Also called: Fund Manager, Money Manager
Decides what stocks, bonds or other investments to buy and sell for a mutual fund, pension or wealthy clients.
You read overnight news from Asia, meet your analysts about a company's earnings, decide to sell a position worth $80 million and explain your fund's performance to clients.
BLS puts financial managers' median near $166k and top-codes high earners; portfolio managers at large funds often earn $500k to millions in bonuses.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 10 years after high school. Bachelor's in finance or economics plus years as an analyst; the CFA charter is very common.
Ways in: 4-year college, Certification, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Finance, Economics, Mathematics.
Growing much faster than average (about 10% over 10 years). Financial managers are projected to grow much faster than average.
Medium risk for 10 years. Index funds and AI-driven quant funds keep taking money from active managers; fewer seats, though judgment and accountability remain.
Classes: AP Statistics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Calculus, Accounting.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-3031.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.