Tony, Stockbroker
Tony has been a stockbroker, working for ABN AMRO Australia, for one year now. He completed a Graduate Diploma in Management, worked in senior management for several years, and followed his desire to become a stockbroker because of his love of investing and company analysis.
What's a typical work day involve?
The work is everything that Tony expected it to be. The new and different situations he faces every day keep his job challenging and interesting, and because there is always a lot of information to keep up to date with, there's no opportunity to get bored.
"There is so much reading in this job. I'm constantly being bombarded with new information. There's just so much going on beyond the trading of stocks," says Tony.
A working day typically involves waking up early (around 6am), watching the finance channels on cable to see the changes in the US finances overnight, then getting into work by 7am. Once at work, he reads the newspapers to keep up to date, and at 7:45am attends a daily national phone meeting that covers a variety of topics he may need to know about for the day's trading.
Then there's more reading, contacting clients, identifying opportunities, and executing trades. At 4pm when the market closes, Tony calls his clients back, chases up the back end of his work, does some more research, follows new leads and undertakes marketing initiatives.
How do you become a stockbroker?
To become a stockbroker, it will help if you have an understanding of the financial sector and markets, strong people skills, good judgement, and knowledge of accounting and other business practices.
What are the pros and cons?
What's the best thing about being a stockbroker? "Being able to design plans and implement portfolios for clients from scratch, and making large sums of money both for clients and for yourself!"
However, stockbroking does have its downsides, like, "Client bad debts and the never-ending paperwork!"
What career opportunities are there?
Stockbrokers have a number of career pathways available to them. "You always have the option of moving into related roles, such as financial advising, analyst roles, funds management and corporate capital raising. Possibilities are endless."
There has recently been more of a move towards 'holistic' financial advising. This has made the role of the stockbroker something akin to that of financial planner.
Any advice for new players?
When asked what advice he had for people interested in becoming stockbrokers, Tony says, " It's important that you love what you do, as it's very demanding in terms of time and effort. Learn as much as you can about financial markets. This will be really beneficial in the long run."
Find out more about a career as a stockbroker
Visit the MyFuture website to find more about duties and tasks, work conditions, earnings and required qualifications for a career as a financial planner.
Find out more about this career path at myfuture.edu.au (Note: free registration is required to access the myfuture site).