What is the point?

Nov 14, 2009 2:39 am

Curious to know how many of you view what we do for a living. Is it a job in which your earnings will provide for other avenues? Is it your career that you want to do for 40 years? Is it your calling and you feel you are on earth to help people with their investments, etc?

Nov 14, 2009 2:44 am

I’m paid very well to help people with an essential service in an industry that has always fascinated me.

Nov 14, 2009 2:58 pm

I guess I am asking because there are times when I feel I am making a difference and there are times when I look at a prospect/client and I know they are a lost cause.

Nov 14, 2009 3:09 pm

True. You can’t save them all.

Nov 14, 2009 3:18 pm
Ron 14:

True. You can’t save them all.

    You can if they are your clients their hole life.
Nov 14, 2009 3:26 pm

Nice whole/hole.

Well some people don't listen right from the start and I don't wrestle with them. They either agree or not. I try not to convince. I explain what they should do and if they don't then I move on to someone who values my advice.
Nov 14, 2009 3:40 pm

[quote=Ron 14]Nice whole/hole.

Well some people don't listen right from the start and I don't wrestle with them. They either agree or not. I try not to convince. I explain what they should do and if they don't then I move on to someone who values my advice. [/quote]     Brutal game by Cutler on Thursday.  Sorry couldn't resist.
Nov 14, 2009 3:48 pm

It was. 5 picks is unacceptable.

Nov 14, 2009 3:53 pm

[quote=Jebediah] [quote=Ron 14]Nice whole/hole.

Well some people don’t listen right from the start and I don’t wrestle with them. They either agree or not. I try not to convince. I explain what they should do and if they don’t then I move on to someone who values my advice. [/quote]









Brutal game by Cutler on Thursday. Sorry couldn’t resist.[/quote]



I’m playing against him in my FF league this week. Sweet!



To answer the original question, the longer I’m in this business the more I enjoy going to work. That’s mainly because I don’t deal with people that don’t want to be saved anymore. My clients appreciate what I do and now that the market is going in the right direction…things are good.



Last year at this time…I don’t think anyone was enjoying this business!    If you made it through that, you should appreciate the good times much more than you ever did before.
Nov 14, 2009 5:17 pm

My dad went out every morning with a jackhammer. So I view what I do – sitting in a nice office, drinking coffee and talking to people about their hopes, dreams and goals, and then recommending investments and service to help them out, as very pleasant work.
It’s also something that you can do forever. Investment professionals often are still working well into their 80s.


Nov 14, 2009 5:25 pm

I originally came to this career because my previous career provided very little if anything to society. The longer I am in this the more I become worried about numbers and assets etc. and I focus less and less on my original purpose.

Nov 14, 2009 6:07 pm
Ron 14:

I originally came to this career because my previous career provided very little if anything to society. The longer I am in this the more I become worried about numbers and assets etc. and I focus less and less on my original purpose.




Ron,

That's the bank talking. Once you have a chance to exit and go Indy, you'll realize you can focus on your original purpose. I know this, because 6 months ago, I thought the same way you do now.
Nov 14, 2009 6:09 pm

I can't wait for that day!

Nov 14, 2009 6:59 pm

[quote=Ron 14]Nice whole/hole.

Well some people don't listen right from the start[/quote]   Oh yeah, the people that actually have money
Nov 14, 2009 7:02 pm

[quote=Ron 14]

I originally came to this career because my previous career provided very little if anything to society.

[/quote]   Some things will never change    
Nov 14, 2009 7:56 pm

[quote=Ron 14]

I can't wait for that day!

[/quote]   Don't hold your breath buckwheat.
Nov 14, 2009 8:30 pm

Ron, sell more insurance if you want to make a difference.  

Nov 14, 2009 8:46 pm

I have a mental picture of ron spewing his feelings in a Michael Jackson voice.

Nov 14, 2009 10:09 pm

Keep talking Natenberg. When does the book come out ?

Nov 14, 2009 11:11 pm

No book required. I already told you how to make $$ with very low risk. I guess you need to learn how to select a stock first. May want to consider learning a new trick Gandhi. The new rules I’ve been reading about may just put you out of business. 

Nov 14, 2009 11:13 pm
Ron 14:

Curious to know how many of you view what we do for a living. Is it a job in which your earnings will provide for other avenues? Is it your career that you want to do for 40 years? Is it your calling and you feel you are on earth to help people with their investments, etc?

  I would say I have mixed feelings and go back and forth thinking about it.  Somedays I think I want to build a large practice and do it for 40 years, eventually only working with larger clients.  Other times I think maybe 15-20 years and do other things to build wealth like real estate development.  I would say it will be a combination of both.  I would like to think I am making a difference but a year like 2008 really makes it tough because you are viewed as the bad guy by clients, media, everyone.  You give a recommendation to a guy and he looks at you like you are trying to screw him, that gets old sometimes.  I think the next 10 years and how our industry changes will determine a lot.  If the Gov leaves things as they are and the market performs ok, things could be really nice if you keep adding assets in managed accounts.  But if we are regulated in fees even more and the market has another big bear not sure if it would be worth it. 
Nov 14, 2009 11:20 pm
LA Broker:

[quote=Ron 14]Curious to know how many of you view what we do for a living. Is it a job in which your earnings will provide for other avenues? Is it your career that you want to do for 40 years? Is it your calling and you feel you are on earth to help people with their investments, etc?

