 Hi everyone, it's MJ the fellow actuary and in this video We're gonna be looking at what you should study in 2022 now the reason why we're making this video is because I got a question from a student who has finished school and is looking To into university and is asking what they should study So I thought want to make a video about it because even in their message They said that they've been following my channel for some time and that they think I should upload more often So basically killing two birds with one stone uploading more often and going to be answering the question So the question is this hi MJ I'm a grade 12 student and I'm here to ask on mathematical careers I have a passion for maths finance and computers and I'm planning on doing CS which thinks sense for computer science next year and I was wondering if doing a pure maths degree is a bad option as I've been advised against it by multiple people Especially teachers. I was originally planning to switch over to the mathematics of finance at vitz But vitz has temporary put the degree on hold for 2022 Is it a good degree to pursue or not? And then of course it talks about how they've been following my actual YouTube channel so Look when it comes to deciding what to study in the new year It depends on your own personal circumstances And that's why it's always advisable to go to someone who does career planning Someone who will look at your life look at where you are and help you Determine what you should do because depending on your situation that is going to I guess Change the advice one will give you if you're coming from a very wealthy family and all your expenses are taken care of And you've got no responsibilities going forward then of course the advice is always to follow your passion And this is what we've seen with people in the past Sorry and kick a guard for example He had a very very wealthy family and therefore he chose to study philosophy and you know make a big Contribution in that regard if you don't have a wealthy family then studying something like philosophy It's going to be tricky because there's not a whole bunch of jobs available for Philosophers which is weird because in my opinion, I think they can add quite a lot of Interesting takes to the boardroom, but businesses don't see their their value so I guess the very first piece of advice is Look at your own personal circumstances If you can afford to pursue your passions then of course go for it If you will be taking on a loan to study and you're going to have your responsibility Maybe family members that you need to take care of and all these kind of things Then you definitely want to study a practical degree. This is something like accounting Actory lawyer doctor, you know a profession where there's a job ready for once you finish your degree You basically slot into the system and you can start earning a salary And I think this is why you're getting advice against studying pure mathematics because if you study pure mathematics Yes, you're very intelligent. Yes, you're very enlightened But you don't have a skill that allows you to just plug in very quickly into a corporate job But and this is why I'd say it's a it's a difficult thing to just give advice or Well, I didn't just give a text message like yes, it's a good idea or go for this Because there's another thing that you need to consider as well Not only your own personal Circumstances with regards to wealth, but also your personality type So if you're someone who likes to follow the rules, you like systems, you like institutions, you like, you know, just Things being straightforward paths Then of course again setting actuarial science accounting lawyer doctor Is a good thing to do because that career path It's kind of like a road that many people have already traveled before And it's kind of like, you know where you're going. You know what the destination is If however you Adventurous your entrepreneurial you like a little bit of chaos in your life and you know uncertainty doesn't scare you that much Then feel free to study again saying that you're maybe more passionate about And then you can try and you know, especially if you're adventurous You can go online You can find jobs that are looking for people who have a pure maths And you know, you might be able to To have a more adventurous career So again, it comes down to what is your personal circumstances specifically with regards to wealth responsibilities And all those things and also about your personality type So There's the Myers-Briggs test that you can do which looks at the 16 personality types that coral young kind of established That's maybe a good thing to to do if you don't know anything about your own personality And then read up on the strengths and the weaknesses And whatever career path that you kind of have and of course read it and think me like Yeah, this this does tie in with my my whole personality type and then use that to kind of kind of go forward But just more on on the specific message. I mean, I think computer science is Absolutely amazing, especially the way the world's going with blockchain technology internet all these things Computer science. You cannot go wrong with computer science. I highly highly Yeah, put that put that on a big big one Whereas financial maths the fact that vitz has put financial mathematics on hold is probably a good thing For me finance is is so much more than just the mathematics and sometimes It's incorrectly taught that oh you're going to finance class You learn how to do all your discount cash flows for bonds You learn all your little formula on how to do this how to make the coupon blah blah blah And you know time value of money and we very much start thinking about finance as being a mathematical subject as a scientific type of subject Whereas it's more the more I think about it the more I've been reflecting on it. It's more of a psychological sociology Kind of subject because it's all about the interaction with other humans Of course It's sometimes put in well, yeah, you can imagine with me. I did my fellowship in finance And I'm teaching financial mathematics But then when you see it out in action and when you think more about it Like I say this it's much more of a softer science than a hard science Which is how it's portrayed in academia and its university So I actually would advise against doing an entire degree around financial mathematics Yes, maybe take it as a subject, but that could maybe actually skew your perception on the topic of finance so Like I say, hopefully I've given enough thoughts around it for me I mean I studied actuarial science It's actuarial science is a lot to study like it really really is a lot and it takes takes a lot of time And unless you really want to go that institutional route of getting into you know an insurance company or helping out with pensions and playing within regulatory rules Um, then maybe actuarial science might not be worth it for you. You might want to maybe you know Explore computer science, which does open up a lot more Possibilities when it comes to entrepreneurship But a good thing to study at university is statistics. So mathematical statistics I would put above mathematical finance and that just really gets your mind thinking in a whole new level And like I said computer science as well is a great one. So, yeah, uh, you've got a passion for maths finance and computers I mean, of course, that's like a perfect combination almost for blockchain crypto And all those kind of things which is another topic that we're going to be talking a lot more about on this channel specifically this year because I am working for a crypto Blockchain at the moment polygon. So expect more videos and of course bias as well now Because of that But hopefully that answers your your question If not, please feel free to to add a follow-up question either you or anybody else watching this in the comment section below And hopefully we can make more videos in 2022 and I can help you guys with what's the best thing to study Because at the end of the day another thing maybe just to wrap off with is Another mistake I see a lot of people do is they think oh learning is only restricted to what they do at university And once they finish university, there's no more studying. It's like no, no, no, no We need we're in such a complicated world right now that we need to study as a lifelong hobby So you always want to make time to study you always want to So whoever you are or the project that you guys aren't students You've really turned off this video by now, but if you're still with me 2022 make sure you're studying at least one thing new study study study even after university even after you become an Actory it's very important that you keep studying either further in the field or even study something completely different And then try and see how it all links back up. So Really do want to motivate everybody to study in 2022 But like I said any thoughts or questions leave them down in the comment section below And I'll do my best to address them. Thanks so much and hope you guys all have an amazing year. Cheers