Economist careers

[Chartsy]

I'm 17, and really torn between several career paths, between law and economics, nothing else really. My AS levels are economics geography biology and maths, economics is by far my best subject given my gcse and AS module results.

I'm looking into careers for an economics degree,economist being the main one. It sounds pretty interesting but there's a few things in my mind which put me off
Firstly,I trade price action only , maybe read some news, on my swing trades, i'm afraid that by making a career based on forming a bias on the global economy (hence market direction) i won't be able to focus just on technicals and would be influenced by my macroeconomic views (is this a bad thing??!?!), and generally i don't really know what an economist DOES!

I'd really appreciate someone who knows something to come forward!

 

[Masquerade]

Study what you enjoy.

As for the trading, do you really think having some understanding of what's going on in the market is actually a bad thing to trading success? You think people make millions just drawing squiggles on charts? Speak to Mr Sorros and ask him what he thinks about TA

As for the economist job, it depends who you work for. There aren't that many pure economist jobs and you're more likely to end up as an analyst.

 

[DashRiprock]

trading aint got noffink to do wiv ecomix.

if it was it would be

Q: "trader A is an efficient small firm on a "1 and 10" commision package who wishes to maximise profits subject to the EMH and execution costs. Find an expression for his marginal utility of AUM"

A: "Form the Lagrangian...."

 

[Masquerade]

trading aint got noffink to do wiv ecomix.

Surely it'd depend on the time scale? If you're making projections for the next 6 months a knowledge of Economics is going to be helpful. If you're trying to work out if eur/usd is going to move up/down in the next hour/tomorrow then the economics is pretty irrelevant

 

[DashRiprock]

absolutely.

well rudimentary economics might be helpful but you don't need an econmics degree to pick that up... economics is a bit of science about w@nking - its interesting for those doing it, but no-one else.

 

[new_trader]

I'm 17, and really torn between several career paths, between law and economics, nothing else really. My AS levels are economics geography biology and maths, economics is by far my best subject given my gcse and AS module results.

I'm looking into careers for an economics degree,economist being the main one. It sounds pretty interesting but there's a few things in my mind which put me off
Firstly,I trade price action only , maybe read some news, on my swing trades, i'm afraid that by making a career based on forming a bias on the global economy (hence market direction) i won't be able to focus just on technicals and would be influenced by my macroeconomic views (is this a bad thing??!?!), and generally i don't really know what an economist DOES!

I'd really appreciate someone who knows something to come forward!

Austrian or Keynesian?

 

[Jack o'Clubs]

I'm looking into careers for an economics degree,economist being the main one. It sounds pretty interesting but there's a few things in my mind which put me off
Firstly,I trade price action only...

So do you want to be an economist or a trader? For all the jokes about economists, it's not a bad degree to have under your belt (providing its from a decent university), it opens up plenty of career options (have a look at the jobs pages at the front of The Economist, or put 'Economist' as a search term into efinancialcareers). It certainly doesn't close off the option of being a trader.

... i'm afraid that by making a career based on forming a bias on the global economy (hence market direction) i won't be able to focus just on technicals and would be influenced by my macroeconomic views (is this a bad thing??!?!)

Don't worry about that, it shouldn't be difficult to seperate the stuff you know as an economist from the things you see as a trader - just keep in mind the old saw about the markets staying irrational longer than you can stay solvent...

 

[Masquerade]

Don't worry about that, it shouldn't be difficult to seperate the stuff you know as an economist from the things you see as a trader - just keep in mind the old saw about the markets staying irrational longer than you can stay solvent...

Use less leverage!

 

[Chartsy]

Well i guess doing an economics degree has advantages over law:
1) IF i'm crap at trading but still enjoy learning about economies...then im sorted
2)IF i improve my trading( which is becoming consistent, im sure in 5 years time i'll be better), i can use an economics degree and trading record to give leverage for position at a prop firm/IB
3) i can still do law if i decide i'd rather do it, after the economics degree....
4)seems to be considered a 'powerhouse' degree, skills applicable to many careers

 

[DashRiprock]

also bear in mind that being an economist is a bit like being a lawyer, because you make up bullsh!t just to sound convincing so you get paid.

 

[amit1986]

An economics professor of mine once told me that faculty prefer to have students who have studied math as their undergraduate degree because they are more prepared for the analytical content graduate economics requires. So, whilst you may enjoy economics in high school, your focus should be on math. The kind of math you will see in advanced economics courses is nothing like you see in high school. In fact, sometimes you'll wonder whether you're in an economics class at all. So, make sure you have an aptitude for math.

Second, trading really has nothing to do with economics. Infact, in many econ courses, your professors will force you to believe that it is not possible to develop a consistently profitable trading system because of EMH. Take that with a grain of salt if you wish to pursue a trading career .

 

[Chartsy]

An economics professor of mine once told me that faculty prefer to have students who have studied math as their undergraduate degree because they are more prepared for the analytical content graduate economics requires. So, whilst you may enjoy economics in high school, your focus should be on math. The kind of math you will see in advanced economics courses is nothing like you see in high school. In fact, sometimes you'll wonder whether you're in an economics class at all. So, make sure you have an aptitude for math.

Second, trading really has nothing to do with economics. Infact, in many econ courses, your professors will force you to believe that it is not possible to develop a consistently profitable trading system because of EMH. Take that with a grain of salt if you wish to pursue a trading career .

Yer, lots of maths i here, what kind though? is it just algebra manipulation/calculus etc?

 

[DashRiprock]

Yer, lots of maths i here, what kind though? is it just algebra manipulation/calculus etc?

yeah calculus of functions of multiple variables is pretty much it.

So things like differential equations and integration, optimisation, matrix methods, stuff like that.

 

[Chartsy]

i've done differentiation/integration, haven't done any optimisation or matrix methods

 

[Chartsy]

are you an economist diprock?

 

[DashRiprock]

are you an economist diprock?

no trader but have maths + econ background

 

[Chartsy]

cool, just looking...average salary for a london economist is £62k,compared to £37500 for solicitors!

 

[DashRiprock]

any ar$ehole can be a solicitor ffs! not everyone can be an analyst in the city.

 

[Jack o'Clubs]

The only point in doing law is to become a barrister and actually do something interesting with your day. Solicitor....it's like studying economics and becoming an actuary (as accountancy was too exciting).

 

[Chartsy]

i still respect solicitor as a tough career depsite what you guys think! Economist basically is analyst then...of economic data