  I would say I have mixed feelings and go back and forth thinking about it.  Somedays I think I want to build a large practice and do it for 40 years, eventually only working with larger clients.  Other times I think maybe 15-20 years and do other things to build wealth like real estate development.  I would say it will be a combination of both.  I would like to think I am making a difference but a year like 2008 really makes it tough because you are viewed as the bad guy by clients, media, everyone.  You give a recommendation to a guy and he looks at you like you are trying to screw him, that gets old sometimes.  I think the next 10 years and how our industry changes will determine a lot.  If the Gov leaves things as they are and the market performs ok, things could be really nice if you keep adding assets in managed accounts.  But if we are regulated in fees even more and the market has another big bear not sure if it would be worth it.  [/quote]   What if you learned to make money yourself in the market without having to use a "money manager"?   BD's seem to have mentally castrated brokers into believing they can't do it themselves.   Why would they do that?  hmmmmmmmmmmm I wonder?
Nov 14, 2009 11:28 pm

You aren’t making money for yourself dipsh*t. You are making it for clients. I have agreed with you that what you are doing is great in terms of generating profits from options market inefficiencies. Problem is it cant be done on a large scale, like on a 100 million dollar book. You should be doing it FOR YOURSELF and you would be working half the hours and making 5 times the money.

Nov 15, 2009 12:01 am

Gaddock

Can you give a short description of how you consistently make money for your clients? Without giving away your proprietary secrets of course. I think you did so once before, but you've posted 943 times, so please dont say roogle, i'll never find it. (serious post, no disrespect intended, really, i'm interested.)
Nov 15, 2009 12:09 am

100Mil ??? sorry dude but that is a spec of a spec in this market. And yes I’m making money for my clients. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? I am a stock broker. I love me job my clients are my best friends and I’m making serious cash for myself. I know my limitations even though you may think they are absurd they are what they are. I cant trade my own money as my emotions distort what I see, so I do it for others.

  A lawyer that represents himself has a fool for a client.
Nov 15, 2009 12:16 am

[quote=Sportsfreakbob]Gaddock

Can you give a short description of how you consistently make money for your clients? Without giving away your proprietary secrets of course. I think you did so once before, but you've posted 943 times, so please dont say roogle, i'll never find it. (serious post, no disrespect intended, really, i'm interested.)[/quote]   In short, I've developed some software that helps me find certain inefficiencies and other very high probability trades using options. At first I considered them anomalies but now I call them distortions as they occur to frequently to be anomalous.
Nov 15, 2009 12:19 am

[quote=Gaddock]100Mil ??? sorry dude but that is a spec of a spec in this market. And yes I’m making money for my clients. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? I am a stock broker. I love me job my clients are my best friends and I’m making serious cash for myself. I know my limitations even though you may think they are absurd they are what they are. I cant trade my own money as my emotions distort what I see, so I do it for others.

  A lawyer that represents himself has a fool for a client.[/quote]   Keep going to that even though it is a terrible analogy.
Nov 15, 2009 12:22 am

[quote=Gaddock]100Mil ??? sorry dude but that is a spec of a spec in this market. And yes I’m making money for my clients. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? I am a stock broker. I love me job my clients are my best friends and I’m making serious cash for myself. I know my limitations even though you may think they are absurd they are what they are. I cant trade my own money as my emotions distort what I see, so I do it for others.

  A lawyer that represents himself has a fool for a client.[/quote]   Not the options market, the distortions you see and are able to act on. If there were inefficiencies that you could act on to place 100million on one trade it would be gobbled up much quicker. If they were there on that scale you should be doing it for yourself and then be on a beach.
Nov 15, 2009 12:41 am

[quote=Ron 14][quote=Gaddock]100Mil ??? sorry dude but that is a spec of a spec in this market. And yes I’m making money for my clients. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? I am a stock broker. I love me job my clients are my best friends and I’m making serious cash for myself. I know my limitations even though you may think they are absurd they are what they are. I cant trade my own money as my emotions distort what I see, so I do it for others.

  A lawyer that represents himself has a fool for a client.[/quote]   Not the options market, the distortions you see and are able to act on. If there were inefficiencies that you could act on to place 100million on one trade it would be gobbled up much quicker. If they were there on that scale you should be doing it for yourself and then be on a beach. [/quote]   Ron cmon man .... IF I were to place 100 mil on one trade I would have to have a billion dollar book. Risk first my fine fellow. I dont put on more than a couple of points on any one trade in any one account.    
Nov 15, 2009 12:44 am

I know this. So when you book gets extremely large and you see a trade to make, how do you decide who gets it since every account can’t be on the same trade? If I were to give you my money I would want a piece of every good trade you see.

Nov 15, 2009 1:14 am

I wont let it get to that point. As it stands I’m going to stop taking clients when I have 60 mil wrapped at 1.5%. That will be enough to keep the managers off my heels and then my goal will be to spend as little time at work as possible. Pretty much market hours.

