It is often said that working as a stock broker is stressful, not everyone is able to withstand the pressure, each decision can have positive effects or in turn, devastating effects, workers have many responsibilities, we could say that too many.

BUT WHY THIS JOB IS ESPECIALLY STRESSFUL?

To begin with, the amount of money that is in play is a crucial factor, we are not talking about 100€, we are talking about millions of euros, therefore, a bad decision, would result in a huge loss of several millions. A stock broker could ruin someone’s life in just seconds!

Imagine that you were the owner of a company, and you use the stock market to finance a part a of your business. One day you leave a large amount of money to a stock broker and the next day you have lost all the money, and you cannot sustain the company, it would be terrible, but for the stock broker would be even worse. Even if the investment has been lost due to completely unpredictable causes, all the blame will fall on his shoulders. The value of the shares changes in a matter of minutes and even seconds, it can happen that a good investment a minute later becomes the worst, these variations are unexpected, it is true that before investing in a certain action you can observe the trends of the last few months, but there can be a shock in the economy that changes everything radically. In short, the stress caused by this work can be summed up in one word: RISK!

HOW DOES RISK AFFECT US?

Given the risk we can adopt three positions, being risk-averse, being risk-neutral, o being risk-takers. A risk-averse person will try to avoid those variable elements whenever possible. A neutral person at risk is indifferent to the variable elements. A person who loves risk, even enjoy finding risky situations. Stock brokers are generally neutral or risk-loving. Because if they were averse, their profession would not make much sense, since they would prefer to invest little or not to invest directly. The following photograph is a metaphor of what the risk means to me, the mouse wants the piece of cheese, but it knows that getting it can cost its life, but if it managed to catch the piece of cheese without being caught by the trap it would have a huge utility! Sometimes in life it is good to risk, but you have to try to have as much information as possible, even if there are variable elements you will be prepared for any situation.

CURIOSITY ABOUT HORMONES AND RISK

Recent studies have begun to highlight the relationship between hormones and risk. A group of researchers did an experiment in which they injected cortisol and testosterone to a group of people and had to make decisions in a simulation of investments as if it was a game, and then there was a second group, called a control group where no hormone was applied. The first group made much more risky decisions than the second. Few studies have been done about this field so they will have to continue analyzing if the relationship is causal or if it is really significant.

To sum up, if you love the word of finances but you have little tolerance to stress, look for alternatives! Maybe scientists continue with the study of hormones and invent a new drug that helps making decisions without fear, but I see it very unlikely!



