Societal value of sales and trading?

So intern in S&T. I choose this path initially because with wanted to learn more about the markets. Beyond that however I fail to understand why people like the role so much. Yes it’s nice to have work life balance. Your role doesn’t even change much as you get more senior. But I fail to see how S&T benefits society and helps people beyond hedge funds. At least banking advises companies that ultimately help people and at the very least you can exit into something else. For S&T it feels like you’re just moving money back and forth between hedge funds. All the relationships are transactional. At the end of the day hedge funds and financial markets aren’t things everyday people care about unless the markets crashing. Also it seems hard to pivot into anything else unless you leave a couple years into your career.

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I think you have a rose colored view on banking. Most of our clients don't actually help people or benefit society. That sort of thing always rank below maximizing shareholder value. Fiduciary duty is a thing, being altruistic when you have shareholders to answer to is not.

If you want to be somewhere that benefits society, unfortunately finance is likely not the way.

 

You could view it as helping people save money for retirement or other life goals, or even just adding liquidity to society, by facilitating the easy trade of goods and money

Array
 

Yes I know I was naive. Any suggestions for other career paths in finance or other fields? I don’t mind more schooling if it means I like my job more.

 

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