Someone point me in the right direction lol?

Question

my dad is an investor and works for great eastern bank

he's always tried explaining his career to me, but i just dont understand how what he does connects to where he works. like i know investors take other people's money and invest it in stocks

but how exactly does that work?

and how do you know what stocks to invest in

furthermore..what does that have to do with working at a bank??

i feel like i MIGHT be interested in the kind of work he does if i actually understand what investors do

bahh lol

somebody please explain this to me

Answer 1

I imagine your dad has learned so much in investing for other people that he cannot explain it to you in a short chat.  I only manage my investments and that of a friend.   I can tell you that a professional money manager is someone who earns trust of the years and values maintaining that trust relationship.   The first quality of a great firm and an excellent money manager is honesty and character.  That is easy to say; but, I am just going to say that the finance part is less than half of the total lessons that someone like your dad learns.  I wish he could take you to work one day when things are slow.  Your dad is being paid to understand what I call "Mr. Market."  And Mr. Market can trick the smartest investor in the city.   You might have the right stuff.  But, I think your dad would agree that earning the trust of the client is "job one."  It begins with honesty.  Skills follow.  As a youngster you might enjoy focusing on retail stocks in the apparel area.  That is not meant as a slam.  I personally cannot understand young fashion.  Crox is hot, now its not.  Fickle customers or maybe inferior growth plan at Crox. Just an example.   Give it a try. It just might be the work that makes you look forward to going to the office.

Answer 2

People pay him based on commission like the amount of $ they give him or the amount of $ he makes them

If he is a broker he buys stocks believing they will go higher

But knowing what stocks go up and what stocks go down is very hard to learn and can take years of practice

He reads reports from the companies like their 10-K and 10-Q plus reports from other companies about jobs, gas, the US Economy

The bottom line is all the info I wish I could tell you would take me hours to write and you wouldn't understand much of it anyway just ask your dad to tell you slowly or if you could go to work with him one day but if do like math numbers charts reading and have good peolpe skills you might want to work as a broker

Answer 3

"and how do you know what stocks to invest in"

lol...that question is something that your Dad also tries to answer when he invests. A lot of things go into it, and it can never be said with certainty.

As far as investing itself goes, its pretty straight forward. Buying stocks is like buying  a piece of a company. The main point for individual investors is to make money through the dividends (its paid on per share basis) and make money through capital gains, which is what you gain when you sell the stock for more than what you bought it for.

He works in a bank and invests because hes probably an investment advisor.