Tackling bull & bear

By Ranjan K Baruah

We are aware of the recent advertisements which are related to mutual funds. In today’s edition I am trying to write something related to making money and a career option related to financial market. Before writing about the career option let us understand about the field that is yet to be explored by people in the state or in the North East.
Securities market is a component of the wider financial market where securities can be bought and sold between subjects of the economy, on the basis of demand and supply. Securities markets encompasses equity markets, bond markets and derivatives markets where prices can be determined and participants both professional and non-professionals can meet.
Securities markets can be split into below two — primary markets where new securities are issued and secondary markets where existing securities can be bought and sold.
Secondary markets can further be split into organised exchanges, such as stock exchanges and over-the-counter where individual parties come together and buy or sell securities directly.
For securities, a holder knowing that a secondary market exists in which their securities may be sold and converted into cash increases the willingness of people to hold stocks and bonds and thus increases the ability of firms to issue securities.
There are a number of professional participants of a securities market and these include brokerages, broker-dealers, market makers, investment managers, speculators as well as those providing the infrastructure, such as clearing houses and securities depositories. A securities market is used in an economy to attract new capital, transfer real assets in financial assets, determine price which will balance demand and supply and provide a means to invest money both short and long term.
We keep money in banks or invest in many other areas. We also keep money in insurance companies. When we look at the interest then we can see that interests are different for different companies or financial institutions. Have you wondered who manages the funds or capitals that we invest?
Some of the career options that come to our mind straight include broker/dealer, merchant banker, mutual fund distributor, research analyst, wealth manager. This financial services sector looks for graduates with commerce, economics, finance, mathematics, management background, etc.
There are many mutual funds companies or trade brokerage agencies which hire aspirants. Leading brokers in India include Angel broking, ICICI Direct, Motilal Oswal, ShareKhan, HDFC Securities, Kotak Securities and Axis Direct, among others.
Stock brokers work with institutional investors as securities traders, securities analysts, advisors or dealers. Brokers also work with banks, MF, pension funds, insurance companies and other FIs or work with individual clients. All companies require efficient researchers and hence this brings opportunity for people who are efficient in market research.
Like working for other companies one may also become good advisor and earn good amount. Like advisor smart young people may invest in share market and earn good amount of money. We need to study the market properly and nowadays there are many options to learn about the share market.
There is websites like www.moneycontrol.com which help individuals to learn more about the recent trends in the share market. Presently, only two exchanges in India — the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd and the Bombay Stock Exchange — provide trading in futures and options. There are post graduation management courses related to securities analysts. Securities analysts’ job involves a lot of reading, research, meeting people, writing etc. With ideas all of us may earn extra income or full time income through trading or through share market.

(Ranjan K Baruah is a career mentor and can be reached at [email protected] or 8473943734 for any career related queries)