How do I explain to my uneducated grandfather about a finance major?

I am considering majoring in finance, but my grandpa already has shown great disappointment in my father for getting a PhD in finance, saying he is working with riba, even though my dad's field of study in academia is investments......I don't want to crush my grandfather's dreams of having a successful son who has halal income, and even though he's wrong, my dad has tried explaining this to him before and it doesn't work....bless his heart, he only has an elementary school education and thinks finance only has to do with riba.....I want to major in a field where I can get a PhD and then become influential in the social sciences and political sphere.....I would have chosen economics, as I LOVED studying economics, especially macroeconomics, in high school, but apparently here in the US a bachelor's degree in economics leads to a high chance of unemployment....and i might not get accepted into grad school, and might even choose not to to get married comfortably and early....I would have studied accounting, but that doesn't make for good political/economic commentary would it?

Your grandfather is partly right, you know. Much of the money that moves through investment markets started with riba. I think it is very safe to say that probably the vast majority of people who later invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, started off with savings accounts and CD's that produced interest. I know plenty of people, when I worked in mutual funds, who invested ONLY their interest from their bank accounts into other financial vehicles.

And you are right, a bachelors in economics on its own is not going to get you very far. Either take it as a minor or go all the way to at least Masters.

Have you considered traveling overseas to get a degree in economics from an Islamic school where they would teach you specifically how to avoid dealing with riba?

Little_Lion said:

Your grandfather is partly right, you know. Much of the money that moves through investment markets started with riba. I think it is very safe to say that probably the vast majority of people who later invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, started off with savings accounts and CD's that produced interest. I know plenty of people, when I worked in mutual funds, who invested ONLY their interest from their bank accounts into other financial vehicles.

And you are right, a bachelors in economics on its own is not going to get you very far. Either take it as a minor or go all the way to at least Masters.

Have you considered traveling overseas to get a degree in economics from an Islamic school where they would teach you specifically how to avoid dealing with riba?

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for now, I'll just take your advice and consider a major in geosciences.....and ill also take your advice about finance......but if I choose to not major in geosciences, I could also do something non-controversial like physics or accounting...for my own sake and well being rather than to "take over the world" lol

Hehe, remember, GEOGRAPHY. NOT geology. Or you're going to be stuck holding rocks all day and they do not care a whit about economics.

Little_Lion said:

Hehe, remember, GEOGRAPHY. NOT geology. Or you're going to be stuck holding rocks all day and they do not care a whit about economics.

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NOT geology. GEOSCIENCES.....here at one university, they have a geosciences degree which teaches geography, geographic information science, and geology all in one

Mustafa16 said:

NOT geology. GEOSCIENCES.....here at one university, they have a geosciences degree which teaches geography, geographic information science, and geology all in one

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Excellent! Just wanted to be sure that we were on the same track . . . geosciences here is things like geology, environmental technology, forestry sciences, etc.