Pretty eventful night I had. My car wouldnt start need a new starter motor (great just what I need) so had to waste $55 going to work and back by taxi. I found $10 on the ground though.....thankyou gods. and during my cleaning shift I went outside for a smoko and saw a fellow smoker looking all stressed out. Anyway we got talking and asked him what he does and he said he is a stockbroker. Here is the jist of the conversation (non relevant chatter was left out) Me: What are you doing here at this time of the night Him: Just catching up on work Me: So are you an accountant? Him: Nah I'm a stockbroker Me: "Cool that sounds interesting" Him: "Nah its real shit at the moment" Me: Yeah economy is shit, I don't think its going to get better for a long time Him: Yeah if things don't get better soon I'm gonna have to look for a new job Me: Ah shit well good luck
Interesting. I've seen some numbers quoted for the number of stockbrokers leaving the industry and it was massive. I was actually surprised as I would not have thought there were that many in total but there you go. Not surprised though in general. A few years back when broking firms were loading up on new brokers I told my boss this would not end well. Turns out I was right and the good times in the industry were not just around the corner.
Tell him to keep his chin up, the Government has a plan to save us! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkNn4WUwtCA[/youtube]
I know that I am tainted by the arrogant and over-confident nature of the stockbrokers that i have met in the past when times were good. That said, it is not nice at all for anyone to lose their job. I can have sympathy, even for a stockbroker, having been through a round of retrenchments here at work.
I work in the finance industry, and deal with a lot of stockbrokers. Most never really recovered since 2008. They're still hoping for a market recovery. One of the trading managers I deal with on a daily basis told me it was common for employees to receive 50-100K per year bonuses, managers received much more. Now there's no bonuses, they're lucky to keep their job.
I talked to a couple of guys in the industry about a week ago. One graduated and joined the industry in 2008 (great timing). He was out the door within a few months. The other guy said the industry had been clearly struggling. He left one of the bigger broking firms to work in a boutique funds management firm about 2 or 3 years ago. Still hard going but the pressure of being sacked was way less.
Well rightly so - they should lose their jobs. The finance system is so overpopulated with people shuffling and selling bits of worthless paper and sucker punching the moms and dads too stupid to think for themselves. The share markets have gone nowhere these past years so without doubt they should lose their jobs. We need a productive society not snake oil salesmen. On the other hand with the Communist government in charge who wants to risk setting up any industry - waste of time and money. Our red head wonder woman and her black swan want everyone shuffling paper - please tell them it does not create wealth....they know that. It does create poverty and poverty requires handouts and handouts win elections. They win again !!
Like Ronnie I have no love for stockbrokers, probably down to jealousy in my case, I always wanted a Porsche 911. Like many groups, when seen from the outside, they don't seem to serve any useful purpose. They are one of the groups of society that you could imagine disappearing without anyone really noticing or missing them. It is sad to see someone losing their job but often you get the feeling that they have been getting away with it for too long and the chickens are coming home to roost. I have a feeling that it is a high stress job though so I guess they pay for it in other ways. I wonder if the cut backs in stockbrokers will have a follow on impact to other industries, like the companies that make braces, or porsche.
i've noticed a lot of cold calling happening recently from stock-brokers both locally and internationally.....just the other day, i had a caller (a stockbroking firm from Scotland) calling me.....on the premise that somewhere in the recent past i had received a call from one of their colleagues (that was bullsh1t)....and this guy proceeded to just roll me into trying to buy into an investment scheme that was dealing with silver and gold ETF's. Well - this was like a red rag to a bull (pardon the pun).....and the rest was history!!!!! But still - i am also getting calls from Melbourne and Sydney ....all chasing the mums and dads investments to keep their ship afloat......interesting times....
Essentially as Napth and Jis said. Am I glad the jobs are going/gone? Yes. Am I sympathetic to many of the workers who have to adjust from what they had been mislead into believing was a decent job? Yes. I feel the same about the Govt workers in QLD/NSW etc as well as the people doing it tough in the real estate industry. It's an adjustment process that needs to happen and we'll all be better for it, but it can still suck for the innocent people involved.
Can you think of any other group that might operate in a similar fashion? I'll give you a hint : they currently flip 90%+ of existing stock without adding anything new, cost the tax payer literally billions to fund their (loss making) gambling habits and spit on everyone else below them, especially if you don't join in the fun. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8[/youtube]
Well, if checkout chicks are losing their jobs to computer self serve checkouts it is hard to feel sorry for stock brokers losing their's to HFT computers.
I call this Friday World stockbrokers jump out the window day Could they're wives go the the local city square at the same time ! So I could pick out myself a new new mistress :lol:
Well, recently I convinced my father to sign up for online brokerage. When he told his stockbroker, the broker went ballistic and put the guilt trip on my father about how he they had put so much effort in together (my dad tells me he did basically nothing except give him one bad tip). My father was ecstatic when he sold some of his shares and paid about $40 brokerage compared to around the $500 the broker said he would have to pay him for selling them. No sympathy. They had their own little racket going and now it's coming to an end.
Note that Stockbrokers don't even make the top 40 and a prostitute is right along side a Real Estate agent. Says it all. http://www.readersdigest.com.au/Australias-Most-Trusted-professions-2012
