Eugene J. Sherman, director of research at M.A. Schapiro & Co., said Monday that he is retiring as an economist and plans to become a tour guide.
Mr. Sherman, 61, said he had been asked to leave the bank stock specialty firm as part of a downsizing of its trading in government securities and other areas. He said he is departing on a friendly basis.
"M.A. Schapiro has decided to narrow its focus a bit, and the changes include interest rate forecasting, which has been my area," said the economist, who got his first job on Wall Street in 1957. "Of course, they will continue as a market maker in banks' stocks."
A native New Yorker and resident of the Manhattan's East Village, Mr. Sherman intends to become a tour guide in the city for Grey Line tours.
"I wasn't certain I had the motivation at this point that would be required in a comparable Wall Street position, assuming I could find that, with a different corporate culture, different product line and different list of clients," he said.
The job of a business economist is "very demanding and competitive," he said. "You have got to constantly analyze a great deal of data, come up with new ideas and be on the cutting edge."
Before joining M.A. Schapiro in 1993, Mr. Sherman was senior vice president and chief economist at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. Earlier, he worked for Merrill Lynch, Bank of New York, Chase Manhattan, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
"I had already done some thinking about what I would do next," Mr. Sherman said, who said he had the financial latitude to make the jump to becoming a tour guide. He is also writing a book about his experiences.
"Some people may like to play golf and others may paint, but I'm a New York City history buff," he said. "I love the city and I love to talk about, so I plan to relax a little and enjoy my new career."
"I've done a lot of international traveling and I've found New York to be more a center of creativity than anywhere else I've been," he said. "At the same time there are a lot of exaggerated negative opinions about the city," he said, "and I find the notion of being an ambassador for New York very exciting."
Mr. Sherman has already taken the tour-guide tests given by both the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and Grey Line. "Passed them with flying colors," he said.
