How Financial Knowledge Accelerates Your Career Growth
You entered the company with a good pay package. But are you sure of how the various elements in your salary are calculated? Most professionals do not have this financial knowledge. The finance department also does not clear up this mystery. So, employees seek the help of outside consultants to calculate things such as taxes. However, having financial knowledge has several advantages. In this article at Harvard Business School, Brian Misamore shares six reasons you must enhance your financial skills. He also provides actionable guidelines to facilitate skill growth.
Why Have Financial Knowledge?
Department Performance
With financial knowledge, you can check if your department is generating enough money for the company. You should know with which team you must set your benchmark. Learn about the KPIs and metrics to measure financial performance.
Job Impact
While team members can decide the fate of a team’s performance, an individual in the crew can accelerate or decelerate reputation. Learning about your contribution will also help negotiate a promotion, salary hike, or perks.
Project Approval
Has your department submitted an idea, but the finance department rejected it? The idea, albeit excellent, probably was not financially viable in the long term. So, the financial team left it and prioritized the ones that had revenue growth potential. You will put forward ideas that show promise if you have sufficient financial knowledge.
Value Creation
Every stakeholder in your team needs to confirm that their assignments are helping the company grow economically and in valuation. When you acquire financial skills, you will definitely not go for those ideas that do not create value.
Accurate Future Prediction
When you have financial data to showcase to various stakeholders, they will be convinced about your project’s profitability. Data does not lie, so you must be well-versed with its utilization to become more relevant to the company.
Individual Investment
Apart from being a financially educated employee, you must also plan for a comfortable retirement. Having proper financial knowledge can enable you to independently plan for your future. Instead of paying your agent a percentage of your investment, you can run the investment portfolio yourself.
Steps to Increase Financial Knowledge
- There are multitudes of financial blogs online to gather these financial skills. Read books, magazines, and websites, watch videos, or listen to podcasts.
- Learn about the financial background of your company.
- You can also take a course to increase your financial knowledge.
To view the original article in full, click on the following link: https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/6-ways-understanding-finance-can-help-you-excel-professionally
