Make That Money! How to Become a Stock Broker
Stock brokers can make as much as $8,409 per month. If that figure has your attention, you may want to learn more about how you can get into this line of work.
The financial industry is competitive, and this can make it hard to secure a job as a stock broker. Yet, if you lay the right groundwork, you should find it easier to separate yourself out from the pack.
Here are some tips that’ll teach you how to become a stock broker. As long as you have the right attitude, these tips will give you the knowledge you need to land your first job at a brokerage firm.
Let’s begin!
Learning About the Different Kinds of Stock Brokers
It’s important you learn about the varying kinds of stock brokers, as each option provides a different set of opportunities.
One option is to become a ‘discount broker.’
This kind of stock broker doesn’t have much say in the kinds of stock a client will purchase. Your only goal is to help a client complete a stock transaction. If you’re working for an online brokerage, you’ll be even more removed from interactions with the client.
The other kind of broker is a full-service broker.
If you become this kind of broker, you’ll be in a position where you can provide clients with advice on the stocks that are worth buying. In some cases, you may even put together a plan for individual clients, to help improve the quality of their portfolio. With this kind of role, you have the chance to earn a lot more in commissions than you would as a discount broker.
Finally, you have the option of becoming a money manager.
In this role, you’ll actively manage the portfolios of your clients and clients will want you to trade shares for them. This role carries a lot of responsibility, and it’s not an easy place to get to. But if you manage to secure a position like this, you stand to earn a lot of money in commissions.
Improving Your Knowledge of the Financial Markets
If you want to be a good stock broker, you need to have a keen understanding of the financial markets.
You can do this by subscribing to magazines and websites that regularly publish financial content. You might even want to buy some books on the subject. Of course, just because you know what’s going on in the stock market doesn’t mean that you’re going to be a good stock broker.
If you really want to test out your skills, you should think about trading some stocks of your own. If you don’t want to risk any of your money, sign up for a paper trading account. With such an account, you can buy and sell shares with virtual currency.
If you can consistently grow your portfolio, it’s a sign that you have some reliable knowledge on how the financial markets work. This is positive because it means you’ll be able to make your clients money when you finally become a stock broker.
Learn How to Sell
If your sales skills are not up to scratch, you’ll struggle to meet your sales quotas when you’re working at a brokerage firm.
There are plenty of courses that’ll teach you how to improve your sales technique. But if you want to speed up the process, you might want to take on a part-time job that has an active sales component. An example of this might include working for a telesales firm, or even working for a real estate company.
Take the Required Exams
Depending on where you live, you’ll need to take some exams before you can become a stock broker. At the most basic level, you’ll need to take a Series 7 exam and a Series 63 exam.
You will have to pay $290 to take the Series 7 exam. It’s a tough exam, and it can take over 6 hours to complete. Once you’ve completed the exam, you can sell all kinds of securities, apart from something known as commodities futures.
The Series 73 Exam will cost you roughly $96 and will only take you around 75 minutes. This point of this exam is to test your knowledge surrounding the rules and regulations that affect stock brokers. If you want to pass this exam, you also need to know about the rules regarding ethics, as well as the obligations you have to your clients.
Seek out Internship Opportunities
An internship gives you the chance to gain some experience as a stock broker. Once you have internship experience, it’ll be a lot easier to secure a job at a brokerage firm.
You should be able to find an internship opportunity that’s paid, but don’t expect the position to pay much.
A lot of people want to become a stock broker, and so you may find it difficult to secure an internship. Thus, you need to think of ways you can improve your internship application so that it stands out.
Mention extraordinary things you’ve done in your personal life and explain how these things will make you a better stock broker. As mentioned earlier, you’ll also want to engage in jobs that help you build your sales ability. If you can then mention these jobs in your application, it’ll help set you apart.
Ideally, you should try to get an internship at the best brokerage firms. If you’re not sure which brokerage firms are highly rated, you can click here to learn more.
Learn from the Best People in Your Firm
Once you’ve secured your dream job as a stock broker, you’ll need to focus on how you can meet your quotas so that you don’t get fired. If this is something you’re struggling with, try to study some of the best people in your firm.
They likely have certain tricks and tactics they use to make themselves more effective. If you take these people out for dinner, they may be willing to teach you a thing or two about becoming a good stock broker.
Do You Know How to Become a Stock Broker?
If you’re tired of having to deal with a low paying job, you may want to figure out how to become a stock broker. Getting into this line of work isn’t easy, though, as there’s plenty of competition for the roles on offer.
After reading this post, you should know how to beat the competition and land a job as a stock broker. It’s important you know how the financial markets work, and you also need to know how to sell. You also need to take certain exams, so that you can work as a stock broker.
When you finally do land a job as a stock broker, it’s vital that you study the people around you. If you can learn from the best, you’ll be able to improve your skillset and thus your future, in this industry.
Want to learn how you can make smarter stock investments? Check out this post for some tips!