A PROFILE OF A
STOCKBRO~R
A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO
THE HONORS PROGRAM IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR GRADUATION WITH FONORS
by
JOHN D. GENTIS
ADVISOR - DR. J. VIRGIL HERRING
-
•
BALL STATE UNIVERSITY
MUNCIE, INDIANA
AUGUST,
1970
i-'i-/C
~.~
}.
I recommend this research paper for
acceptance by the ponors program of
Ball state university for graduation
with honors.
Q'4L~t
r
sp~;or
project
Department of Accounting
August, 1970
,
...
TO the stockbrokers ••• especially
to the 309 who completed the questionnaire and to the many who
talked witr. the author in the
course of writing this paper •
..
OF
TA~L~
CONT~NTS
CHAPTER
I.
PAGE
THE PURPOSE
.
.......
statement of the purpose
Importance of the study •
..
Delimitations
II.
III.
IV.
REVIEW OF
SIGNIFI~ANT
METHODOLOGY
1
.
..
RELATED LITERATURE
... ............ .
..
FINDINGS
...
.
·..
·......
·
....
3
5
7
10
10
Age • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10
EAIJKGROT.JND OF TUE BROKERS •
....
...·........
Family. .
Education • · . .
College yajor • . . . . .
Composition
·...
specialized Training
Licenses
Childhood
Summary
B.
2
....
T~
-.
1
·........
Locales • · . .
·.. ·........
THE BROKSRS' LIFE STYLE • .
·.............
Assets •
·......
11
11
12
15
20
20
22
22
25
Home ••
25
Liquid
25
v
PAGE
CHAPTER
·.......
pas times •
·..........
summary • • • • •
·......
·......
THE BRO:K1l:RS AT WORK
Where They Worked
·......
Relatives . . .
·.......
.............
Long
previous Jobs · . . . . . . . .
Present Position •• · . . . . .
Happiness IS • •
·.
Melancholy
·...........
Miscellany
·......
Research Department · .
office Size · . . . . . . . . . . .
Brokers'
• · . . .
confidence • • · . . . · . .
Transportation • • •
C.
HOW
~ustomers
~.lfoney
HOW
••
D.
26
29
38
38
38
39
39
39
42
42
43
44
44
44
44
45
•••.•••••
..
46
• • • • • • • • • • . • • •
48
Does one ]lake It?
Summary
26
• • •
THE BROKERS' PARENTS, POLITICS,
...
·...........
• • . .
..
• • . . . • •
AFFILIATIONS AND REGRETS • • .
50
Parents
50
Affiliations
Change Jobs?
Summary
• • • . • • • • . • • • ••
53
54
54
.
vi
PAGE
CHAPTER
E.
BROKERS'
Cm,~rENTS
• •
• • • •
•
•
• ••
60
Brokers feelings regarding their duties
and responsibilities to their customers
Brokers' feelings about today's
ties market • . •
·..
... ....
Additional comments
v.
INTERVIEWS
PROBLEM AREAS
upper
secur~-
·...
·...
• •
l~anagement
• •
•• • . • • • • •
·....·.
Back office • • • • · . . . . .
public confidence · . . . . . . · . . .
Brokers Themselves · .
·.
.....
The system Itself • •
·... ·...
upper Management · . . . . . . . . . .
.......
Branch
• .
Back office . • • · . · . . . .
.. . . . . ..
Brokers Themselves
SUGGESTSD
IMPROVE~,.,!sNTS
~;~anagement
THE
65
70
75
Branch Management • •
..
61
78
78
79
80
81
81
81
82
82
82
83
84
FUTURE
Brokers Themselves
Institutions • • • •
.....
·.........
·..
Securi ties Industry • . • • • • • • ••
86
86
87
vii
CHAPTER
PAGE
• •
89
RULES, REGULATIONS, AND POLICIES • . • • • •
92
WHAT
MA~S
A SUCCESSFUL BROKSR • • •
The Surtax •• • •
·.•
Rules and Regulations
.....
• • • • •
92
• •
93
compensation policy •• • •
•
• • • • •
93
Research Departments • •
• • • • • •
93
•
·..·...·..·.
..............
DISCRIMINATION'? • •
95
Females •
95
Age
••••••••••••••••
..
Racial •
VI.
•
.
•
• •
A PROFILE OF A STOCKBROKER •
(summary)
SELECTED 3IBLIOGRAPFY
APPENDIX
• • •
.
• •
...·..• •
· . . . • • • · ..
·
···
• • · ·
Questionnaire
•
correspondence
•
·• •
• • · · · · • ·
·········•
• • • · · • · • • •
• •
· ·
96
96
98
100
102
103
107
LIST
OF
TABLES
PAGE
TABLE
•
1
•••••
14
1. Firms Whose Brokers Took Part in this Study
2. Listed occupations of Brokers' Wives
•
3. Night School Degrees obtained by Responding
....·.. ·.....
16
Listed by Responding Brokers • •
18
Brokers • • • • • •
4. college
1laj ors
5. college ],f;ajors Listed by Brokers as
l~ore
Desirable Than Their own Major Field. •
.··
19
5a. college Majors Taken by tl:e srokers Which They
still Deem satisfactory
..
6. Licenses Listed as
~eld
.
• •
.
• •
.
• • • •
21
by Respondents other
·........
23
7. pakes of Automobiles owned by 'Responding Erokers
27
Than securities licenses • .
8. Sports Which the Responding Brokers snjoyed
Regularly as Participants
·...·...·.
28
9. Sports Which the Responding Brokers Enjoyed
·. ........
Responding Brokers . . . . .
Regularly as Spectators
10. Hobbies Listed by
31
32
11. periodicals Listed as Regular Reading by
Responding Brokers • • • •
·........
12. Books Read Which Relate to the Securities Business
as Listed by Responding Brokers • • . •
...
34
ix
PAGE
TABLE
13. Books Read Which Are Not Directly
~elated
to the
securities Business as Listed by Responding
Brokers . • • • • .
...........·..
14. previous occupations of
~esponding
·..
40
• • • • •
51
Brokers
15. Listed occupations of Brokers' Fathers
37
16. Advanced Education of the parents of Responding
Brokers
·....
17. Religions Listed by
............
~espondin5
Brokers
.....
18. Civic organizations Listed by Responding Brokers
52
55
56
19. Fraternal organizations Listed by Responding
Brokers
·.................
57
20. Professional organizations Listed by Responding
..
·................·..
Preferred occupations listed by Respondents • . .
Brokers
21.
58
59
I.
statement
~!
THE PURPOSE
the purpose. The intent of this
~roject
is to present a spectrum of data which, when melded and
analyzed, will yield a delineation of multifaceted
c~arac­
teristics which in turn will fabricate a profile, if not a
portrait, of the average NYSE member firm stockbroker of 1970.
uany studies have been undertaken anent to executives
in general, their backgrounds, their descriptive characteristics, and their feelings regarding specific
arE~as
such as
those factors desirable or necessary for "succesB" in their
field.
A few studies, for tte most part of an intra-firm
nature, have been TEade solely of registered representatives
of NYSS member firms.
quantifiable
These, however, seem to encompass only
c~aracteristics
that can be statistically vali-
dated.
In this project, however,
t~e
author purports to por-
tray the account executive as the reader may expect to meet
him at his desk.
This portrayal describes the account exec-
utive's educational and family background, his current life
style, his work and income, his politics and social life.
[:lore important, however, is that interwoven with the basic
statistics are the o:pinions and feelings of the account executive toward his job, his status, the current bear market,
2
the problems of his profession and his peers, his duty to
and proper relationship with his customers, and
look toward
t~e
~~is
out-
future of t':>e securities industry and the
role be expects to play therein.
Importance of the
~tudy.
The results of this study
should be of interest and use to several groups of persons.
These include the investor and speculator who are for the
most part unaware of the tecr,nical qualifications t':'-ey
should expect their broker to possess, the activities and
study in which
t~eir
broker likely engages, and the differ-
ences in the quality, philosophy, and rapport which may be
available and which the customer mayor may not be enjoying.
The industry management should also welcome t,his noncomputerized view of its account executives which cannot be
derived from NYSE files nor their own employee r'ecords.
students and other prospective entrants to the field
may well find that this paper interestingly supplements the
NASD publications and firm brochures which describe the
registered representative and his duties.
Lastly, through his own experience noting return addresses and requests for copies of the study attached to the
"unsigned" questionnaires along with numerous requests for
results at the offices visited during the study, the author
feels it is the account executives themselves wh8 will be
most interested in how they relate with their peers as shown
by the questionnaire and interview results.
3
Delimitations.
This research was in essence lim-
i ted to brokers err.ployed by
~NYSZ
member firms and to of-
fices of these firms loca.ted east of the
~liss
iss1ppi.
AS
shown by Table 1, nearly all of the national firms as well
as several large regional firms were included.
The inter-
views were necessarily limited to the larger offices and
were hence concentrated in major metropolitan areas.
4
TABLE
1
FIRMS WPOSE BROKERS TOOK PART IN THIS STUDY
Abraham & co.
Bache & Co. Inc.
Bradford, J. D. & Co.
Butcher & sherrerd
Dominick & Dominick, Inc.
Dupont, Glore forgan , Staats Inc.
Fahnestock & Co.
Goodbody & Co.
Hayden, stone Inc.
pentz, H. & 'jOe
Herzfeld & stern
Hornblower & ~veeks-Hemphill, Noyes
Hutton, E. F. & Co. Inc
Hutton, W. E. & co.
Kidder, peabody & Co. Inc.
Legg & Co.
!,~errill Lynch, pierce, Fenner & Smith,
Newburger Div-Advest
Paine, Webber, Jac~{son & curtis
prescott, r~errill, TUrben & Co.
Reynolds & Co.
Shearson, ?ammill & Co. Inc.
stein Bros. & Boyce, Inc.
suplee-Nosley Inc.
Thomson & ucy:innon Auchincloss, Inc.
~alston & Co. Inc
Witter, Dean & Co. Inc.
In~.
II.
REVIEW OF SIGNIFICANT RELATSD LITERA'rURE
The available information related to the account
executive and this research is scattered and for the most
part of a technical, promotional or topical nature.
The
National Association of Securities Dealers publish manuals
discussing various rules of fair practice, codes of conduct,
and information necessary for the preparation of sales literature.
The Association of stock Exchange Firms publishes peri-
odically updated manuals outlining the expected conduct of
registered representatives, the procedures involved in opening
and handling customers' accounts, and the documents used therein.
The New york stock Exchange also publishes bulletins in
which are discussed the expected philosophy of the broker,
methods of servin.::; clientele, and descriptions of customer
account supervisory procedures.
Of course the NYSE publishes
annual updates of the affical constitution and Rules of the
New york Stock Excrange.
The above, however, describe only
the technical expectations of which the broker should be aware.
At the other extreme are the introductory propaganda
leaflets on the industry which are printed and distributed by
the various exchanges as well as many of the member firms.
Some of these describe the broker's job, but they certainly
make little attempt to describe the broker.
More nearly akin to tbis project are the articles
6
which occasionally appear in the financial press and as
isolated cbapers in market related books that describe
phases in the occupational life of the broker.
These articles
may cover the broker's training program, an innovation in
management and its effects on a member firm, a day in the life
of a broker, some of the specific problems that are affecting
the industry, and other items of interest such as firm mergers and their apparent errect on employee moral.
Again, how-
ever, these articles do not present a full picture of the broker.
In 1966, the NYSE did prepare a study, using its own
records, which attempted to statistically evaluate such items
as the correlation between gross production and age, years in
the bUSiness, education, test score, and region of the
count~
Some of the data in the author's study could be computerized
and compared with this prior study.
However, the purpose of
the author is informative description rat}1er than gross sales
prediction and evaluation.
In summary. There have been many studies made on the
background, life style, and success factors of executives in
general.
This project is specifically limited to stockbrokers.
Those studies made of account executives have to date considered mainly the quantitative elements obtainable from employment and exchange records, usually with some narrower goal of
sales predictive oriented methodology.
This study is both
quantitative and qualitative with the wider goal of ?resenting
a profile of the broker as the lunch hour crowd views him durtheir diurnal check on "the ones they should have sold in 1969."
III •
~!~TFODOLOGY
The method used in this study. T'te general research
method of this study was a descriptive survey of the characteristics a.nd feelings of NYS3 member firm account executives.
Principal sources of data were obtained via questionnaires
mailed on a random basis and distributed personally and on
personal interviews conducted in major cities eaEit of the
rJissiSsippi.
The questionnaire used was derived in part from one
used in a published study of youns executives,3 in part from
suggestions from brokers as to pertinent points of interest,
and in part from the author's irr,agination and areas of interest.
The resulting questionnaire was compiled, tested on bro-
kers, and presented to faculty members, brokers, and to cooperating firm management personnel for review and suggestions.
The slightly altered version printed and used throughout the
project is included as APpendix I.
A list of potentially cooperative NYS3 member firms
along with tte appropriate officers were obtained from the
NASD Securities Dealers
r';~anual.
Rough drafts of the question-
naire and requests for mailing lists were sent to four major
firms.
These were a11 followed up witt telephone conversa-
tions and in some CS.ses requests for intra-firm mailings.
3Guzzard, Walter Jr.
The young Executives.
A
.
8
majority of the firms contacted seemed to have rather well
developed and rather negatively ori;mted "firm polici,es"
towards research studies involving their personnel.
widespread success caused
firms.
t~e
Lack of
author to contact another six
Again the success was token.
sventually about 800
questionnaires were distributed; 300 via random mailings and
500 via personal distribution to account executives, office
managers, secretaries, etc.
From the verifiable 8010 return
of the first random batch rr.ailed, tre author feels that, for
one reason or another, no more than 500 brokers had the questionnaire in their possession in tiffie to complete it for this
study.
Along witt. tj1e information provided by the questionnaire the author wished to obtain some revealing thoughts of
brokers regarding industry problem areas, potential improvements, their feelings about tr:e future of the securities business and their destinies in it, and their feelings about the
paths to "success" in their field.
pere the author was little
concerned with tlrandomness" and attempted to interview the
most qualified, monetarily successful, and knowledgeable brokers available.
Given the above criteria, the author left the
selection of the interviewees entirely to the discretion of
the various office managers.
The basic data, then, were solicited via mailings to
ten NYSS firm home offices, random mailings of 300 questionnaires from home office sources, and personal distribution of
questionnaires and interviews from over 100 offices of 27 firms
9
in the Chicago, Indianapolis, columbus, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Boston metropolitan
areas.
Each questionnaire was accompanied by a cover letter
explaining the purpose of the study, a
and a plea for cooperation.
~arantee
of anonymity,
A portion of the mailings were
done on Ball state university Letterhead envelopes and a portion on firm
letter~ead
envelopes (intra-firm mailings), but
all were returned in prestamped plain envelopes addressed to
the author's residence.
The interviews and hand distribution of questionnaires
were conducted on an office-to-office basIs with no advance
apPointments.
There was seemingly no relation between the
cooperation received and the various firm offices or cities
included in the study, 801 though the author tended to fare
better on days 'Nhen the DJIA was up ten points than on days
wtich it declined a like amount.
on
In virtually eve:ry case,
the office manager made the difference between total success
and total failure.
CHAPTSR IV - FINDINGS
A. TFE BACKGROUr.-rn OF TEE BROKERS
In this first section the age, composition, family,
education and training of the responding brokers are described
along with some reflections concerning the possible significance of the data presented.
unless otr.erwise specified, all
percentages cited in this paper refer only to the 309 responding brokers discussed herein.
Age. The average of the ages of the responding brokers
was 37.3 years while tr.e median age was 33 years.
From the
above it would appear that tbe population age curve is skewed
toward youth.
This is in fact likely.
In 1966 there were
38,500 registered representatives in the united states. l
AS
of December 31, 1969 there were 35,762 registered representatives east of the ;,!ississippi River alone. 2
The "Great Bull
Market" of 1966-68 no doubt accounted for the huge influx of
bodies into the securities business.
Since half of the re-
spondents ranged from twenty-four to thirty-three years of
age it appears to the author that today's account executive is
relatively young.
INYSE Bulletin, ?ow DO your Reps Measure UP?, 1966.
2
personal correspondence with the NYSE.
See APpendix II.
11
composition.
Of the 309 respondents 304 were male
and 5 female; 271 were married and 23 single; 8 were divorced
and 1 widowed.
Although 98.4% of the respondents were male, the figure probably overstates the importance of females in the industry.
During the interview trips the author saw so few fe-
male brokers that he attempted to at least leave a questionnaire with everyone available.
The position of "stockbroker"
is definitely a man's world.
It is also a married man's world.
The 9.416 of the
respondents who were yet single invariable were the youngest
individuals in the business.
Given time and a good market to
pay the bills, they too will probably succumb.
If the broker is female, the chances appear to be very
high that she is either 'luite young, single or divorced.
HOW-
ever, in all cases the gross commissions of the females were
above both t'he median and average for the res:?ondent population.
Investors and male brokers alike might well heed this
bit of information:
Family.
Lady brokers are not slothful.
Of those respondents who were ever married,
both the mean and the median family had two children.
The
family size ranged from zero to seven children.
Of those having children,
2l~
sent at least one child
to a private school below the college level while
child attending a private college or university.
7t had a
12
Half of the brokers' wives are college graduates;
one-tn-ird of their wives work; and if the wife went to college she had a slightly greater chance of working than if
she did not.
If the broker's wire did
work it is quite
likely that she was a teacher or secretary.
¥owever, she
could also be a stewardess or a stockbroker herself.
Table
2 of this paper summarizes the listed occupations of the
responding brokers' wives.
~ducation.
~ighty-ei~ht
were college graduates wrile
28~
percent of the respondents
also had advanced degrees.
AS the reader mig.ht imagine, Gost of the 1210 who did not
finish college were the older brokers.
In most cases their
experience more than compensated for the lack of a diploma.
The 1969 average gross commissions of those who did not graduate from college were a healthy 20( greater ttan the average
gross commissions of the respondents as a whole.
Those who
only graduated from high school fared a bit better yet than
those who attended college but did not graduate.
At the other extreme, those respondents holding
advanced degrees seemed to fare no better than the population
when it came down to the dollars.
At first the au thor thoug.lJt
that this was due to the lack of experience which tended to
accompany those with graduate degrees both due to age and the
extra time sgent in school.
rowever, a review of the age
and experience data d1d not single these factors out as
13
apparent variables.
Graduate school may gain one entrance,
but experience and tr.e market place appear to be the great
equalizers.
14
TABLE 2
LISTSD
O~aUPATIONS
OF BROKSRS' WIVES
OC~UPATION
Teacher
secretary
Nurse
clerical
Editor
Managerial pOSition
SOCial 'florker
Bank Teller
Sales clerk
Accountant
Broker
Cosmetician
Dental '4Ygenist
Interior Designer
Journalist
Loan Processor
Hanagement consultant
Medical ~echnologist
Pharmacologist
Stewardess
Therapist
NU1\ffiER
34
17
6
5
3
3
2
2
2
15
Non-Ivy League colleges and state universities led
the way with
39~
of the respondents attending each type. IVy
League stockbrokers are about as rare as the city college
graduates with about ten percent each; business college
graduates account for t'be remaining two percent.
Of those respondents wto did go to college, threefourths contributed to the cost via outside work of some
type.
The extent of contribution varied from minor to com-
plete with about equal
res~onses
in all rahges.
About one-
third of the college men also held schola,rshlps which helped
them to some extent.
The stockbrokers were also a fairly honorable crowd
with 18t of the respondents listing some college honors.
Night school and correspondence courses also seemed
to play a part in the edu cation of the brokers, rou&lJ.ly 40<;&
having obtained each type of schooling.
About one-third of
those who attended night school obtained a degree of some
sort, usually a bachelors degree or an MBA as described in
Table 3.
Although about one-third of those who had taken
correspondence courses also indicated that a de1;ree had been
received, the degree usually amounted to completing the
course.
BY far the majority of correspondence (:ourses listed
consisted of the New york Institute of Finance brokerage
training course.
college
l.~aj or.
A full 5010 of the respondents did
their undergraduate work in business, economics or finance.
16
TABLE 3
NIGHT SCHOOL
D~G-REES
OBTAINED BY RESPOND ING
BROKERS
NIGPT SCHOOL DEGREE
NUMBER
Bachelor of Arts
8
Bachelor of science
8
Master of Business Administration
6
Master of science
4
Bachelor of Laws
2
Doctor of JUrisprudence
1
High school Diploma
1
17
Business administration '\'las far in front with 25,% of the
total.
A complete listing of the respondents' major fields
is contained in Table 4.
The total (302) used for a base
is greater than the number of college graduates because
some brokers carried more than one major.
Another item on the questionnaire asked the following:
If you could start your formal schooling over
again, would you still choose the same f:teld
of study'? If "No", what field would you
choose? please briefly say why.
From the answers to the above questions the author
gleaned the following data.
Of those who would change their
studies, business, economics, medicine, law, liberal arts, and
accounting were the favorite alternatives.
