What Degree Should I get??

pipsmagoo

Forum Newbie
Hey Guys,
Somewhat of an off topic question, but one I'm hoping this forum can help me better understand. I'm current'y studying at the university (in the U.S) and am finishing up my two year degree in Science. I was planning on finishing my 4 year in Aerospace engineering. Since I've started trading however, I've been considering tailoring my formal education around my trading. Now I know you don't need a degree to be a successful trader, but i'm also not what you would consider a successful trader(yet!!) so in the mean time I'm going to push forward with school. I've heard of traders getting degrees from economics to mathematics and everything in between. Does anyone here incorporate their formal education into their trading systems?? thanks in advance for your responses!
 

scotch

Forum Newbie
This is a very difficult question to answer, simply because there's no direct yes or no answer to be had...

But to make a very long story a little less long:
No, don't pursue post-secondary education with the idea of furthering your trading. Because my degree is in economics, I'll use that as an example. When it comes to economics, there's a massive divide between "real-world" economics and "academic" economics. Yes, academic economics is a fantastic tool to help you understand the key concepts of economics, and also helps develop your economic "sense".... but you're not going to learn anything that is directly applicable. After a four year economics degree, you're going to know a wide range of concepts, figures, and theories that have no place or application in trading, or most other places outside of a post-grad thesis. The same pretty much goes for mathematics. Any kind of calculation you're going to do in retail trading involves the basic four: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and (sometimes) division. There's really nothing else to do there. Calculus is a fun tool, and makes you feel smart, and you can make some neat observations that you couldn't before, but it's not going to tell you anything new, or give you a direct edge. But unless you're arbitraging volatility of option expiries, or something similarly asinine, higher-level mathematics isn't going to sit you down and give you something that you can apply to the markets.

At the same time, I really believe that having an education in something else, having a job or a career, having a calling, outside of trading is important. "Man cannot live on bread alone"; he can't live too well off of straight-up retail spot fx, either. If you can see yourself doing aerospace by day and trading by night, like some kind of post-grad batman, then do it. Having a backup in case of a personal crash, or even just as something that you can go to and take your mind off markets for a while, is a fantastic plan.

All that being said, if you have the opportunity, you should definitely take an introduction to micro/macro course if your course schedule will allow for it. There's some really cool stuff you learn at about the second year level that will definitely change the way you think about the market, if not the way you trade it. If you're going into aerospace, you're already going to learn all the math you'll ever need. The only individual course I could suggest there is maybe a stats class or two. There's some nifty stuff in there too.

Look, I know I'm not really being a big help, but the truth is there's no easy answer to your question. It's really up to you and what you see yourself doing in ten, fifteen, twenty-five years that will determine that answer. But, if there's one big takeaway from this that I think you should consider, it's this: economics degrees are almost completely unemployable. Even most big banks won't hire econ grads these days, instead preferring math majors, computer engineers, and other quant-related degrees. I think economics is fun, and I enjoy the abuse of measuring the Phillips Curve; but it's not exactly the most employable major. And unless you land a gig as a macro analyst for a niche firm that deals in currencies, it's not very well-paying, either.

Final thought: Do I apply economics to my trading? I'd say yeah. I spend a lot of time analyzing macro data to give myself an idea of where overall market currents are flowing. But the economics I use, I didn't learn from a university course. What I use, how I analyze markets has come out of nine solid years of looking at raw macro data. I've gotten progressively fancier with the numbers I choose, and how I chop them up and mix them together, but it's still the same stew(hey look, another terrible metaphor).

Bottom line: don't get a degree in the hopes of it making you a better trader; it won't. I've met a lot of post-grads who are just as good at losing money as fresh-faced trading noobs. A degree relating to trading can help you better UNDERSTAND the market, and how all the little numbers interact with each other, but nothing from a university will teach you how to make money off of that.

As with most things, I'll probably come up with something idiotic to say on the topic later, so keep an eye out for any edits I make to this.
 
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