Broadly, finance involves the management of the flow of money – its acquisition, disbursement, and management.  Businesses find ways to raise funds in a cost-effective manner and then invest those funds in such a way that the risk-adjusted return on investment exceeds the cost of raising the funds. Individuals also face a similar challenge:  finding the best areas to invest their savings in order to achieve their financial goals, such investing for retirement.

The field of Finance can be divided into three sub-fields, namely:  corporate finance, investments, and financial services.

Business Finance
The management of the financial affairs of individual proprietorship, partnerships, and corporations.  Business finance involves forecasting the business’ financial needs, the acquisition of funds, evaluation and selection of investments, and the determination of how much money to return to the stockholders.

Investment Management
Involves the formulation of an investment policy for an individual investor or an employee pension fund, risk assessment, selection and management of a portfolio of investments, and evaluation of investment performance.