stockbroking vs investment banking

Hi everyone,I would like to compare two quite different careers: stockbroker vs investment banker. Is stockbroking a less common career path ? What is the real earning potential ? It often looks like a job which is disappearing and less paid compared to the 80s.

Reply 1

High Stakes

Original post by mclittleriver

Stock Brokers are those financial professionals who are well trained to gather data about stocks, mutual funds, pension plans and also other similar instruments. These professionals use the information they have collected to evaluate the potential of the financial instruments. They will locate the possible clients who may be interested in purchasing or else selling these instruments.

An Investment banker is a professional who represents a financial organization that is in the business of raising its capital for various corporations and also municipalities. Investment bankers carry out a variety of roles, from advising clients on financial strategy to raising money for businesses. These professionals will specialize in any industry like energy, healthcare or else technology.

(Source: http://entrance-exam.net/difference-between-a-stock-broker-and-investment-banker/)

As for their earning potential, both have can earn a lot of money but it depends on where you specialise and how far up the ladder you go.

Reply 2

mclittleriver

Original post by High Stakes

Stock Brokers are those financial professionals who are well trained to gather data about stocks, mutual funds, pension plans and also other similar instruments. These professionals use the information they have collected to evaluate the potential of the financial instruments. They will locate the possible clients who may be interested in purchasing or else selling these instruments.An Investment banker is a professional who represents a financial organization that is in the business of raising its capital for various corporations and also municipalities. Investment bankers carry out a variety of roles, from advising clients on financial strategy to raising money for businesses. These professionals will specialize in any industry like energy, healthcare or else technology.(Source: http://entrance-exam.net/difference-between-a-stock-broker-and-investment-banker/)As for their earning potential, both have can earn a lot of money but it depends on where you specialise and how far up the ladder you go.

Thank you very much but realistically speaking i've never heard of stockbrokers earning like bankers. Has it become a very low-profile profession ? Even looking on the internet you see as the pay looks disappointing compared to the banker's one.

Reply 3

Classical Liberal

There really isn't a huge difference, fundamentally, between agency traders in an investment bank and stock brokers. Investment bank traders are just doing much bigger corporate orders for financial instruments, while stock brokers are doing small fry stuff, like your Gran fancying buying some shares in BT. Fundamentally, both of them are intermediaries between buyers and sellers of financial assets.

Both of these professions are on the slide though due to technology. It is now possible to use computer systems to match off buyers and sellers at a price they can both agree upon, you don't need some bloke on the phone to find buyers and sellers. However, there will always be a role for experts broking financial instruments that are complex or where the market isn't particularly deep.