Financial managers are below average when it comes to happiness.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, financial managers rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 30% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy financial managers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Human resources manager | 3.1 | $126k |
| Economist | 3.1 | $106k |
| Project manager | 3.1 | $55k |
| Business analyst | 3.0 | $93k |
| Treasurer | 3.0 | $132k |
| Financial manager | 3.0 | $132k |
| Construction manager | 3.0 | $99k |
| Market research analyst | 2.9 | $64k |
| Fraud analyst | 2.9 | $73k |
| Customer success manager | 2.9 | $46k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are financial managers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do financial managers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as financial managers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are financial manager’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are financial managers making the best use of their abilities?
Are financial managers happy with their salary?
Financial managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most financial managers having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked financial managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
656 financial managers
16% of financial managers rated their compensation 5 stars
33% of financial managers rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of financial managers rated their compensation 3 stars
17% of financial managers rated their compensation 2 stars
9% of financial managers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do financial managers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, financial managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. While most financial managers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked financial managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
661 financial managers
9% of financial managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
15% of financial managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of financial managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
27% of financial managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
23% of financial managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as financial managers?
Financial managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of financial managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked financial managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
714 financial managers
25% of financial managers rated their career fit 5 stars
41% of financial managers rated their career fit 4 stars
21% of financial managers rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of financial managers rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of financial managers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a financial manager’s work environment?
As a whole, financial managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked financial managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
718 financial managers
16% of financial managers rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of financial managers rated their work environment 4 stars
30% of financial managers rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of financial managers rated their work environment 2 stars
8% of financial managers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are financial managers making the best use of their abilities?
Former financial managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most financial managers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked financial managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
717 financial managers
12% of financial managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of financial managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
29% of financial managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
21% of financial managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of financial managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars