Life After Sales/Execution Trading?
What options/career paths are there for people in sales trading or execution trading when they "age out"? There do not appear to be a lot of people in these roles north of age 45-50. But nowadays it also seems these roles don't allow the people that have them to make enough money to retire by age 50.
In a sell side research/strategy role you see guys in their 60s, 70s, etc. So basically age isn't an issue. Buyside analysts at a hedge fund tend to be under 50 but they can be older and there are a lot of "outs" once they get older (long only mutual fund analyst, investor relations for a company, work in a corporate job for a company in your sector, etc.).
But execution/sales trading really don't seem to offer many "outs". The skills don't appear to really transfer well to anything so a lot of guys seemingly hit their 40s/50s and have to go restart a new career (likely with much lower earning potential). Are there avenues for such people to take?
Some can go into execution trading on the buy side, very few though.
Most of the time a lot of the guys go into IDB type jobs. Some retire. Some play with their money. Some play with themselves. You are right to say that it's looking pretty grim at the moment the perspective of earning a lot of dough during your gig. There are always 3rd and 4th tier shops you can go to if you were at a pretty decent place at first.
It's tough for everyone. Sales in their 60s and 70s? What type of planet do you live on? It's the same shi.t for them as it is for sales traders. In age in exit opps etc.. When you have your own clients, go to a third tier bank or IDB, if it's one or two client that pay you North of USD 2mln a year, you can expect to bring in 15% of what you bring, or 50% at an IDB. Enough to live on.
If you are management material you might be heading markets at some point, or all of global equity. Who knows. It doesn't mean you'll be jobless though.
Life after S&T (Originally Posted: 02/04/2012)
For those who have worked in a trading capacity, how easy or difficult are new jobs to come by?
I know people who tend to have a defined path like being a Finance manager or a controller at high-tech firms and they have endless job opportunities. Computer scientists have a defined career path and the demand for employees is insane.
I looked on job boards and finance jobs are very scarce. The FO type roles are even more scarce. I have experience as a commodities trader and I don't even know how to go about finding a new job. There's no defined path like the ones I mentioned above.
If you are an experienced commodity trader, you should know some people in your network who switch career or industry after S&T. Ask them how they did it.
Commodities sales for a producer or manufacturer, prop firm, trade your own account, hedge fund sales(raise capital), and many more options. It is all in what you WANT to do.
Good Luck!
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