When I was in office the fundraising was done by the party treasurers.

John Major, Politician

Pros and Cons of Working as a Treasurer

advantages and disadvantages of being a treasurer

You think about becoming a treasurer but are not entirely sure whether this job fits your personal preferences or not?

Great! Stick with me since I will show you all the pros and cons of being a treasurer in this article.

Table of Contents

Treasurer Job Profile

Job DescriptionTreasurers are responsible for the cash, risk and liquidity management of a company while still ensuring profitability at the same time.
Salary$134,000 per year on average, most treasurers make between $95,000 and $158,000 per year.
Job SecurityGood since people with sophisticated financial expertise are in high demand right now.
Job SatisfactionGood if you like to work with numbers.
Work-Life BalanceDecent since you will have free weekends and don’t have to work many extra hours as a treasurer.
Physically / Mentally Demanding?Can be mentally demanding.
Future OutlookDecent since good treasurers will always be needed.
RequirementsYou need a college degree for becoming a treasurer.

Advantages of Being a Treasurer

  1. Treasurers can make decent money
  2. You will be able to afford some luxury
  3. Treasurers can afford proper health insurance
  4. Old-age poverty will not become an issue
  5. You can plan your future in a secure manner
  6. Decent job prospects for treasurers
  7. Good job security in the future
  8. Treasurers can work for many different companies
  9. You can work with many different departments
  10. Treasurers don’t have to work many extra hours
  11. You barely work in the evening or at nighttime
  12. Free weekends are quite common for treasurers
  13. Working as a treasurer is not that stressful
  14. Teleworking may be possible for treasurers
  15. You can work indoors
  16. Treasurers don’t have to work in a physical manner
  17. Good job if you love to work with numbers

Treasurers can make decent money

One advantage of being a treasurer is that you can make really good money from what you are doing.

In fact, you can make good money right after getting your college degree and over time, chances are that you will make a six-figure income sooner or later while welders and many other people can never dream of making this kind of money.

Hence, treasurers are able to make much more money compared to the average person out there and becoming a treasurer can therefore make quite a lot of sense from a financial perspective.

You will be able to afford some luxury

As a treasurer, you will also be able to afford some luxury. Thanks to your good income, you will be able to afford a fancy car and may also be able to pay off a fancy home rather quickly.

You will also have an easy time getting a mortgage for buying a home since banks will know that you are a reliable creditor and offering a mortgage to you will be a safe bet most of the time.

Consequently, while many other people struggle to get a mortgage to buy a home and have to rent instead, you will be in a much better position in this regard.

Treasurers can afford proper health insurance

Another upside to becoming a treasurer is that you will also be able to afford good health insurance plans.

While some of those health insurance plans only cover the basics, you can get a more expensive plan that will cover you in case of almost every issue that may come along.

Therefore, you don’t have to worry about paying for expensive medical treatment at all since your insurance company will just pay for you in case of emergency.

Moreover, you will also be able to get better treatment than the average person out there and this will likely also increase your overall life expectancy.

Old-age poverty will not become an issue

Thanks to your decent salary as a treasurer, you will also not be at great risk of suffering from old-age poverty.

If you are smart and save and invest a large enough fraction of your income, you can become really wealthy over time and at the time you want to retire, you will not have to worry about money that much anymore.

Of course, this is only true if you really save enough money instead of just spending it on consumption goods.

However, you will have the opportunity to save much more money than most other people out there and while many other people struggle to save enough for retirement, you will have a rather easy time in this regard and can still afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.

You can plan your future in a secure manner

Since you will make pretty good money from what you are doing, you will also be able to plan your future well ahead.

For instance, you can almost exactly plan when you want to buy a home and also save enough money to send your kids to college one day.

You will just have the financial flexibility to achieve those things in time while most other people out there get really frustrated since they are not even close to reaching these goals.

Decent job prospects for treasurers

Treasurers are real experts in the financial world and people who understand how to optimize the finances of a company will always be needed.

In fact, there is a shortage of qualified treasurers out there right now and if you are really good at what you are doing and are also willing to develop your skills even further every day, chances are that you will become a real expert in your industry sooner or later and that you will almost have freedom of choice regarding where you want to work.

Good job security in the future

Treasurers not only have good job security right now, but this will likely also be true in the future.

While many other jobs will vanish and will be replaced by intelligent machines, treasurers will still be needed in many companies since they often do complex tasks that need human judgement instead of relying solely on the opinion of machines.

Consequently, becoming a treasurer can also make quite a lot of sense in case job security is really important to you but you still want to make quite a lot of money at the same time.

Treasurers can work for many different companies

Another benefit of working as a treasurer is that you will also be able to work for many different companies.

In fact, every company that is of a certain size needs treasurers to manage their liquidity situation and their risk exposure.

Therefore, you will not only be confined to working in the financial industry as a treasurer.

You can also work for many companies that actually produce physical goods if you rather like to work for a company that operates in the production sector and don’t want to work for banks.

You can work with many different departments

Treasurers also need to communicate with many different departments.

In fact, you can only work successfully as a treasurer if you get all the information you need from various branches of your company.

While it can be challenging to get all this data in time and to process it in a decent manner, it can also be quite interesting to talk to all those different people.

Moreover, you can also build a really strong network inside your company and this may help you to get promoted rather quickly.

Treasurers don’t have to work many extra hours

Another upside to being a treasurer is that you will also not have to work that many extra hours.

Sure, during busy times, you may have to do many things at the same time and some of your workweeks may exceed 40 hours.

However, most of your workdays will be rather comfortable and you will sometimes even be able to leave early.

You barely work in the evening or at nighttime

Most treasurers also report that they barely have to work in the evening or at nighttime.

Consequently, you will also be able to meet up with your friends after work while many other people who work in different jobs still have to work during those unpleasant hours.

Free weekends are quite common for treasurers

You will also have free weekends most of the time as a treasurer.

While many other people like train drivers or waiters have to work during those times, you will be free to do what you want to do and can also make nice weekend trips with your loved ones.

As you can see, treasurers often have a quite decent work-life balance in general and becoming a treasurer can therefore make quite a lot of sense for you in case you want to have enough leisure to spend on your hobbies or with your family while still making a decent living at the same time.

Working as a treasurer is not that stressful

While working as a treasurer can be mentally demanding, you will still not have the same stress level as people who work as doctors or lawyers since there are no lives at risk that you could take away with your mistakes.

Instead, if you have the right attitude, you can have a rather relaxed life as a treasurer and while many other people come home tired from work, you will often have enough energy left to do the things you love.

Teleworking may be possible for treasurers

If you work for big companies, you will also be able to work from home instead of commuting to the office every day.

This will make your life much easier since you can save lots of money and time on commuting and you will also be better able to manage your private and your professional life at the same time.

For instance, you could do the laundry between two virtual meetings and you will therefore have less private work left on weekends while people who have to be present at their workplace in person will not have this level of flexibility.

You can work indoors

Another advantage to working as a treasurer is that you can also work indoors.

While you may take this for granted, you should know that there are still many people out there who don’t have this luxury but rather have to work outdoors under extreme climatic conditions.

Hence, instead of working outdoors during times of heavy rain, snow or heat, you will be able to work in a rather cozy office or even at home as a treasurer.

Treasurers don’t have to work in a physical manner

Becoming a treasurer can also help you avoid physical work.

While many other people who work in construction will have to work with their bare hands and have to lift heavy things on a regular basis, you will just sit in your office chair and will not have to do any of those annoying and exhausting things.

Consequently, also your risk of suffering from serious physical health issues will be much lower as a treasurer on average.

Good job if you love to work with numbers

A career in treasury can also make quite a lot of sense for you in case you have a natural talent and also love to work with numbers.

Quite often, you will analyze numbers all day long and have to strategically figure out how to optimize the cash flow of the company you work for.

Hence, if you love to solve those logical problems and are also quite good at math, chances are that you will become really happy as a treasurer in the long run.

As you can see, there are many upsides that come along with a career in treasury.

However, there are still also some problems with working as a treasurer which I want to address in the following chapter so that you get a better impression of what working as a treasurer really looks like.

Disadvantages of Working as a Treasurer

  1. Treasurers have to work in a classical office environment
  2. You don’t produce anything tangible
  3. Working as a treasurer may become boring in the long run
  4. You may suffer from overweight
  5. Treasurers may have to go to the gym after work
  6. You need a college degree for becoming a treasurer
  7. Student loan debt may become a real problem
  8. Hard to start your own business as a treasurer
  9. Working as a treasurer can be mentally demanding
  10. You have to always compromise with other departments
  11. Your mistakes can have a real impact on the financial situation of a company
  12. Not a good job if you don’t have a talent for working with numbers

Treasurers have to work in a classical office environment

One disadvantage of being a treasurer is that you have to work in a classical office environment.

Quite often, you just have to stare at your computer screen all day long while fallers and other people out there can get lots of fresh air and can also stay fit at work.

Not only will this be bad for your eyes, but it can also be really annoying to spend your workday like this and if you are a guy who rather enjoys hands-on work, chances are that you should not become a treasurer but rather go for a craftsman career instead.

