If you’re a movie buff and coincidentally enjoy watching the markets as well, it’s likely you’ve seen the movie Wall Street. The villain, Gordon Gekko, is a fictional stock broker who, while being exceptionally greedy, had a knack for managing investments. Albeit fictional, he became a huge symbol for all the negative aspects of a stock broker.
Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, even labeled the perpetrators of the 2008 financial crisis as “Children of Gordon Gekko”. The character is said to be loosely based on a collection of stock broker personalities including Michael Robert Milken who was indicted for racketeering and securities fraud back in the late 80s.
Obviously, this is not how the majority of stock brokers behave, so don’t let this movie skew your perception of the career. Rather, learn the true nature of the profession and gain insights from some of the most successful brokers and hedge fund managers who intend on building positive legacies for themselves. Here are four notable individuals who fit that description:
Chris Gardner
Well known for the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”, Chris Gardner worked hard at Dean Witter Reynolds as an unpaid intern while homeless and caring for his only son in 1981. They would sleep in bathrooms and church shelters and he would be the first one in and last one out of the office aggressively calling potential clients. He eventually was able to pass the licensing exam necessary to becoming a stock broker. He later left Dean Witter Reynolds to work for Bear Stearns and became one of the top earners of the company. He now owns his own company Gardner Rich & Co LLC and has a net worth of about $60 million.
Ray Dalio
Born in Queens, New York, when he was 12 he bought $300 worth of shares in Northeast Airlines and ended up tripling his investment after the company merged. He earned his BA from Long Island University and his MBA from Harvard. Ray began his career in finance investing in commodity futures on the New York Stock Exchange. He also worked as a futures trader and a broker at Shearson Hayden Stone. He now has a net worth of about $12.5 billion and runs the largest hedge fund firm, Bridgewater Associates. You can find an informative animated video titled “How The Economic Machine Works” on YouTube where he shares his extensive experience of the investment world.
David Tepper
He has been listed by Forbes Magazine as one of the 25 Highest-Earning hedge fund managers in 2013 and earned a whopping 61% return focusing on distressed bonds in 2001. He began his career in finance in the treasury department of Republic Steel in Ohio and later became a credit analyst at Goldman Sachs. The hedge fund firm he leads is Appaloosa Management and has earn substantial returns over the course of its history. In 2012, the firm earned a 30% return because of pinpoint exchanges on certain securities. He has a net worth of about $7 billion and engages in various philanthropic activities mainly in education and hunger. In 2003, he made a considerable $55,000,000 donation to Carnegie Mellon University’s business school. He’s leaving quite a legacy.
Bruce Kovner
This hedge fund manager has been around the block a few times, literally. He became a taxi cab driver at age 31 after quitting his Harvard PhD studies because of writers block. It was then when he decided to engage in derivatives by investing $3,000 from his MasterCard into soybean futures contracts. He didn’t accurately assess the risk of the investment when it grew to $45,000 because he waited till the price dropped to $23,000 before selling. He cites that experience as an important lesson in risk management. He eventually became a trader at Commodities Corporation which is now connected to Goldman Sachs. Currently he’s the chairman of Juilliard where he learned how to play the harpsichord. His net worth is $4.3 billion.
If interested in learning more about a career as a stock broker, visit http://www.stockbrokersalary.biz to read up on informative articles related to the profession. Also, find out how to market yourself as a stock broker to increase your client base.
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