In finance, relative to almost any other field, you can earn a lot if you're able to perform at a certain level. Then, you can donate this money to worthy causes. Does this make finance the most ethical career choice?
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Assuming doctors are ethical is a miss here
No. Go become a doctor or a priest.
Lol both are unethical
There are no universal laws on ethics. Stop subscribing to the views of others and determine a meaning in life for yourself. You can use the inputs of others to help form your understanding, but ultimately it’s your responsibility to determine the meaning for yourself.
Watch the 2003 corporation documentary and you will realize that every profession/industry really isn't as ethical as you would like to believe.
OP I have a question for you - Is going after the hottest girls the most ethical choice? Should I reject the 9's and 10's throwing themselves at me so that I can help out the 2's and 3's in need?
Thanks, need some serious answers.
Ethical choices are beta moves
You probably also want to look at the cost at which the money was obtained. The thinking above focuses only on the output. That’s like focusing on revenue and ignoring everything else on the income statement. I mean, what you would want is a net benefit for society. Although that leaves the questions what in the world a net benefit for society actually is..
That argument is flawed. You either want to make yourself believe that finance is the right career for you because it is ethical or you have truly missed the point of being in finance.
The idea that you can make donations once you have earned enough rests on the earning enough part. Why not be in tech and make equal or more amounts of money and donate it all off?
So - no, finance is not all that ethical because you can make money and donate. Moreover, there is a problem in the way you're defining ethics. Apart from the very basic common principles, ethics can largely be very subjective. I value something a certain way. You value the same thing some other way. I know as per my analysis that you're overpaying for it, but I sell it to you because your valuation has convinced you. Is that unethical? There is a boatload of people who do that pretty much every day in finance and they will give you a fight for your money if you argue it's not.
Here's the answer to the question you did not ask - what is a good and socially acceptable reason to work in finance? It is the most pragmatic way to understand the world. If you are curious and have solid work ethics, you will get to learn a lot and put that knowledge to test. If you get it right, you will be paid well. If you get it wrong - there are a bunch of other things that can happen to you, including getting paid well some other day. Some may argue that if you want to understand the world, study physics or philosophy or economics. But as a profession, I am reasonably confident finance has better average pay than other professions.
So, there you go. Finance is not that ethical. But it doesn't have to be.
Not in the slightest.
This is probably more philosophical than anything, but here goes nothing.
Finance is a highly ethical field, morally and socially. Ultimately, finance tries to optimize money to the greatest good... the best ideas, the best people, and help them use the money to grow their business to develop new ideas, which in turn help humanity.
While it's fair to say an inventor or a doctor is responsible for their creation, ultimately the R&D, production and distribution of that creation (or technology, cure, or vaccine) requires investment. Someone (finance) needs to believe in the creation or idea and fund it, so they can actually help people.
Sure, some will gain money, others will lose, but without finance, ideas don't get funded and products don't get created. Yes, there are angel investors, but remember they are investors -- they negotiated a % cut. Yes, there are donors, but the applications are kinda limited to medical needs (e.g. cure for cancer) and not so much ideas like building a new phone or a new car gizmo.
There will always be bad apples in any field. But finance serves the purpose of making sure the best ideas get funded, in theory. Yes it will never be perfect, but I'd be hard pressed to find a field that is perfect.
Also, agreed that wealthier financiers who donate their money are doing a moral good, but my point is finance intrinsically is good in that it helps support ideas that improve human life (by making things better, faster, stronger...)
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