Business led be-
cause they felt it would be interesting and challenging, good
background for their occupation, practical, and the fact that
many felt they sorely needed the knowledge.
sconomics, run-
ning second, was popular because the respondents felt it would
be better baokground for the brokerage business than their own
field, that it was broadening and useful.
Medicine and law
were selected owing to general interest, the professional status and security, and the money which
deemed to
e~rn.
t~ese
individuals are
Liberal arts was chosen because it does not
become obsolete as fast as specialized training and because
it yields a good background, espeCially for an
~:!BA.
Accounting
was included because it is practical, related and helpful in
their work, and because of the pay and respect a GPA enjoys.
For a complete list of desired study areas see Table 5.
18
TABLE
4
COLL'3:GE rrAJORS LISTED BY RESP01TDING BROKERS
COLLEGE
J\~JOR
NUMBER
Business
Economics
Finance
74
Political science
Accounting
Marketing
Engineering
Pistory
15
14
14
12
12
48
27
Chemistry
English
Government
psychology
7
7
7
7
Mathematics
Physics
Biology
Social Science
sociology
Education
Pharmacy
6
6
5
5
5
3
3
Humani ties
Language
Law
Philosophy
politics
Speech
2
2
2
2
2
2
Miscellaneous
9
PERCENT OF
TOTAL (302)
25
16
9
5
5
5
4
4
19
TABLE
5
COLLB:G-E !,oTAJORS LIST'SD BY BROK'SRS AS FORE DESIRABLE
TO
TF®.~
~~JOR
Tl-<AN TP'SIR OWN
STUDY DESIRED
~,~AJOR
FIELD
Nm;~BER
Business
40
Economics
20
Medicine & Dentistry
18
LaW
13
Liberal Arts
10
Accounting
7
History
4
Education
psychology
sociology
Physical Education
Arcti tecture
Social science
English
Engineering
Mathematics
Aviation
veterinarian
political science
20
Through an examination of those who
answE~red
"would
not change" and those who did not list an alternative and
grouping these answers with tre areas originally studied the
author attempted to develop a "satisfaction index" of some
of the more prominent majors actually studied.
psychology,
finance, accounting, English and economics emerged most fulfilling.
For a fill listing of the data, see Table
sa.
specialized Training. In addition to their formal
education, most all tte brokers received specialized training
from Some source.
For most this training consisted of a
NYSE brokerage firm training program.
These programs, which
usually included a trip to New york, normally ranged from
three months to one year in duration; six montts was by far
the most common.
Sighty-eight percent of tre res,pondents par-
ticipated in such a NYSE firm training program.
Cf the 12t
who did not, more than three-fourths were older t.han the
median age of thirty-three years.
Also, their gross commis-
Sions stood nearly 40;s greater t"":an the respondents' average.
The reader should not take this to iI7lply that NYe,S fltm training programs are useless, but that it is the experience tl:at
builds the clientele and the paycheck.
Licenses.
The
~~SE
has a rule proscribing part time
brokers trat is discussed later in this paper.
Many firms
also have policies of prohibiting account executives from
holding various type of licenses, usually real estate and
21
TABLE Sa.
COLLEGE MAJORS TAKEN BY TEE
BROKE~S
wPICP
T~Y
STILL DEEM SATISFACTORY
COLLEGE r,f:AJOR
psychology
Finance
Accounting
English
Economics
political science
~(;arket1ng
Government
Business
Fistory
NUMBER
SATISFIED
PERCENT
SATISFIED
7
100
22
81
10
71
5
71
9
8
60
57
32
6('
4
57'
40
5
54
42~
22
insurance salesman, probably as an aid to the enforcement
of t:te tTYSE rule.
Of the brokers who hold licenses other
than the normal securities license, a cOf:1modities license
is far cut in front with five percent of the respondents
being commodity brokers.
~onest
real estate brokers and
insurance agents hold lag5ing second and third places.
Licenses of all types which were listed as held by the
re~pondents
are presented in Table 6 •
None of the respondents was
a.
certified Financial
Analyst •
Childhood Locales.
About one-half of t'he respondents
grew up in metropolitan areas, about one-fourth in small towns
or rural areas, and the remainder were equally divided between
cities of 50 to 100 thousand and cities of 100 to 500 thousand in population.
Due to the author's methodology, as de-
scribed in an earlier section of this paper, it is doubtful
that
t~is
data would be valid for a truly random sample of
TO the extent the author could separate his truly
brokers.
random replies he believes metro:;:>olitan areas, small towns and
rural areas, and all other cities contribute about one-third
each to the entire population of brokers east of the
summary.
~rississippi.
virtually all of the responding brokers were
males and one-half were under thirty-three years of age.
Ninety percent were married and on the average they had two
children.
The brokers' wives were just as apt to have a college
degree as not, but only a third of the wives worked outside the
home.
23
TABLE
LICENSES LISTED AS
~ELD
6
BY RESPONDSNTS OTPEH THAN
SECURITIES LICENSES
LICENSE
FREQUENCY
Commodity
Real sstate
14
(~roker
& salesman)
6
Life Insurance
5
Pri va te Pi lot
5
Attorney
4
Pharmacy
3
certified pUblic Accountant
2
Radio-Telephone
1
Veterinarian
1
Teaching
1
24
Almost ninety percent of the brokers were college
graduates, but formal education did not appear as helpful
as age and experience when it came to dollars and sense.
over one-half of the college graduates did their study in
business or related fields and many of those who did their
work in other fields would change to business related areas
if they could start over again.
Virtually all the new bro-
kers had received specialized training paid for by their
employer.
B. THE BROKERS' LIFB: STYIE
In this section one may read about
possessions and pastimes
t~e
brokers'
how tney live wr..ile away from
the board room.
Home.
Roughly 7010 of the brokers resided in single
family houses while a little over
25~
lived in apartments;
condominiuffis and miscellaneous other types made up the remainder.
In addition to
t~elr
family residence 2% listed
a city apartment in which they lived during the week and 6.5%
owned recreational cottages.
on the average the brokers' homes were 13 years of
age and were worth
~4l,729;
I
~24,580
of which was the brokers'
equi ty.
Liquid Assets. The median liquid assets listed by
the brokers was $15,000.
pow'ever, t'here were su c:cessful
brokers and there w.ere again successful brokers.
~ven
an
adjusted average which disregarded any item over $500,000
and an equal number of the least prosperous yielded an average
of slightly over $40,000 in liquid assets.
The mode, or the
most frequently listed amount, was $5,000 with $10,000 and
$50,000 and $100,000 falling close behind.
The resulting
26
graph would more closely resemble the absolute value of a
tribonometric function t1:.an any expected bell-shaped curve.
Transportation.
Virtually all the brokers owned
automobiles; the average number and the median were both two.
Sighty percent of the cars were purchased new and the rest
were used.
ualf were paid for in cash.
The average age of
all the cars was 3.6 years, with a noticeable scarcity of
1970 automobiles, probably reglecting the past year's market
activity.
The cars they drive range from 1936 packards and
Porsches to 1970 Falcons and Ferraris, but the General IvTotors
favorite four hold
wide margin.
t~e
lead with Chevrolet out in front by a
A partial listing of the brokers' automobiles
is presented in Table 7.
Six percent of the respondents also own a power boat;
three percent own a motorcycle; and two brokers own their own
plane or lease one.
Pastimes.
country clubs.
one-fifth of the respondents belong to
This is very convenient for their favorite
sports •.. golf and tennis, whicr topped the list of regularly
enjoyed participant sports with 40c1, and
30~
respeetively.
A
partial listing of the sports regularly enjoyed as a participant is contained in Tabl.e
lj.
powever, if it is
~~hanksgi ving
Day in front of the television or a Saturday afternoon at the
stadium, football is the hands down spectator favorite.
A
list of the spectator sports most frequently enjoyed is included as TabJe 9.
27
TA13LE
HAKES OF
AUTO~!OBILES
O~rED
7
BY RESPONDING BROKERS
Chevrolet
pontiac
Oldsmobile
Buick
volkswagen
Ford
81
66
56
Plymouth
Cadillac
Dodge
~. "Ustang
Ford Wagon
Rambler
Chrysler
volvo
Lincoln
18
17
14
11
10
10
Thunder Bird
Benz
valiant
Corvair
Corvette
Porsche
Riviera
~r.ercedes
44
42
41
9
9
9
7
7
6
6
5
Jeep
Comet
opel
Jaguar
Sunbeam Alpine
Austin pealy
Peguot
Alfa Romeo
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
Miscellaneous
29
r.!~G
28
TABLE
8
SPORTS W?ICH THE RESPONDING BROKERS SNJOYED REGULARLY
AS PARTI::IPANTS
SPORT
F::ZEQ.UENCY
PERCENT OF
RESPONDENTS
118
38
Tennis
90
29
Basketball
44
14
swimming
32
10
Softball
23
7
Skiing
14
5
sailing
15
5
Football
15
5
Running
12
4
Bowling
12
4
Handball
9
3
Squash
9
3
Fishing
8
3
Skin Diving
3
1
Golf
29
Hobbies?
Everything from singing to horses.
How-
ever, only reading tops their favorite sports as the favorite
among hobbies.
A partial listing of
t~e
brokers' hobbies
in contained in Table 10.
what do they read?
on the average the brokers read
five periodicals regularly and have read ten books during
the last year.
Their favorite periodicals are of course
the financial journals; a nearly comprehensive listing of
these is presented in Table 11.
Although the Wall street
Journal, Business 1eek, Forbes and Barrons were running
favori tes in that order, the author feels that the 7fall
street Journal would have emerged with a wider lead except
that many of the brokers who read it probably considered
it too obvious to list.
seven out of the ten books read were, on the average,
related to the market.
unrelated, The
~ffoney
Of the two categories, related and
Game and 'r'he Q:odfather were far, far in
front with a fourth of the brokers having read each.
Repre-
sentative favorites as listed are contained in Tables 12 and 13.
}~ore
brokers tend to read corr,pletely different mate-
rial at the office than they do at home, but a large unsolicited extraneous response of "Both" led the author to believe
that there exists little in the way of identifiable reading
patterns of the brokers.
summary.
In summary the average broker is apt to
live in his own $40,000 hOIDe which is about 13 years old and
30
60~
paid for.
His family 'Nill own two cars, at least one
of which is apt to be a General Hotors product.
Reading
and sports, especially golf, tend to occupy much of their
time.
~ost
of their reading time is spent on financial
periodicals and of the books they have read during the
last year The Godfather and The
favorites.
r.~oney
3·ame are the current
31
TABLE
SPORTS
~ICP
9
TEE RESPONDING BROKERS ENJOY REGULARLY
AS
SPECTATORS
SPORT
FREQUSNCY
Football
217
70
Baseball
109
35
Basketball
75
24
pockey
44
14
Golf
33
11
Tennis
16
5
Auto Racing
10
Horse Racing
6
Track
3
~oat
Racing
1freetling
2
2
PERCENT OF
RES P01TJ)ENTS
32
TABLE 10
HOBBIES LISTED BY
RESPO~IDING
BROKERS
PSRCENT OF
RESPONDENTS
HOBBY
Reading
74
24
Golf
54
17
sports
52
17
Tennis
27
9
Gardening
28
9
Fishing
23
7
Bridge
22
7
Music
22
7'
Carpentry-crafts
19
6
Sailing
14
5,
Photography
12
4·
Skiing
11
4
Swimming
11
4·
Flying
12
4·
Hunting
9
3
Cards
7
2
coins
7
2
Stamps
8
2
33
TABLE 10 - continued
HOBBY
Boating
camping
Women
Chess
Cooking
Horses
Singing
Piano-organ
Painting
writing
Art
squash
~,!odel Building
DO-it-yourself projects
Cars
Antiques
community Activities
Bowling
Restoring FUrniture
Television
Theater
Philosophizing
Stock Market Analysis
Miscellaneous others
NUMBER
7
7
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
7
34
TABLE
11
PERIODICALS LISTED AS REGULAR READING BY
RE9PO~~ING
PERIODICAL
BROKERS
NmmER
PERCENT OF
PONDENTS
R~S
Wall Street Journal
187
61
Business Week
181
59
Forbes
175
57
Barrons
138
45
Time
118
38
Fortune
79
26
Life
68
22
Newsweek
56
18
U.S. News & world Report
49
16
Sports Il1ustratea
38
13
Securities
37
12
Playboy
34
11
New york Times sunday
Financial section
26
8
Readers Digest
26
8
National Geographic
18
6
Look
19
6
Financial World
14
5
The Wall street Transcript
11
4
35
TABLE 11 - continued
PERIODICAL
Esquire
New yorker
Sa turday ~eview
Investment Dealers Digest
National Observer
consumer Reports
Better pornes & Gardens
Golf Digest
Federal Reserve Bulletin
Institutional Investor
Financial chronical
Flying
Aviation weekly
Kiplinger Newsletter
National Review
Financial Analysts Journal
Value Line
Changing Times
Various Auto Magazines
Various Photo ~{agazines
Magazine of Wall street
Nations BUsiness
Foreign Affairs
New Republic
Argus Research
Boating
yachting
Family Eandyman
Car & Driver
S & p outlook
Harpers
Various outdoor ;,,/agazines
Various Electronic ~!:agazines
Miscellaneous
READSRS
9
8
7
7
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
50
36
'1'ABLE 12
BOOKS READ
~ICR
::\ELATE TO
AS LISTED BY
TITLE AS LISTED
T~ 3~aURITIES
~ESPONDING
BUSn:ESS
BROKERS
FREQUENCY
The !~',oney Game
81
The Battle for Investment survival
13
Technical Analysis of stock Trends
8
HOW TO Make A l~~illion
8
selling Securities successfully
5
The plungers and the Peacocks
5
Fifty Wall street
5
4
The !~~oney panagers
4
Anyone Can ![ake A Million
The Sophisticated Investor
4
PUts and calls
4
4
The Great crash
security Analysis
4
Fow Wall street Doubles your ~foney
Every TWo years
3
The over the counter securi ties ],~arket
3
How TO BUY Stocks
3
Technical Analysis of the stock Market
3
The Stock Market (Lefler & Farwell)
3
Granville's Theory
3
Bulls Bears and Dr. Freud
3
~OW Charts Can Eelp you In the stock ],.!kt .2
Profits on wall street
2
commodity Trading, options & Their uses 2
How TO sell securities
2
The power of Leverage
2
Reminiscence of A Stock operator
2
Charting (Jiler)
2
The wall street Jungle
2
Chartcraft (Text on P&F Charting)
2
The Age of the Hoguls
2
Common Stocks and uncommon Profits
2
Wall street Now and Then
2
Et al
37
TABLE
BOOKS READ THAT
AR~
13
NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE
S:SCURITIES !3USINESS AS LISTSD BY
TITLE AS LISTED
R~SPO}..T!)ING
FREQUENCY
The Godfather
Airport
portney's Complaint
The peter Principle
The French Lieutenant's woman
The Arrangement
UP the organization
The Rich & the Super Rich
couples
Catch 22
The Adventurers
Instant Replay
Hotel
-sverything you Always wanted to
KnOW About sex
valacbi papers
psycho cybernetics
Love story
Nicholas & Alexandra
Naked Ape
The Source
The Arms at KruPP
Catcher In The Rye
Who Done Its
Herzog
~.'arooned
Salzburg connection
Topaz
The Androneda strain
Ada
The Bible
:st al
BROKERS
87
28
19
18
9
7
7
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
c.
THE
BRO~RS
AT WORK
This section concerns where the brokers worked, their
previous jobs, why
the~r
chose the brokerage bus iness and how
they like it now that they are in it.
one may also find out
a bit about their customers, their income, and some characteristics of the top producers.
Where they worked. About one-third of the respondents
presently work in the same town where they grew up_
AS for
the rest, it appeared tt at if they did not stay :1n their
home town that they were likely to have left their home state
too.
Forty-five percent of the brokers worked in the East;
fiftean percent in the South; and forty percent in the Midwest.
Sixty-five percent worked in metropolitan areas;
twenty percent in cities of 100 to 500 thousand; thirteen
percent in cities of 50 to 100 thousand; and 3 percent in
small towns.
Relatives. Only two percent had relatives who were
their superiors working in the same firm. However, eleven
percent had relatives who worked in related occupations
such as bank trust departments, other brokerage firms, etc.
39
How Long. on the average the brokers have been
employed by the same firm for the last 4.3 years.
-gut the
long timers distort the picture; the median length of
employment with the same firm was only
t~ree
years.
FOw-
ever, the median length of time in the business was longer
than three years since thirty percent of the brokers worked
for another house before they took their present job.
An interesting note was that those who had been working
for tt'e same firm for more than ten years exceeded the
respondents as a whole in their gross commissions by
50~
on the average.
previous jobs.
FOr three-fourths of the brokers,
their current position was not their first.
Tbeir prior
positions ranged from teaching to professional baseball, witb
about thirty percent previously holding sales positions of
some type ••• industrial sales being in the foreground. A
rather comprehensive list of their previous occupations is
included as Table 14.
Present position. Why become a broker in tne first
place?
BY far the most frequently
c~osen
among the alter-
natives presented was ItI was intrigued by the market and
felt I would enjoy working with it."
Almost
70~
of the
brokers indicated tbe above was a definite reason behind
their croice of occupations.
Of the other alternatives
presented, "opportunity" and "intolerable previous situation"
were each listed by
30~
of the brokers and "more money"
40
TABLE 14
PREVIOUS OCCUPATIONS OF R"9:SPONDING BROKERS
NUMB~R
OCCUPATION
Industrial Sales
34
Salesman (unclassified)
19
Insurance Sales
18
Engineer (All types)
18
1ranager (All types)
13
Family Business
13
Accountant
11
Retail sales
11
Armed Services
11
Banking (All facets)
10
Teaching
~rarketing
8
Manager
6
Marketing Research
6
Real Estate Sales
6
(corporate)
6
Insurance Claim Adjuster
5
Legal Work (All types)
5
pUrchasing Agent
5
Advertising
4
corporation officer
4
White
~ollar
41
TABLE 14 - continued
OCCUPATION
Journalist
]linister
Construction Sales
!,~anage!TIent Trainee
Food
Administrative
NUFBER
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Auto Salesman
2
l'anagement Consultant
2
Credi t ~.~anager
2
Electronics
2
Foreman
2
Finance Co.
2
petroleum Distribution
2
systems Analyst
promoter
2
2
Brokerage order Clerk
professional Athlete
2
2
TV Commerc ials
2
construction
Hanufacturer's ~epresentative
2
Bank Examiner
2
Labor Relations
Data processing Manager
Government Contract Administrator
~,.~otel owner
pr..armicist
production Supervisor
Personnel
Probation & Parole Supervisor
university Administrator
plorist
Entertainer
physicist
Internal Revenue service
Farming
r"'Utual pund Employee
customer Relations
Social Worker
~.~ailman
Fisherman
42
...
followed with
20~.
Oddly enough, the alternatives other
than "interest" sro'.'1ed up in just the same propoY'tion even
when the broker had previously just changed houses rather
than occupations.
~appiness
is.
once on the job, what was their
greatest single source of job satisfaction?
JUdging from
the multiplicity of "single source" answers many brokers
had difficulty deciding.
The alternatives presented were
as followS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The sense of accomp11shment I €jet from it.
The fact that it (normally) pays well
The belief that if I perform well, I have
a future in the business
The sense of fulfillment which accompanies
a successful trade for myself or a client
I enjoy being where the action is
The security of the profession anG. my
employee retirement program
The third alternative slightly led t'he first and fourth;
all three were checked by about one-third of the brokers.
rhe second and fifth alternatives came next with one-fourth
of the brokers checking each.
Helancnoly.
dissatisfaction?
What was their greatest source of job
The author listed the following alterna-
tives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
I don't make enough money to buy my family
the things we need and want
rFy income is tOG unpredictable
The firm restricts my actions in too rr,any ways
The emotional tensions often become unpleasant
Number two was the leader with
being checked by
one-t~ird
40~
and number four followed
of the respondents.
Although one-
sixth of the respondents checked number one, the write-ins
43
and incompleted questions indicated that another one-sixth
of the brokers had no major dissatisfactions with their job.
~f.iscellany.
Do the firms push the brokers to sell,
sell, and sell some more?
brokers.
APparently not, said 969& of the
It was also interesting to note that the 410 who
did feel they were pushed werenot isolated in one or two firms.
DO the promotions go to the ones who deserve them?
seventy percent of the brokers felt ttat they do.
HOW
t~e
many
time they
hour~
s~end
a week did the brokers work, including
away from the office.
a week any way one viewed it.
If was fifty hours
only t}1ree E)ercent of the
wives felt that this was too much.
~Ii(as
the broker's wife very important or at least
helpful in his career?
F~y
percent said she was very impor-
tant and ttirty percent felt that she had at least been helpful.
~Yhat
fringe beneri ts did these brokers enj oy?
