The Two Flavors of Finance

There are two general areas of Finance: Asset Management and Corporate Finance.

Asset Management is named well. It involves the allocation and investment (management) of stocks, bonds, dollars, euros, gold, commodities, real estate, etc. (assets). People who work at brokerages, mutual funds, hedge funds, stock exchanges, endowments, etc. are doing Asset Management work. This is what I want to do with my career.

Corporate Finance is all about finding money for your company. This happens at all companies, not just financial firms. I'll explain with an example: SOL Inc. wants to build a new solar panel factory, but they don't have the cash to pay for it right now. Their Corporate Finance folks will figure out the best way to get the money to build the factory. They might get a loan from a bank, sell bonds, sell stock, etc. Each of these options has different pros and cons, which will be different for each firm, which is why different firms have their own finance professionals on staff. This staff is often led by the CFO (Chief Financial Officer).