What makes you tick? FinanceFeeds delves into the buying habits, lifestyles and career priorities of 2000 FX industry professionals
Are you driven to build your career in FX, and do you care about leadership or status? What goals are important? Progress and dedication, or frivolous spending? We look at a cross section of 2000 FX industry employees to look at what is important to them, with some very interesting results.
Are we shallow and superficial, or do we have depth and substance? Do the leaders of this continually innovating and pioneering business sector view it as a long term career and hold a steady line of dedicated ambition, or is the leadership and innovation the product of hedonistic personality?
FinanceFeeds has conducted research over the past two weeks in the format of an anonymous survey across 2000 FX industry professionals that range from senior management to junior sales and administrative personnel, across all sectors from technology provision to retail brokerage to compliance and to ancillary service provision in order to gain a cross section of what is important to those who have dedicated at least some degree of their career to the FX and electronic trading business.
It is a perception that generally, those with any degree of seniority in the FX industry are absolutely committed to their careers, with radical changes in employment status or moves to completely unrelated industry sectors being relatively rare compared with other technologically driven business sectors.
Bearing in mind that the FX business tends to be concentrated in certain regions of the world, yet serves a global audience, it is a truly international industry, with professionals from many nations of the world operating from the major centers, those being London, Sydney, New York, Limassol, Chicago (listed derivatives), Hong Kong and Singapore, creating hubs and nerve centers for specific parts of the business, with a multicultural backbone.
Thus, in order to look at what drives those who strive for success every day, FinanceFeeds survey concentrated not on the commercial aspirations of those in the industry, but their buying habits and priorities on a daily basis, and long term life goals.
Segmenting the differences between those employed in each of the centers provides an interesting differential. For example, London is home to more FX industry employees that are focused on longer term stability compared to Cyprus, where status, image and egoism are more prioritized.
We provided 14 categories to 2000 randomly selected employees across every sector of the global FX industry, asking each respondent to list them on a scale of 1 to 16 in order of how they personally prioritize each one.
Overall result across the FX industry globally:
1: Image and status
2: Retirement at 50
3: Competitive/does not want rivals
4: Understands importance of investment
5: Rather buy expensive watch than make extra mortgage payment
6: Owns luxury car with high monthly payment
7: Believes in the product being sold
8: Party lifestyle and personal freedom
9: Spends on designer clothes and luxury brands
10: Self-assured, does not care about rivals
11: Lives for today only
12: Restrained and frugal
13: Feels that this is a long term career
14: Owns a second property to rent out
Here they are according to region:
CYPRUS:
1: Rather buy expensive watch than make extra mortgage payment
2: Owns a second property to rent out
3: Image and status
4: Feels that this is a long term career
5: Competitive/does not want rivals
6: Spends on designer clothes and luxury brands
7: Retirement at 50
8: Owns luxury car with high monthly payment
9: Lives for today only
10: Understands importance of investment
11: Restrained and frugal
12: Self-assured, does not care about rivals
13: Party lifestyle and personal freedom
14: Believes in the product being sold
AUSTRALIA:
1: Retirement at 50
2: Party lifestyle and personal freedom
3: Feels that this is a long term career
4: Restrained and frugal
5: Rather buy expensive watch than make extra mortgage payment
6: Owns luxury car with high monthly payment
7: Believes in the product being sold
8: Competitive/does not want rivals
9: Understands importance of investment
10: Owns a second property to rent out
11: Lives for today only
12: Image and status
13: Self-assured, does not care about rivals
14: Spends on designer clothes and luxury brands
UNITED KINGDOM:
1: Image and status
2: Retirement at 50
3: Self-assured, does not care about rivals
4: Believes in the product being sold
5: Competitive/does not want rivals
6: Spends on designer clothes and luxury brands
7: Understands the importance of investment
8: Restrained and frugal
9: Feels that this is a long term career
10: Lives for today only
11: Owns luxury car with high monthly payment
12: 5: Rather buy expensive watch than make extra mortgage payment
13: Party lifestyle and personal freedom
14: Owns a second property to rent out
UNITED STATES:
1: Retirement at 50
2: Believes in the product being sold
3: Competitive/does not want rivals
4: Self-assured, does not care about rivals
5: Owns luxury car with high monthly payment
6: Understands the importance of investment
7: Rather buy expensive watch than make extra mortgage payment
8: Feels that this is a long term career
9: Spends on designer clothes and luxury brands
10: Party lifestyle and personal freedom
11: Lives for today only
12: Owns a second property to rent out
13: Restrained and frugal
14: Image and status
APAC Region (Excluding China).
1: Feels that this is a long term career
2: Image and status
3: Owns luxury car with high monthly payment
4: Believes in the product being sold
5: Rather buy expensive watch than make extra mortgage payment
6: Understands the importance of investment
7: Restrained and frugal
8: Lives for today only
9: Party lifestyle and personal freedom
10: Spends on designer clothes and luxury brands
11: Retirement at 50
12: Self-assured, does not care about rivals
13: Owns a second property to rent out
14: Competitive/does not want rivals
