia.edu/Registration/Certificate_Programs/fe/fe-new.htm

 

Great question. I see that this would be a concentration with in the finance area. I know several have posted a response, but if there is a specific class, I have taken several general classes, and know the bascis, but would be interested in a certificate or set of classes on "today", as things change so quickly.

 

Re: Re: degree in stocks, money markets, investments?

exactly what i was thinking. i have found a few general courses available via DL but i am not able to find very many specific degrees that actually pertain to today's economy, other than the ones mentioned above.

 

Hmmm. Are there no professional qualifications in the US regulated by the market associations such as the NASD that one can get via DL? Surely a level I or level II CFA course would cover a lot of ground.

Alternatively, if you're on this side of the pond, the Securities Institute Diploma might be the place to start. http://www.securities-institute.org.uk/web/Infopool.nsf/HTML/qSIDiploma I know for certain that one of the better training/study providers for this course provides online and DL options http://www.bppfinancialservices.com/website/si_diploma/what.aspx
Best of all, you can now take your SI diploma passes and hopefully get some exemptions from some of the UK's better MBAs http://www.siservices.co.uk/brochures/img_pdf/sidiploma.pdf

Angela

 

Mercy College has an online RA master's degree in securities.

 

Classic finance theory is still used today and is still very relevant. Practitioners still use theory that was hatched in the 1950's - "modern" portfolio theory and the like.

Therefore, any class in finance that covers portfolio theory, and equilibrium models like the CAPM, APT etc. is still useful and still current.

If you want to learn more cutting edge stuff, then options theory (or derivatives theory) and its many offshoots is the thing to focus on. There are lots of basic classes on options theory that omit the math.

This class is not online, but it's representative of the kind of class that's accessible for most everyone:

http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/cat/154518.html

More advanced options theory puts you in the realm of stochastic calculus/brownian motion - not for the faint of heart. Nevertheless, there are online options here (above mentioned Columbia courses in financial engineering, e.g.)

The CFA courses cover much of the essentials, both modern and the more dated, but these exams are designed for serious practitioners, so probably not well-suited for anyone looking for more of a survey.

 

I guess this stuff never ends, but, YIKES, one of the faculty has a PhD from Pacific Western University.

http://grad.mercy.edu/securities/boccino.htm

 

Check out the Institute of Business and Finance in CA, last I checked they were still waiting to become RA. The American College in PA has some interesting programs and they ar RA.

 

This sort of post is not only viciously unfair, it also demonstrates the abject ignorance of the poster and so many of the others of similar bearing who post here.

Perhaps before you post something mindless like "Yikes" you might want to take the time to contact the man and find out his story. I did.

He states that the college doesn't officially recognize the PWU degree. His terminal degree is his (regionally accredited) MBA. That is sufficient to meet the education qualifications for his position.

To which I add, certainly that and his 45 years of practical experience in his field make him a distinguished scholar. What have you done in your life that qualifies you to publicly judge the man so callously?

The only things you expose with posts like that are your own vacuous soul and mind. Just another example of somebody trying to make himself bigger by making others smaller.