Health Insurance:
Group Life Insurance:
Profi t-Sharing ?lan:
Retirement plan:
78%
76%
61%
30~
An item of interest was that only two-thirds of those who
participated in any type of stock option or profit-sharing
plan felt it would "be worth a lot of money to me someday."
Along with this were numerous unsolicited comments as to
how poorly the benefit plans were set up.
Research department.
44
pow did the brokers feel about
their firms· research departments.
Almost half of the respon-
dents felt that their firm's prognosticators were "about
average, as NYSE firms go." Thirty percent considered theirs
"generally competent" (th2t is a notch better than average)
and twenty percent thought theirs ranked somewhat less .•.
"often full of hot air.tt The brokers' feelings on this pOint
are discussed further in chapter Five.
office Size.
Again, this figure is biased toward t1:.e
larger offices due to the offices at which the author interviewed and distributed questionnaires.
For this study only,
the average office size was 26 brokers and the median office
size was 20 brokers, which was also the mode.
Brokers' customers.
The median number of trading
accounts (defined as trose with two or more contacts per
week) was 20, the average was 40, and the mode was 50.
The
median was probably the most representative, and the current
market probably cut this figure significantly from what it
was at this time a year ago.
on the average, the brokers described their customers
as follows:
42~ small round lotters
24% odd lotters
l8t wealthy individuals
9~ institutional
5% office traders
confidence.
Eighty-seven percent of the brokers indi-
cated that they thought their customers would fare better if
they listened to the respondent than if they played their own
hunches.
It would interest the author to find out how many
45
customers also feel this way.
How much money did they make?
This was difficult
to discern without asking, and the author did not ask.
How-
ever, one can estimate using gross commission figures, as
did the author.
Gross commissions are what the customer
pays when he buys and sells stock.
Depending on whether
the broker works in the New York office, a branch office,
for one firm or another, or deals primarily with
corr~odities,
bonds, mutual funds, etc. his percentage of gross may vary
from
20~
to 50%,.
Usually, however, the brokers' percentage
of gross ranges from
30~
to
40~,
with
35~
being a very
reasonable average.
The average 1969 gross commissions of the responding
brokers were $48,515 and the median was $47,000; both of
which implied that the average broker grossed for himself
about $16,000 in 1969.
However, this year their first six
months gross commissions will only be
~22,000
which projects
an annual income nearer $13,000 for 1970 ••• all on tbe average.
These figures again reflect the poor market conditions of the
last 18 months.
From what type of securities was their income derived?
on the average stocks led with
73~,
bonds followed with 13%,
and commodities and other, the other being institutions,
trailed with six to seven percent apiece.
However, the
median gross commissions figure (and the mode) for commodities
and nothertf was zero, reflecting the fact that the brokers
in these areas were more than likely to be specialists.
The
46
....
broker who trades next April's wheat and frozen orange juice
is not likely to be the same broker who spends his time
advising
General
!,.~rs.
~agley
]~otors.
wf:at she should do with her ten shares of
The author chose to stay with the "typical'f
broker and included only a few specialists in his data.
pow does
~ ~
it? Although this study was not
intended to be a statistical masterpiece of rigorously
correlated and tested causal variables, the aut1->or nevertheless was interested in t!-'e traits which might be common
to some of the top earners.
~ence,
the author took the
reverse procedure and selected those respondents who grossed
st least $100,000 a year and attempted to isolate some of
their common characteristics.
From this effort is seemed that the big accounts
helped.
The big earners derived about 301 of their business,
that is 7010 over the average of
uals".
18~,
from "wealthy ir::divid-
They also had more than double the institutional
bUSiness of the average broker.
so, fellow brokers, go
after the big accounts and the bank around the corner and
a mutual fund if you can find one, for tr.ere is wtere the
money lies.
Now the reader knows where the big commissions were
quartered.
powever, it would also be nice to ascertain
any characteristics of these elite brokers which might be
instructive to others wishing to emulate their success.
47
Whether one chooses to deal in stocks, bonds, commodities or whatever did not seem to matter.
spending a
little more time working, reading the right books, or going
to the right church did not seem to help much either.
The first thing the average broker must do is to
wait a few years.
The average age of these ultrasuccessful
brokers was just under fifty years and only two were under
the median age for all of the brokers.
Another tl:.ing that appeared to help was trading for
one's own account.
Cn the average
13~
of all the brokers
traded regularly for their own account; 24% traded irregularly; 42t seldem traded; and 22% never traded for their
own account.
~owever,
among the paragons the author found
that 23'lb traded regularly and 33't traded irregularly; both
of which represent roughly 50% more personal account activity
in each of the more frequent trading categories.
Educational background may also be significant.
Ninety percent of the elite respondents who went to college
listed their college major as a business-related area.
Of
the ten percent who did their undergraduate work ir. other
fields, all listed academic honors of some consequence.
¥ow-
ever, if one had a degree in business, average performance
was good enough to get him into the upper tax brackets as a
broker.
It also helped if one worked a few years for the same
firm.
The "more succes sfuP' averaged nine years.
It also
helped if one developed a bit larger than average trading
48
clientele.
Forty-seven trading accounts was the average
figure for the elite, but such a number was definitely not
a prerequisite to success.
summary.
The average broker has probably worked for
his current employer for about three years, with the more
successful brokers having worked for
t~e
saffie firm for the
last ten years.
Three-fourths of the brokers had previous occupations;
for about one-third of these it was a sales related job.
A plurality of the brokers chose the occupation
because they were interested in the market and thought they
would enjoy working with it.
It followed, then, that a
sense of fulfillmert was the greatest satisfaction which they
derived from their work.
The thing that troubled most of
the brokers was the unpredictability of their income, with
emotional tensions a second ailment.
They were generally
happy with firm promotion and selling :cractices.
hours was their work week.
Fifty
Flost enjoyed group insurance
benefits but some had doubts as to the value of their firms'
profit-sharing and pension plans.
'Most deemed their research
departments to be "average as far as NYSE firms gotl and worked
in an office with almost twenty other brokers.
The brokers dealt mostly in stocks, a bit in bonds,
and some in commodities.
They had about twenty trading
accounts apiece and most of their customers dealt in small
round lots.
Ninety percent had confidence in the advice ttey
gave to clients.
49
on
the average
t~e
brokers made about $16,000 in
1969 but estimated they will earn about $13,000 this year.
The big earners had wealthy individuals and mutual funds among
their accounts, worked longer for the same firm, and were
more likely to have a business-related college major than
the average broker.
D. THE BROKERS'
PARENTS~
POLITICS, AFFILIATIONS AND REGRETS
In this fourth section one will find a discussion
of the occupations and educati:n of the brokers' parents;
the political and religious leanings of the brokers, and
some indication of how well they like their jobs.
parents. What kind of work did the brokers' fathers
do?
Again, tre occupations varied from a partner in a NYSE
brokerage firm to two professional athletes, with "owner of
a small business" at the top of the list with a plurality
of 22:g.
This was closely followed by "professional person"
which was listed by 19%.
A grouped itemization of their
fatrers' occupations is included as Table 15.
one-third of their fathers had college degrees as
did one-fifth of their mothers.
