Being a stockbroker can be a path to rapid wealth, but if it were easy, everyone would do it. From client acquisition to timely response, you need to handle a lot of tasks. But above all, you must be prepared to work long hours.
Stockbrokers work well beyond regular working hours every week, serving different regions with various time zones and trading hours. Furthermore, there is a lot of admin work unrelated to training hours that can push brokers to work 9 hours a day while taking only one day off.
In this article, you’ll learn more about the work-life of a stockbroker. You’ll find out how much effort it takes to be a broker, whether it is boring or glamorous, and how much you can expect to earn as a stockbroker. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to reduce your work hours as a broker while increasing your wealth.
IMPORTANT SIDENOTE: I surveyed 1500+ traders to understand how social trading impacted their trading outcomes. The results shocked my belief system! Read my latest article: ‘Exploring Social Trading: Community, Profit, and Collaboration’ for my in-depth findings through the data collected from this survey!
Table of Contents
The Whys and Hows
Now that you know how long stockbrokers work, let’s explore the reasoning and the method behind their long work hours. Read below to find out why
Do Stockbrokers Work Long Hours?
Stockbrokers work longer hours than most working professionals because of three reasons.
- Different stock exchanges in different time zones – Since they have clients who wish to invest in securities worldwide, they have to be available to facilitate trades on exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Shanghai Stock Exchange.
- Paperwork – Stockbrokers need to do a significant amount of paperwork. This includes work related to trades (mostly during trading hours) and miscellaneous file maintenance tasks. When most of the trading day is spent helping clients trade, these “extra” works get done outside work hours.
- Mixing work and leisure – The secret to work-hour longevity among stockbrokers is that they blur the lines between work and pleasure. Their parties, dinners, and outings often involve making connections and networking for prospects. Even when a stockbroker buys a yacht, it’s a part of maintaining the image of success that attracts more clients.
How Many Hours Do Stockbrokers Work?
Now that you know how work hours can often involve fun, let’s look at the time brokers spend doing specific tasks. While it is true that stockbrokers work really long hours, they don’t all work the same number of hours.
Therefore, it is logical to wonder how many hours you’ll work getting started. You’ll work longer on the acquisition side initially and eventually fill the same number of work hours with other duties, including the actual brokering services.
Stockbrokers usually work 54 hours a week while taking a day off, but they stay available over the cellphone to their VIP clients even when off-duty. That said, some brokers choose to have more of a balance and work significantly less, albeit missing on a fortune in fees and clients.
Let’s break this down even further; a broker will spend on average:
- 2 hours preparing portfolio recommendations
- 6 hours facilitating trades with nearly half on paperwork
- 3 hours maintaining and acquiring clients
Is It Boring To Be a Stockbroker?
With the understanding that a stockbroker’s whole life gets engulfed in work, one may get the wrong impression that being a broker is boring. In fact, it is quite thrilling, and many people get addicted to the highs of seeing their commission add up throughout the day.
Remember that while your clients might have hits and misses on trades, you always make a cut when they buy or sell. And when that’s going on, time passes by in a breeze. However, your initial rise to that position is a crawl. If you have great connections right off the bat, then you’re en route to success on “Easy mode.”
But for the most part, you start at ground zero and spend most of the day trying to acquire clients. Networking can be fun if you’re an extrovert. Brokers usually are extroverted as introverts run away from the job function. But even as an extrovert, it is no fun to try to connect with valuable clients without seeing results.
How To Network: A Stockbroker’s Guide to Winning Wealthy Clients
If you have fewer high-value clients, you can pay more attention to them and move stock in enough quantities with fewer calls to make a living. But the problem with getting high-value clients is that they are too high-value to get right away.
Most stockbrokers make the mistake of pitching the rich with their qualifications. Others try to play wealth advisors to their prospective clients without knowing them enough. That can offend some people as they may assume the broker is implying he knows better what to do with the millionaire’s money.
Some brokers message-bomb people on LinkedIn. No one with “CEO” in their profile description is safe from such indiscriminate pitching. If any of these describe how you would go about your networking, the following best practices will help you avoid novice relationship-building pitfalls.
