BECOMING A FINANCIAL WRITER

What do you think of when you hear the term ‘financial writer’? For the majority it sounds like a tedious job that is full of numbers and technical terms and everything that involves money. For some it sounds like a prestigious job that pays a hefty sum with the common misconception that the people who write about money thrives in money. For others it’s a job for the highly-educated and the upper class. In any case, a lot of people desire to understand their money and more often than not, they turn to articles and news about finance, text written by the financial writer. Where do these financial come from? Is there a special school for them? How does one become a financial writer?

In this article we shall tackle the truth about financial writing and what it takes to become a financial writer. But before we answer the questions above, let’s clear the basics first. what exactly does a financial writer do?

A Financial Writers’ Job

As the name implies, a financial writer is someone that writes about finance whether in print or in the web. Simple enough, right? But it’s more complex than that. A financial writer is also a teacher. He or she writes educational content for the public to understand all the technicalities of the finance industry using laymans terms, concrete examples, and even diagrams. A financial writer is an adviser. He or she makes commentary about the market, about the trends, the events such as mergers and earnings releases, and anything that affects your finances. He or she expresses his or her opinion regarding the matter as a guide for the public who are handling their wealth. A financial writer is a reporter. He or she reports anything and everything that involves your finance whether it’s a simple unveiling of a giant company’s product or the escalating situation over territorial dispute among countries, so that you may utilize the information in any way you want for your advantage. A financial writer is an acquaintance. He or she must be relatable. His or her writing must be understood by everyone as his or her audience range from the corporate executive to the university student so he or she must become your acquaintance through his or her words so that you may be able to comprehend his or her message regardless of who you are.

A financial writer’s job, though complex, is immensely rewarding because just like other jobs that benefit mankind, it is, more often than not, not a 9-5 office job. Writing about finance is flexible due to the fact that your money never rests. All the toiling and effort, however is repaid with the knowledge that the financial writer has done his job and has aided his fellowmen in understanding the world better.

What it Takes to Become a Financial Writer

As you can see, becoming a financial writer is not something that you can be overnight. The research and making sure everything is correct to the dot is a big responsibility. A financial writer that reports a data that misses even a decimal point can cause his readers and investors millions. To become a financial writer, you must be prepared. There are two qualifications that are considered very important to most jobs: education and experience.

Most will expect that a financial writer’s education background to be high and mighty but this is incorrect. A financial can come from any educational background. there are no set rules and regulation. Although most, if not all, financial writers at least have earned a four-year degree while some either majored in finance/economics or journalism.

Experience in the finance industry is highly valued but not necessary. However, if you look at the backgrounds of financial writers, you might notice that before writing, most of them have been involved in handling finance. Some of them were previous brokers, stockholders, analysts, and portfolio managers just to name some because where can a financial writer get the best financial knowledge if not for the financial industry itself.

Basically, anyone is entitled to become a financial writer so long as they understand money and value their work.