How to become a stockbroker? (2 Viewers)

[Monstar]

what do you mean?

 

[seremify007]

As in, unless you are in the top calibre of finance students and land yourself in one of the few front office roles (whether that's prop trading or IB or M&A) which require you to use your intellect to actually make money for the organisation, you'll likely be collating data, reporting on performance, summarising stuff, maybe researching things for briefing materials, dealing with client relationships, monitoring compliance, reporting to regulatory bodies, etc... which is very similar to a lot of (grad) accounting roles.

 

[Omnidragon]

Except for prop trading, the front office roles don't really require you to use your brain. They just need you to er... do the work.

 

[Monstar]

IBD is pure grunt work..

 

[Ziva]

Obviously M&A is where it's at.

 

[nykeo]

hi guys, i read from career faqs that stock broking has more to do with marketing. It is because stock brokers try to convince their clients to buy the stocks with their services.

 

[Studentleader]

Since forever. Heaps of finance grads, hardly any worthwhile jobs for the bottom 95%.

I agree with this

 

[seremify007]

hi guys, i read from career faqs that stock broking has more to do with marketing. It is because stock brokers try to convince their clients to buy the stocks with their services.

Watch the movie "Wall Street" (the first one from 1987). I think it captures what brokers (and traders) do when it comes to the split between prop trading & client trading, and some of the issues they face.

 

[thenothing]

If you don't already, it might be a good idea to have a bit of a play around in the market. The experience might show you whether it's something you're really interested in.

For me, the market is a hobby and I wouldn't be interested in a career doing it (maybe later on, who knows) but it's fun seeing my money grow. Easiest money I've ever made.

 

[Monstar]

Yeah, stockbroking is essentially selling the idea that you have to complete a transaction with them. How do they come up with recommendations? Sometimes its through research analysts, sometimes they can be told what to do by other traders.

The bigger and more frequent the transactions--> the more commissions for the firm, the bigger the bonus you get. With that being said, there are some aspects of sales+trading that are dying and are probably going to be replaced by algorithms ie 'sales trading'

 

[yuanyelss]

Do you mean the guy who just answers telephone calls and punches buttons on a computer, or something a bit more......?

 

[Omnidragon]

Nah that sounds like a settlements guy

 

[seremify007]

Simple test is whether you have an opinion and whether you're allowed to say it to clients on the (recorded) phone.

 

[pete shearman]

hi all,

this interests me. i'm currently thinking about a career in the stock market. i'm in the final year of an arts/law degree at melbourne and doing subjects such as securities law, taxation law, competition law and global economics law.

however, i don't have a commerce degree - though would consider doing an MBA after two years work experience if possible.

i played around in the market a lot last year and have made $6k from a $10k start - basically doing my own research, listening out for tips and not signing up to my bank's advice at $500 per session.

i have passion and drive so any advice, no matter how honest or confronting, would be much appreciated.

 

[seremify007]

Good job. I suppose if you want to get into a job as a trader you need to prove that you have the skills/capability. As in, it doesn't have to be a Commerce degree but you need to show that you have potential as a trader.

Or you could go into equities research? Again not strictly a Commerce requirement but it sure helps.

 

[Tim035]

my mate started a business degree, dropped out and then spent 2 years working for a small firm and studying this textbook that was seriously A3 and 2000 pages long so he could sit some test and become a qualified broker, I'm not clear on the details sorry but I believe you don't need a uni degree to do it specifically and a number of years ago it was a big QBE (qualified by experience) field.

 

[Garygaz]

don't really need any degree to start working at a broker. i'd suggest getting a kaplan degree called derivatives 1 which teaches you all about options, a bit on futures, how exercises and other general things work. once you get that you can get a job doing phones and entering trades into a computer (not very difficult after a while). then when you get your degree you can always move into financial advise. some full service brokers i know charge about 1%. easy money.

 

[Drongoski]

i played around in the market a lot last year and have made $6k from a $10k start - basically doing my own research, listening out for tips and not signing up to my bank's advice at $500 per session.

You have done very well. If you can maintain that rate of return, you'd be better than most people, including and especially me. If you can get a return of > 20% per annum that would be fantastic.

 

[PilotMerp]

> 20% per annum

if only :sigh

 

[mktr430]

I finished up at uni last year with commerce/finance and work as an analyst at an investment/holdings firm now.My marks were pretty inconsistent verging on crap but i had a fair bit of work experience and also had 5 years of statements to show in my interview from trading my own accounts.

What do you mean exactly by 'stockbroking?'. Its a very broad area. Do you mean you want to work for an IB or an equities/MM firm and spend half the day on the phone (sales)? Is your maths good? (Do you want to work as a market maker?) Theres a lot of options but generally speaking your going to be peddling shit for at least a 1 year or 2 before they will let you anywhere near managing accounts or in to a full blown analyst job.

If you want just the the general stucture of an IB and the different types trading/investment areas of work you could check this out:

http://www2.goldmansachs.com/careers/our-firm/divisions/index.html

Also, this might be useful too:

http://www.financeforums.com.au/threads/a-guide-to-careers-in-investment-banking.72/