Benefits of an MBA in Finance

An MBA in finance may be the best degree to get for someone interested in investing, banking, real estate, or becoming a personal financial planner. The broad combination of receiving an MBA, with the added value of emphasizing in finance, can provide an added boost to someone interested in a career in the world of finance.

Here we will look at the benefits of an MBA, the added benefits of an MBA in Finance, and the potential drawbacks to an MBA in Finance.

The Masters in Business Administration is one of the most recognized advanced degrees. With its flexibility and relative speed to acquire, many people purse the MBA for the financial and leadership potential that an MBA graduate is offered.

Reasons it is beneficial to consider an MBA degree include:

• Recognition: The MBA is one of the most recognized graduate degrees. When someone has an MBA they are immediately considered to be someone with an ability to lead, make sound business decisions, and successfully accomplish rigorous studies.
• Salary Increase: MBA graduates have averaged a lifetime earning of 2-3 times more than someone with just an undergraduate degree. This alone can make a masters in business something to seriously consider for anyone interested in pursuing a career in the business world.
• Increased ease of finding employment: When the economy is struggling, it is necessary to have something that sets you apart from the competition. With college degrees being as common as high school diplomas were half a century ago, an MBA can provide something that will catch the eye of a potential employer.
• Can be acquired quickly: An MBA can be obtained after as little as one year as a full-time student or two years as a part-time student. The speed at which the degree can be received makes it a low time investment for the potential of a high return.
• Additional Knowledge: For both those who have studied business in undergraduate and those who have not, the MBA provides a deeper level of knowledge in regards to the business world and how to be a successful leader.

There are some benefits that can come from receiving an emphasis in finance as opposed to a general MBA.

• Become a specialist: If a bank is looking for a loan officer and all other things are equal, they will likely choose a candidate who specializes in finance. The same goes for someone choosing a personal financial planner. A specialized focus increases your persona as an expert.
• Learn the language of business: Accounting and finance are the building blocks of business that can be learned. Taking a class entitled "Employee Management" will not make someone a better manager of employees - people skills must be developed through more practice and less reading. On the other hand, the ability to read accounting reports is something that must be learned through study.
• A stronger education: Finance classes are difficult. A student studying more finance classes in place of other electives will receive a challenging education that can help expand thought processes. The student that truly wants to learn as opposed to just getting a degree may benefit from the added challenge of these classes.

Although an MBA in Finance can be very beneficial, there are some reasons one may not want to emphasize in finance.

• Employers train their own: Having spoken with several hospital executives, they have revealed to me that they prefer to train students in job specific tasks. Therefore, they prefer MBA graduates to have a broad understanding of the topics, and then they will train them to do business the way they desire it to be done.
• Getting cornered in a sector: If finance is not an area that you are truly interested in, getting pegged as a numbers person may make it more challenging to gain employment as an executive in another aspect of management. A general MBA will provide a graduate with the ability to find employment under any sector.
• Too challenging: Although an MBA requires studying and hard work, an MBA in finance will require even more. For someone wanting to get a degree, but not keen on doing more work than necessary, it may be better to focus in a different area. Of course, no one should enter an MBA program not interested in studying hard.

An MBA is necessary for many higher management positions in today's society. I have discussed with multiple executives the importance of receiving this three-letter degree. Many employees end up hitting a ceiling and being unable to advance further because of their lack of an MBA degree.

Continuing to learn is beneficial. Not just for ones career, but also for ones personal life and mental well-being. Whether you decide to receive an MBA or not, consider the benefits of reading regularly. Something that most great people do is continually read up on topics of relevance and study the lives of other successful people. This additional education can prevent mistakes already made by others and provide methods for solving ones current problems.