Top Wall Street firms have always had some freakishly brilliant people figuring out how to arbitrage every inefficiency in the world of transactions. But a recent Reuters article noted how the newer crowd is starting to look more like “the type of guys you would see at a Star Wars convention.”

With ETFs gaining popularity over brokers, the Bud Fox’s are losing gloss to number-crunchers and traders who can turn a broker’s annual profit in one trading session. There will always be room for salesmen (especially once we get another secular bull market going), but they will not be seeing their pretty face on the “Employee of the Month” wall as often.

As technology advances, Wall Street firms will continue to seek every possible advantage in the Darwinian game of finance. As in the movie Pi, the smartest materialists will seek out the most intelligent people to help them gain control of the resources and capital they desire. Therefore, I disagree that the recent economic debacle will now reset the incentive structure for smart people to pursue more noble and less monetarily rewarding jobs. It’s a strong pull to know you can make a few hundred G’s a year in your 20’s. I’ve seen many history and chemistry majors “go into finance.”

So, next time you see that guy wearing a $50,000 Star Trooper costume made at Lucas Studios, you can bet the sexy quant under the helmet may be running the High Frequency Trading desk for a top shop on The Street.

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