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What a stock broker does, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is to sell securities and commodities to individual clients. They may work as floor brokers who work in securities or commodities exchange facilities negotiating prices, making sales and forwarding purchase prices to traders. These stock brokers are often depicted in the news, media or film, but the average stock broker works in an office providing exclusive services to clients.
Stock Broker – Investment Counselor
Stock brokers who provide investment counseling will assist their clients manage and understand their portfolios. Their goal is to help their clients stay on financial track to achieve their long-term goals. These stock brokers provide valuable services and support to their clients, so building relationships based on trust and establishing expertise is very important. They are usually assigned a roster of medium to high net worth clients who they focus on educating and providing excellent customer service.
These stock brokers also receive finance and capital markets education through internal training and mentoring programs. Stock brokers who provide investment counseling will seek help from portfolio experts and their supporting research teams to provide quality solutions to clients. They typically work in open team environments that encourage organic learning and high performance.
Stock Broker – Funding Specialist
Stock brokers who are funding specialists are usually ambitious investment professionals who have a personality for sales and telemarketing. They place outbound calls using internally generated leads to contact business owners for working capital needs and opportunities. Depending on the company, they may build relationships with small local or large national business owners to assess financing eligibility and requirements in order to recommend available financing solutions.
They review merchant applications, required financial qualifications and investment opportunities in order to identify potential matches. They must clearly explain product details, the application process and the potential costs. They handle application contracts and documents with integrity and in timely manners to ensure positive client experiences. Stock brokers who are funding specialists usually have sales experience in banking, finances, mortgages and insurance.
Stock Broker – Administrator
Stock broker administrators are responsible for the day-to-day administration of equity compensation plans, such as stock options, warrants and awards. They answer client inquiries, resolve serious issues, provide improvement recommendations and maintain procedures for accurate and timely reporting. They help clients with general inquiries related to login, account information and website navigation. They help clients with advanced inquires related to option exercises, restricted stock vesting and grant acknowledgement.
They work with local stock plan administrations to facilitate grants to employees, ensure stock awards are properly administered and verify that plans follow internal procedures. They generate and monitor daily and monthly option exercise reports. They assist with monthly, quarterly and annual reporting for earnings releases, budget forecasts and forms filed for executive officers. They remain aware of tax, legal and accounting regulation changes. They participate in industry associations and provide continuing education opportunities.
Related Resource: Become a Hedge Fund Manager
What a stock broker does includes proprietary day training, business development consulting and transactional placement specialists. Anyone who wants to become a stock broker will need a bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, accounting or business, according to Investopedia. Stock brokers need training in statistics, mathematics and quantitative analysis.
