Stock Markets Exposed

Can a professinal stock broker / mutual fund analyst also make personal investments?

I enjoy personally investing in stocks and options and am considering a career path as a stock broker or mutual fund analyst working for an investment corporation (JP Morgan, Edward Jones, etc). Are there any ethical or legal rules against a professional broker/analyst making personal trades outside of work?

Public Comments

1. Absolutely. I wouldn't hire one who didn't. A stock analyst can't before his opinions are published for public consumption.
2. You are able to make personal trades while being employed as a broker/analyst. Most often, the brokerage you work for will require you to move your account to the firm. This could result in higher fees and much higher costs/trade. There can also be conflicts of interest for analysts/brokers (i.e. insider trading, front-running large trades), but hopefully a firm you would be looking to join will have guidelines and policies in place to limit these conflicts and promote an ethical workplace.
3. Yes, of course. But the rules vary depending on the shop that one works in. Some, if not most, require that the analyst must not own shares of companies he/she covers. In the case of mutual fund reasearch people,other investors are often happy to see fund managers and research staff with "skin in the game". The one commonality is that disclosure is required, both at the institutional level and individual level.
4. Yes you can. You should apply at JP MARLIN.
5. Spring is the only "really" correct answer here. There are different laws pertaining to a "mutual fund analyst" and a "stock broker/financial advisor" in those retail shops you mentioned. But by law you have to move all your investment money to them and anybody living in your household "should" have their investments with you too. (so the SEC can monitor you more efficiently). If you do not have those investment accounts of your household members, every year you have to explain why in written format to the SEC/firm you are working at. Outside investors LOVE when their advisors are invested in the same things. Its a good thing. If you lose money so do they. Also, it is not "more expensive" as one put it. Most people with alot of money(trust fund people for example) usually migrate to these jobs because they can trade their own accounts "cheaper". You get the employee discounted rate. (example, if you work at "GAP" do you get a discount on clothes when you work there?)