Never Introduce Yourself as a “Stockbroker”
One of the most significant drawbacks of being a stockbroker is that you carry the label’s connotations. You share this title with everyone who presents themselves as a stockbroker. Your potential client could have a negative history with them. It is more than likely that they currently have a stockbroker.
When you introduce yourself with phrases like “I’m a stockbroker,” you’re actually turning-off everyone who already has a broker. “I don’t have to connect with him; I already have a broker,” they think as they shake your hand. And that’s where you make your second mistake.
Don’t Try To Sell
If your first meeting involves a pitch for anything but your friendship, you’ve made the greatest mistake a professional networker can make. The only way pitching yourself right away (and your entire first encounter counts as right away) results in a transaction are if they’re actively looking for a broker and you happen to coincidentally present yourself before they got to Google. The chances of this are quite slim.
Aim To Be Likable
There’s a cognitive bias called likability bias, where we justify the wrongs of those we like and amplify their positive aspects. Most wealthy clients choose their brokers not only on competence (there’s little in sheer skill required to facilitate a predetermined transaction), they choose their brokers because of trust and likability.
Your initial goal shouldn’t be to get an affluent individual to think, “oh, I’d love to have him as a broker.” Instead, you should try to get them to think, “oh, he’s a cool guy to hang out with.” This alone will make you much more successful at networking.
Sell Yourself After You Have a Relationship
Your first sale in the friendship you’ll develop with the affluent person. Once you’ve hung out a couple of times, you’re in a better position to introduce your services. Don’t pitch it too formally, though. Instead, let your “friend” know that you’ve recently let go of a client and have space you’ve wanted to offer them but couldn’t because your plate is full.
This sets you up as scarce and valuable and might sway them. If they don’t immediately buy, you now have a wealthy friend who can connect you to other affluent individuals. Isn’t this better than getting denied or ignored by people by taking your shot in your first meeting?
Author’s Recommendations: Top Trading and Investment Resources To Consider
Before concluding this article, I wanted to share few trading and investment resources that I have vetted, with the help of 50+ consistently profitable traders, for you. I am confident that you will greatly benefit in your trading journey by considering one or more of these resources.
- Roadmap to Becoming a Consistently Profitable Trader: I surveyed 5000+ traders (and interviewed 50+ profitable traders) to create the best possible step by step trading guide for you. Read my article: ‘7 Proven Steps To Profitable Trading’ to learn about my findings from surveying 5000+ traders, and to learn how these learnings can be leveraged to your advantage.
- Best Broker For Trading Success: I reviewed 15+ brokers and discussed my findings with 50+ consistently profitable traders. Post all that assessment, the best all round broker that our collective minds picked was M1 Finance. If you are looking to open a brokerage account, choose M1 Finance. You just cannot go wrong with it! Click Here To Sign Up for M1 Finance Today!
- Best Trading Courses You Can Take For Free (or at extremely low cost): I reviewed 30+ trading courses to recommend you the best resource, and found Trading Strategies in Emerging Markets Specialization on Coursera to beat every other course on the market. Plus, if you complete this course within 7 days, it will cost you nothing and will be absolutely free! Click Here To Sign Up Today! (If you don’t find this course valuable, you can cancel anytime within the 7 days trial period and pay nothing.)
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Conclusion
Being a stockbroker can be financially rewarding. However, it can be draining for some as it constantly affects their work-life balance. It is advisable to pursue this path if you’re highly extroverted and do not mind working 54 plus hours a week. Initially, you should be prepared to spend most of this time networking, but if you land a few ultra-high-net-worth individuals as your clients, you can work fewer hours and make more money.
BEFORE YOU GO: Don’t forget to check out my latest article – ‘Exploring Social Trading: Community, Profit, and Collaboration’. I surveyed 1500+ traders to identify the impact social trading can have on your trading performance, and shared all my findings in this article. No matter where you are in your trading journey today, I am confident that you will find this article helpful!
Affiliate Disclosure: We participate in several affiliate programs and may be compensated if you make a purchase using our referral link, at no additional cost to you. You can, however, trust the integrity of our recommendation. Affiliate programs exist even for products that we are not recommending. We only choose to recommend you the products that we actually believe in.
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