One class that has become a surprise favorite of mine this semester is Financial Trading. The course, which is offered in the fall term for M.S. in Accounting students, is open to those from both the Financial Reporting & Assurance and Tax Consulting tracks. Financial Trading offers an incredible opportunity to learn more about the stock market and the world of trading as a whole.
Coming into the class, I had no prior experience investing in the stock market and did not know much about how to successfully navigate trading. Now, with only a few more classes left in the semester, I am leaving the course feeling very comfortable executing trades, like futures and options, as well as trading anything from equities to commodities.
Professor Robert Webb, who teaches the course, has had an incredibly successful career in financial trading. He has done everything from trading fixed income securities as a World Bank Consultant, to designing new financial futures and option contracts as a Senior Financial Economist at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Professor Webb uses his vast personal experience and knowledge of the field to teach us important lessons on trading. Outside of his own experience and stories from his past positions, Professor Webb also brings in many other successful traders as guest speakers, like billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones.
One of the coolest parts of the course is that the entire class competes in a trading game throughout the entire semester. In the game, you and your teammates are money managers, running a $5 million portfolio for wealthy clients. Over the course of the simulation, your job is to invest the money into the market for your clients by trading stock, options, and futures in an attempt to maximize your clients’ returns.
For me, one of the best ways to learn about something is by actually doing it. That’s why the game was one of my favorite parts of the course—because we got to learn about trading and the stock market by making trades. This game gave us the opportunity to practice real-life skills that we could potentially use in our future careers.
Whether you want to start a career trading professionally or just learn fundamentals about how to invest your own savings, the Financial Trading course is an excellent opportunity to learn extremely valuable skills. I cannot recommend it enough to any and all future M.S. in Accounting students.
