In his latest Ask Matt column for the USA Today, Matt Krantz, perhaps without even meaning to, gives a young reader a quick lesson in how Wall Street really works. The question: I'm a high school student who is interested in being a stockbroker. What math skills do I need?

This is my response, not Matt's, to that same question: Being a stock broker is not about math! It's about sales! It's about managing to convince your clients (i.e. customers) that they should pay your for advice and trading when they would be far better off sticking their money in index funds and leaving it alone.

Mr. Krantz lets the young man down more gently: "The biggest part of the job is learning how to make connections with people - your prospective clients - learning about their financial goals and selling products that suit them. Most clients don't care if you can calculate the square root of 103.3 in your head. What they care about is whether they like you and believe that you're giving them good advice."

Exactly! It isn't about actually giving them good advice -- good advice would very likely consist of advising clients to fire their broker and do it on their own. Of course, if you're a broker you can't do that.

My advice to the high school student: If you want to be a broker, learn about sales. It's no different than selling used cars. Except most people know not to trust car salesmen.