  End game for me. Prob see that in the next three years. Even if it takes five who cares.
Nov 16, 2009 4:31 am
Ron 14:

Curious to know how many of you view what we do for a living. Is it a job in which your earnings will provide for other avenues? Is it your career that you want to do for 40 years? Is it your calling and you feel you are on earth to help people with their investments, etc?

Great question - I've realized more and more lately that the big hitters on Wall Street as well as your everyday brokers do us (this industry) and out reputation no favors. The longer I'm in this business, the more I recognize the blatant conflicts of interest. From the wirehouses and banks, to the fund companies and money managers, the client's best interest are primary only on the surface.   I'm sure this will be met with the typical RR forums cynicism and revolt but its my opinion, my experience.   So no, this isn't the answer for me long term. I do the absolute best everyday for clients who I am fortunate enough to work with. And when I leave in a few years, I will go to great lengths to make sure they are taken care of by an advisor that is as qualified and caring as I've strived to be in this capacity.   In the meantime I'll continue to use every meeting to instill as much knowledge and insight as possible so that these clients are empowered with the information needed to make good decisions. Thats the least I can do and in many cases, what really propels me from one day to the next.
Nov 16, 2009 2:47 pm

first post does it for me

Nov 18, 2009 10:55 pm

"the client’s best interest are primary only on the surface.

 I'm sure this will be met with the typical RR forums cynicism and revolt but its my opinion, my experience."   Your opinion and experience? I hate it for you and your clients.   I've not one time put a client in any product or trade unless I thought it was the very best there was. Must be hard to sleep if you feel like a cheat.  
Nov 18, 2009 11:27 pm

[quote=Gaddock]"the client’s best interest are primary only on the surface.

 I'm sure this will be met with the typical RR forums cynicism and revolt but its my opinion, my experience."   Your opinion and experience? I hate it for you and your clients.   I've not one time put a client in any product or trade unless I thought it was the very best there was. Must be hard to sleep if you feel like a cheat.  [/quote]   He wasn't saying that he does things as an advisor that isn't in his clients best interest. He is saying the way the industry is set up doesn't always reflect fairness.   You say that you have never put a client in any product or trade unless you thought it was the very best there was. Well if you find a trade that is a good one, what determines what account it goes into? If you do a great conversion that locks in a great gain in stock XYZ, but you only do 500 of them, how do you split them up? The guy with 200k deserves a fair percentage of that trade as much as the guy with 2mil.
Nov 18, 2009 11:58 pm

“my experience”  bobo  what does that mean? Sounds like participation to me.

  They are apportioned out per the size and exposure of the account.
Nov 19, 2009 12:08 am

Doesn’t sound like participation to me at all. Just because you are in an industry doesn’t mean you participate in what you see from firms and from other advisors in terms of conflicts of interest.

  So every trade you do gets divided into all accounts ?
Nov 22, 2009 4:35 am

[quote=Ron 14][quote=Gaddock]"the client’s best interest are primary only on the surface.

 I'm sure this will be met with the typical RR forums cynicism and revolt but its my opinion, my experience."   Your opinion and experience? I hate it for you and your clients.   I've not one time put a client in any product or trade unless I thought it was the very best there was. Must be hard to sleep if you feel like a cheat.  [/quote]   He wasn't saying that he does things as an advisor that isn't in his clients best interest. He is saying the way the industry is set up doesn't always reflect fairness.   You say that you have never put a client in any product or trade unless you thought it was the very best there was. Well if you find a trade that is a good one, what determines what account it goes into? If you do a great conversion that locks in a great gain in stock XYZ, but you only do 500 of them, how do you split them up? The guy with 200k deserves a fair percentage of that trade as much as the guy with 2mil.[/quote]   Gaddock, where the hell are you? I am losing MILLIONS! You got me into this stock and you sure as hell better get me out or the only job you'll ever have on the Street is SWEEPING IT! You hear me, Gaddock?
Nov 22, 2009 2:01 pm

[quote=LA Broker][quote=Ron 14][quote=Gaddock]"the client’s best interest are primary only on the surface.

 I'm sure this will be met with the typical RR forums cynicism and revolt but its my opinion, my experience."   Your opinion and experience? I hate it for you and your clients.   I've not one time put a client in any product or trade unless I thought it was the very best there was. Must be hard to sleep if you feel like a cheat.  [/quote]   He wasn't saying that he does things as an advisor that isn't in his clients best interest. He is saying the way the industry is set up doesn't always reflect fairness.   You say that you have never put a client in any product or trade unless you thought it was the very best there was. Well if you find a trade that is a good one, what determines what account it goes into? If you do a great conversion that locks in a great gain in stock XYZ, but you only do 500 of them, how do you split them up? The guy with 200k deserves a fair percentage of that trade as much as the guy with 2mil.[/quote]   Gaddock, where the hell are you? I am losing MILLIONS! You got me into this stock and you sure as hell better get me out or the only job you'll ever have on the Street is SWEEPING IT! You hear me, Gaddock?[/quote]