So I over hear a girl in my class talking about a date she went on. The other female MBAers were asking questions like, “Ooo, what does he do?” “He’s a stockbroker.” she says. My BS meter starts rising. Where is this guy from, the 80s? Does a job title ‘stockbroker’ even exist anymore? I thought the title was changed to account representative, financial advisor, and wealth manger. Thoughts.
I use institutional brokers to handle some equity trades. I don’t hear the term thrown around in retail circles anymore because it carries a negative conatation. Was she hot?
JustPass Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I use institutional brokers to handle some equity > trades. > > I don’t hear the term thrown around in retail > circles anymore because it carries a negative > conatation. > > Was she hot? Yes. She’s one of the wilder girls in the class. She seems pretty gullible too.
Sweet. I remember those days in b school… One hottie per class (if you were lucky) getting all the attention.
Retail stock brokers still exist at full service brokerage firms but that job has been in decline since the internet created the ability to place your own trades online for a fraction of the cost (7.99 vs 75 or 100 or whatever it is at a full service shop). These days, retail brokers are mostly old men who built a book from scratch decades ago or young men who are taking over a book of business handed down by their fathers. Most clients are “intermediate rich” (have a few million dollars but not enough to go for something like a hedge fund, or have lower risk tolerance, from what I have seen) who don’t know the difference between preferred stock and livestock, as the saying goes, and want someone who sounds like they know what they are talking about to manage their money. It’s basically a very high-end sales job. It’s a good gig if you can get it – I know a few guys in their 20’s who make several hundred grand a year and work about 40 hours a week – of course, they are all legacy brokers and someone would have a really hard time getting to that level quickly from scratch, especially these days. It’s a catch 22, because if you are under 30, no one wants to give you any money to manage, and if you are over 30, it’s hard to “start over” by trying to build a book, which is an inherently high risk activity with a high failure rate and low pay until the money rolls in. Personally, I think if you are young, and have the intellect and the rocks for it, hedge funds are still the way to go, but I’m biased obviously.
There are definitely still stock brokers around. There are just more alternatives today, like algorithmic platforms, but you can still call up some guy and place orders.
A lot of brokers double as financial advisors, so much so that the public often can’t distinguish between the two roles (well, actually, the public can’t distinguish between many roles; my step-mother still thinks I left academe to become a stock broker). Technically, being a broker and a financial advisor can be a conflict of interest, since the broker’s role is to generate transactions for his employer, while the advisor ought to be advising against excessive transactions. However, eventually an advisor needs to make a transaction, and then it helps to be a broker too.
bromin … good points. You can still start from scratch but it will take years before you’re making money. Most of those young guys who have taken over a book still have to pay a big chunk to the existing broker until their debt is paid off. In fact alot of the older guys are now trying to find younger guys to buy books. They are actively looking for younger/juniors. It is a good gig if you can get it as if they can hold the book together they will be making real money in a few years. You pay a multiple of income or assets and then you hold clients hands bchadwick … yes it really is a conflict to some degree Most brokers have to generate commissions or their grid will go down or they could even be fired. There is also a push to sell the house deals/products to your clients
I used to work on the trading floor for a premier investment bank and some of the traders referred to themselves as stockbrokers, so yes, there are people who are dumb enough to still use that term.
I think you’re thinking about something different. There are actually people who take orders for you and try to match you with some other counterparty. I get solicitations of interest all the time. They also take you out for dinner a lot if you are a trader.
Can we get back to discussing the chic - you think “Mr. Stockbroker” sealed the deal?
QuantJock_MBA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > JustPass Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I use institutional brokers to handle some > equity > > trades. > > > > I don’t hear the term thrown around in retail > > circles anymore because it carries a negative > > conatation. > > > > Was she hot? > > Yes. She’s one of the wilder girls in the class. > > > She seems pretty gullible too. Forget the girls in class, the undergrads are the low-hanging fruit. Stop by some of the sororities and setup some mixers with them. Not only will you get as much action as you can handle, the guys in your class will carry your books around for you if that’s what they have to do to get invited.