Seeking Career Advice regarding: Investment/Asset Management, Private Equity, Investment Banking

Hello, to start with I'd like to thank anyone learning my situation, taking it seriously and and providing me with advice. I am very grateful for your time. Also, please be aware I am inexperienced within this sector and so parts of this post may seem unstructured (rambling).

This is aimed at people employed within areas concerning the financial markets, who understand the varying job positions, predominantly the ones listed in the title above.

My name's Tom, I'm 21 years old and I'm, in my second year of business management studies here in the UK. After not knowing what I want to do for a profession (like many), I have recently acquire a keen interest for the financial markets, investing my own money and researching endlessly online through articles, earning reports, reading related books and learning the market structure and financial processes etc etc etc

To introduce who I am: I believe I'm intelligent and possess a logical and analytical mindset with competent written and verbal communication skills, but through college/school never had motivation to study hard . I received A's and B's at GCSE, but then at college achieved Biology (B), Spanish (C) and IT (D*) and although I was happy with this I know I could have done a lot better. I also have plenty of standard entry level work experience (around studies) in hospitality and retail, extra curricular activity, and have volunteered abroad: contributing to my CV.

Now onto my many enquiries... I am looking to do a placement year next year and an internship (or multiple) the year after and also online financial courses this year and next, before then using that experience and a 1st in business to land a job when leaving university, I'm just desperate for more clarification on which job in the industry is the one I'm actually looking for, and the best steps to climb to it. I'm 100% committed to working and learning (far more than I have been in previous studies) as much as it takes to make this successful.

The role I'd like would involve analysing businesses and the sectors in which they exist quantitatively and qualitatively and would then involve acting on this through investment. I am good with numbers, however a lack of previous maths academia may stunt me but I am willing to learn financials etc alongside studies (My degree has offered a foundation of knowledge). The role therefore would not be solely numbers but would involve collecting analysis/valuation of numbers and other business factors (managerial status, market valuation etc) and written, with advice/plan of action - as I have good people/communication skills and written competency and ideally wish to make use of them as well as the analysis, instead of being purely a quant which I don't have the mathematical capability to do (I understand there will be stages in this career path where analysing numbers/spreadsheets are my sole job). I'm also drawn to the idea of researching and finding undervalued firms on the market, buying them as part of a fund and re-listing them for profit, as you would as part of a private equity fund. However I understand the competitiveness of this area

Realising these are the broad areas I am interested in I researched many roles but am unsure of how they fit together, and the ideal start to the ladder which can keep my options open. It seems what I am after is in either investment managing/banking, asset/portfolio management/advisement etc. I would base my choices of internships, courses and placement around gathering appropriate knowledge for the area of choice. I am considering investment/financial analysis positions as a start to acquire a foundation for the number side of things. With my lack of numerical academic background I understand there are some positions I will not be able to achieve regardless.

My questions: What jobs should I start with for placements/internships to acquire a foundation for this area, keeping options open? Where can these jobs lead? How does this job ladder fit together, and what are the ideal senior roles for me? What online courses give the best finance foundation for these areas (I'm looking at Financial edge: asset management)? What else do I need to be aware of?

Thank you for your time, I understand if my situation isn't the clearest, any advice is appreciated.

Tom :)