You don’t produce anything tangible

You should also be aware of the fact that you don’t produce anything tangible during your workday as a treasurer. Instead, you will just prepare presentations or do statistical analyses.

While those things are also quite important for the company you work for, it may still be unsatisfying not to see any end result or any fruits of your labor and many treasurers become quite frustrated with what they are doing due to that in the long run.

Working as a treasurer may become boring in the long run

You also need a real passion for numbers if you don’t want to get bored in the long run. Many people in this field are just in it for the money.

However, those people will likely not stay in the treasury world for long since they will just not feel fulfilled with what they are doing and you should therefore make sure that you have a real interest in this field before actually going for such a career.

You may suffer from overweight

Another problem with becoming a treasurer is that you will often have a lack of exercise during work.

For most of your workday, you will just sit in your office chair.

In turn, you will likely also gain weight and if you are not careful, you may suffer from serious overweight sooner or later. In the long run, you may also develop serious health issues due to that.

Treasurers may have to go to the gym after work

You may also have to go to the gym or do some other sports after work to avoid obesity and all the issues that come along with it.

Consequently, while many other people enjoy their leisure with the things you love, you will often have to invest some extra time to shape your body to minimize the risk of serious health issues in the long run.

You need a college degree for becoming a treasurer

Another downside to becoming a treasurer is that you will need a college degree for working in this field.

This implies that you will have to spend lots of time and money on your college education and you should really make sure that you are willing to make this big commitment and that you want to work as a treasurer for quite a long time to make it really worth it for you.

Student loan debt may become a real problem

In our current state of the world, many students also have to take on student loan debt to finance their degrees.

While those student loans can make your time in college easier since you will not be financially constrained that much, you will still have to pay back those loans sooner or later and this can financially constrain you in the future.

Hard to start your own business as a treasurer

Another disadvantage of becoming a treasurer is that you will also have a pretty hard time starting your own company in this field.

In fact, many companies have inhouse treasury departments and don’t want to rely on third parties to get their things done.

Consequently, it will be pretty hard to enter this market for small business owners and if you really want to work self-employed, you should rather go for other career options instead of choosing a career as a treasurer.

Working as a treasurer can be mentally demanding

You should also not underestimate how demanding it can be to work as a treasurer.

In fact, many people who work in this field are pretty smart and you should make sure that you are able to compete with those people so that you will not be left behind in the long run.

You should also make sure that you are willing to put in the work and that you really push yourself to new mental levels to stay successful in the treasury world in the future.

You have to always compromise with other departments

Since you will need data from many different departments and also have to propose big changes regarding how the company you work for will be operating in the future, you will also often have to compromise with many different people.

Quite often, there is just no consensus between the different departments and you will therefore often not be able to do what’s best for the company due to political reasons.

Your mistakes can have a real impact on the financial situation of a company

You should also be aware of the fact that your decisions as a treasurer can have a really big influence on the success or failure of the company you work for.

In fact, only few big mistakes can lead to a collapse of the cash flow and liquidity situation of the company you work for and this means that you always have to stay focused at work to avoid those mistakes.

Not a good job if you don’t have a talent for working with numbers

Last but not least, you also need a certain talent of working with numbers to become successful as a treasurer.

Otherwise, you will just feel overwhelmed quite often and you will just not be able to enjoy your work.

Top 10 Being a Treasurer Pros & Cons – Summary List

Being a Treasurer ProsBeing a Treasurer Cons
Treasurers have decent job securityWorking in treasury can be demanding
Treasurers can make good moneyYou need a certain talent for numbers
You can work from homeTreasurers need a college degree
Treasurers can work indoorsStudent loan debt may become an issue
Rather relaxed job most of the timeLack of exercise
Treasurers have free weekendsObesity may become a problem
Good work-life balanceYou may have to work out quite often
You learn many important skillsYou always have to compromise
You can work in many fieldsYou may get bored with it in the long run
Good future job prospectsTreasurers don’t produce tangible assets

Should You Become A Treasurer?

As you can see from the previous discussion, there are definitely many advantages and disadvantages of being a treasurer that you should consider before you decide that you want to work in this field.

Make sure to also take your time before making this important decision since your career choice will have a great impact on your future life in general.

If you still consider becoming a treasurer, you should also get detailed information on salaries, job prospects, future outlook, work-life balance, educational requirements, duties and job satisfaction of treasurers.

Also make sure to check out the following articles to get more information on different job options:

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a statistician

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a financial analyst

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a controller

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasurer

https://www.statista.com/statistics/200503/outlays-of-the-us-department-of-the-treasury-since-2000/

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of how a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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