How much to profit form stocks before writing on resume

Hey, the title kind of says everything. What is an impressive return % to when someone can write they return on their resume? 

Would 100%+ be good to have on a resume or what are your thoughts? 

18 Comments
 

I don't think anyone would take your Robinhood trades very seriously, so probably not a good idea to have it on your resume (wouldn't appear very serious). But it can make for good talking point during interviews

 

I'm a student, so what the fuck do I know, but I'd imagine unless it was something ridiculous your best bet would be to keep it off.  This year especially, with so many people being up well into double digits, some even triple digits since March, that it wouldn't look crazy to show off your 120% return (just an example obviously).  If you're some freak thats managed 300% this year, thats a different story.

 
Most Helpful

Don't put it on your resume at all.

Everyone has a brokerage account and putting you returned XX% would not help you in any way. Leaves too much open for interpretation. 

I could see it being torn to shreds in an interview: 

-  What is the dollar amount? (Showing +100% return on a few hundred bucks isn't meaningful...see below)

- Over what time period? ("Oh you bought TSLA in January 2020. Nice work." This doesn't prove you are a good investor.)

- Are you holding other stocks that are underperforming?

- Is this one brokerage account or many? ("Oh, I forgot to tell you about my other account that is returning less than the market.")

If you made a little bit of scratch in the market, try to start a business with it.

Put that on your resume and talk about what you learned, how you succeeded / failed. That would be a lot more meaningful. 

 

I get your point and I totally agreee but isnt there a % that would kind of distinguish between the normal and rare if u get my point? hypothetically say I am 200% this year and managed to pay college with it, would it then be relevant to mention or would it still be something that should not be included?

 

I’d probably never put it on my resume, but if you insist then one year, even if it’s 1000%, isn’t really relevant.
 

At least wait until you have 3+ years of consistent, auditable outperformance using meaningful dollar amounts and following an identifiable strategy (ie not just buying hype stocks). Even then, demonstrating your thought process by explaining one or two of your theses is worth 100x more than just the return number

 

No, this is idiotic as you have no idea how to invest. And that's not a knock on you, you've never been trained in such a way. Biggest mistake amateurs make is not being able to distinguish between luck and skill. It's mistake even professionals make who have been trained for this & are well-informed with various psychological biases, can't expect someone who's never spent a day professionally investing to know it

Echo what above poster said. I work in AM and if I saw this on your resume I'd think you were a) arrogant, b) lucky, and c) a little bit stupid for thinking you putting it on a resume would impress me. It also opens you up to ridicule beyond the questions that Johnny Cashflow brought up as even if all your positions were successful, I'd dig into your thesis to gauge your understanding of the stock which will inevitably show gaps in understanding. 

 

Unless you were able to put together a well thought out investment thesis (like any hedge fund) and follow that thesis to a T to create an impressive risk adjusted return, no one will give a shit and even if you did do all that, still no one gives a shit. Any idiot with a few bucks who bought into the market when it bottomed out will have done well for themselves.

 
Funniest

My mom got 175% returns in the past few months on the hobby portfolio that my dad set up for her just from watching Jim Cramer and taking tips from my 19 year old cousin who gets all of his information from 4chan and wallstreetbets. 
 

Don’t put this on your resume

 

I would not include it. Literally everyone trades/ buys stock on the sides. I've had a few years (17 and 19) where I returned 30%+ on my portfolio, which is heavy S&P 500 mutual funds, doing almost nothing.

Now, if you were investing funds on the behalf of others, and had a real business plan, I would include a little snip it so long as you can intelligently talk about it.

 

College hardos doing this exact thing is a meme in the Finance community. Doing this will just make you look like a wiener. Frankly, the higher your gains, the stupider you look. 

 

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The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.

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