an aspiring stockbroker
 

my son is 17 and wants to get into a career in the stock market. i think he wants to be self employed. pretty much buying and selling stocks himself. any adive you could give him?

what should he major in?
any good colleges you could reccomend?
whats the average salary?
should he go self employed or should he get a job with a company?

thanks

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

Being a stockbroker is being a salesman. If he thinks he will like sales and hundreds of phone calls a day, then go for it.
Otherwise, I would suggest eventually getting an MBA and trying to get more into the investment side of the market either in analysis, risk management, trading, etc.

Finance degree undergrad I suppose.

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

He is only 17, therefore it is basically way to early for you to be asking any of these questions.
There is no reason to major in finance. For trading jobs people who majored in the hard sciences and engineering are highly sought after.
Good schools? Same as they are for anything. If you can get into Harvard, you should go.
Sorry for the quick answers, but I'm off to bed soon.

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

if he wants to trade for himself education wise a degree in accounting is what i would recommmend, soak up everything he can about the market....

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

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my son is 17 and wants to get into a career in the stock market. i think he wants to be self employed. pretty much buying and selling stocks himself. any adive you could give him?

[/ QUOTE ]

He should major in Business Management to get a firm grounding in all areas of running a company... making sure to take courses in Economics, Finance, Accounting, Computer Programming and Psychology.

If he's going to eventually trade on his own, he's going to work for him self as a day trader... have him consider trading an extra self-directed course during his college years... read everything, subscribe to IBD amd WSJ, setup a marketocracy account to put theory into practice.

When he's ready, have him save some money from summer/college jobs and seed him some starting capital and let him start trading part time while in school (maybe in his junior year, once he's proven that he has an interest and some skills required).

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

what cwsiggy said.

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

Call-

A few questions and comments:

1. How are your son's grades and test scores?

2. He should try to get into a good under grad business school. Wharton, Boston College, UVA, Michigan, UCLA

3. I think it's too earlier in life for your son to say he wants to be self employed - when he graduates, he will need training and real world experience then he can be self-employed.

4. I agree with other comment - think of a stock broker like a car salesman and you'll have a better perspective on the job. FYI, I don't think you need a high school diploma to be a stock broker.

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

If I'm not mistaken I think our finance program here at the University of Florida is top 10, good school too look into. Also if he looks at this school, you can also get a minor in entrepreneurship (the only minor in business you can get while having a major in business), which would probably help him out greatly. I agree that finance would be his best option as regards to major.

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

You forgot to mention Florida's greatest asset....the Graham-Buffett Teaching Endowment given by Mason Hawkins. If you get an MBA from Florida, you can actually major in Graham-Buffett Security Analysis.

Re: an aspiring stockbroker
 

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1. How are your son's grades and test scores?


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he has a 3.7 gpa and a 27 ACT score.