Table 16 contains the listed
data on their parents' advanced education.
For three-fifths of the brokers, both of their parents were still alive.
Those brokers whose fathers were
deceased were twenty-nine years old, on the average, at the
time of the father's death.
One may presume that "pressing
childhood responsibilities tl and the like were not instrumental in selecting the brokerage business as a career.
51
TABLE 15
LIST~
FAT~RS
OCCUPATIONS OF BROKERS'
OC0UPATION
Nm.mE!t
small Business Owner
69
professional Person
57
Top-Level Sxecutive
31
semi-skilled Worker
31
salesman
32
l~anager
23
Laborer
16
Skilled ',vorker
13
clerk
12
Account Executive
9
Farm owner
9
52
TABLE 16
ADVANCED SDUCATION OF THE PA:qENTS OF
RESPONDING BROKERS
DEGR~E
colle 5e De gree
Advanced Degree
FATPER
99
67
32%
221b
34
10
lIt
53
More than one-half of the brokers moved between
one and five times during their childhood; almost one-third
did not move at all.
on the average, they each had two siblings.
Affiliations.
Sixty-five percent of the brokers
were Republicans, twenty-five percent were Democrats, and
the rest were either unregistered or independents.
Fifty percent considered therr.selves politically
moderate, a bit over thir1iY percent conservative, and the
rest deemed themselves liberal.
Nearly halt of the brokers were affiliated with
Protestant churches, a fourth with Gatholic, a fifth with
Jewish, a.nd the rest were not affiliated with any church.
A complete listing of
t~eir
religious affiliations is
included as Table 17.
Just under seventy percent belonged to at least
one civic organization, fifty-six percent to at least one
fraternal organization, and thirty percent to at least one
professional organization.
Their favorites among the
respective categories were the Jaycees, college fraternities,
and the local bond clubs.
A partial listing of their
~ember­
ships is included as Tables 18-20.
~thics.
Did the question of the proper ethical con-
duct of a broker arise in tte course of their work?
of the brokers indicated that questions of
arose; a third said
t~ey
suc~
?alf
nature rarely
did come up sometimes, and the rest
•
54
said they encountered such questions quite often.
The lack
of a specific definition of what the author deemed to fall
under the heading of "ethical conduct" may have been responsible for tne scattering of replies.
Change jobs?
If our brokers could now change occupa-
tions, w:-:'at occupations would the?
choose~
Almost a fourth
would not change occupations even if given the chance.
Of
those that would, sales, law, operating their own business,
and medicine were the fields they
c~ose
most frequently.
A
complete listing of their alternative choices is contained
as Table 21.
Summary.
The brokers' fathers were
~ost
likely to
be owners of small businesses or professional people.
A
third of their fathers had college degrees as did a fifth
of t};eir mothers.
on the average, they each
~ad
two siblings.
A majority of our brokers were ::zepublicans.
Palf
considered themselves moderate witt half again as many listing"conservative lt a¢isted "liberal lt •
Half of the brokers were Protestant, a fourth Catholic and a fifth Jewish.
A majority belonged to at least one
civic and one fraternal organization.
Given the opportunity to change occupations a plurality
would not.
Sales positions, law, or owning their own business
intrigued many of those
the chanee.
'.'1:-:0
would change occupations if given
55
TASLE 17
R'!!:LII}IONS LISTED
ny
RESPONDING BROKERS
RELIGION
~mf,tBER
catholic
73
24
Jewish
60
20
143
47
Prostestant
Episcopalian
Methodist
presbyterian
Christian
Luthern
B~tist
25
25
28
7
7
6
3
unitarian
Christian Scientist
2
Church 0 f GOd
Independent
congregational
Q,uaker
united Church of Christ
Undesignated Protestant
NONE
28
PSRCENT OF
TOTAL
56
TABLE 18
CIVIC O::ZGANIZATIONS LISTED BY :t"SSPONDING BROK3:RS
ORGANIZATIO}!
NmmER
Jaycees
Local Clubs
Chamber of Commerce
Service leagues
~iwanis
Brani Erith Jewish Temple
sertoma
Lions
Rotary
Church Clubs
optimist
m~
Scouting
Exchange Club
Big Brothers
Civitan
Council of ASsoc. Jewish Charities
Athletic Club
School PTA
School Board
young Republicans
Council on Foreign Affairs
Jr. Achievement Advisor
Goin Club
Altrusa
Toastmasters
Junto
~ental ~ealth Association
Art Association
culver Club
Economy-:nub
century Club
32
15
13
12
11
11
10
9
7
6
6
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
57
TABLE
FRAT~RNAL
19
ORGANIZATIONS LISTED BY RESPONDING BROKERS
ORGANIZATION
college Fraternities
Masons
~lks
Knights of Columbus
Shrine
Sports Associations
American Legion
Alumni Associations
Church Fraternities
Scottish Rite
Eagles
K of P
V .F.W •
BPOE
Turners
Fraternal order of police
A.D.G.
Odd Fellows
Olympia Club
70
19
14
14
5
5
5
7
3
3
2
2
2
58
TABLE 20
PRO~SSIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS LISTED
~y
RESPONDING BROKERS
ORGANIZATION
Bond Club
15
security Club
9
Armed service Clubs
7
Technical Analysts Associations
7
stockbroker Associations
3
stock Traders Associations
3
Bar Associations
3
Engineering Societies
3
pro Baseball Associations
2
American pharmaceutical Association 2
AICPA
2
American Marketing Association
American BUS iness '"omen
S .A.E.
Investment Bankers Association
Association of Life underwriters
New york Academy of Sciences
Press Club
59
TABLE 21
PRE~RRED
OCCUPATIONS LISTED BY RESPONDENTS
OCCUPATION
stockbroker
sales: all types
Lawyer
Entrepreneur
Doctor
Teaching
corporate Manager
Aviator
Banker
Investment counselor
Recreational BUsiness
Architect
Real Estate
portfolio p,lanager
Accountant
~!ianufacturers Representative
Farming
Investment Banking
Engineer
!\,~u tual FUnd Manager
commodity Broker
Yinister
politics
writer
Financial planner
Et al
FREQUENCY
72
20
16
15
15
9
8
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
E. BROKERS' CmHf:ENTS
In concluding his questionnaire the author wished to
elicit the feelings of the respondents regarding the duties
of a broker and his relationship with his clients as well as
the respondents' feelings about the securities market as it
functions today.
TO accomplish this task the author composed two statements upon which he requested comment.
The first of these
was a description of wr.at the author considerea to be an
ideal broker; the second was such as a cynic might make while
ridiculing the securities industry over a second martini.
responses to both statements ranged from a flat
an equally unequivocal "I disagree."
If
The
I agree" to
Between t}'1ese extremes
the author found an entire spectrum of qualified comments.
Among these qualifications were the serious and thoughtful
which the author deemed most si271ificant; the cliches and
cynical some of which the author nevertheless considered
interesting; and humor which at times verged upon the classic
which the author found most enjoyable.
Immediately following are the statements, a selective
group of replies, and a discussion of
The author believes that
.'
t~e
t~eir
significance.
reader will find that together
these replies are not only Significant, interesting and