I was wondering if its possible for a MD or lawyer is able to day trade since their jobs require all their focus at the moment. When I go in for check-ups my doctor always complains about his "Wealth Management" advisory service for his practices doctors. He knows what I do and complains his account is down and he would be better off following the best recommendations and using Index Funds from Vanguard, Fidelity and other low expense ETFs and Mutual Funds. We go through the same dance four times a year, some times more if my ears get infected from surfing. That old saying "You can't win for losing" applies here, I asked him "why don't you do it?" he say's "What?" Why don't you take the time to invest in all the ETFs your talking about and follow the best Analyst that tell you what percentage in Bonds, Stocks, Money Markets and Cash? He get's pissed off and say's "Well I don't have all the time in the World like you do!" Thinking to myself, "how can I get out of this mess and change the subject, we go through this dance every time." I love my doctor, think he's totally cool, its just he refuses to make any changes to all his wealth. My doctor's wife make's more money than he does, she's a gynecologist, he's a Internal Medicine GP, both doctors are very kind. He wife can deliver babies through C-section, she make's big money, he's not poor, he's told me he make's about $300k and his wife makes more than double his. He say's "I should go to work for the California Prison because they will guarantee a pension for me!" Two of his friends broke out of their practice back in the 1990s because the HMOs ripped off several practices. We had a managed health company that ripped off the doctors to the tune of $13 million bucks, they were contracted by the big contractors to review each charge and pay all the doctors in four different counties their fees. M.C. partners ran off with all the money, this forced several doctors to file bankruptcy and others who were not involved decided they would not take HMO insurance anymore. Either PPO or nothing, soon the State was advertising for doctors because they lost doctors to false advertising that doctors would be making more cash while working less. My doctors friends part of a group of ten, a few decided to negotiate a deal with the State and got credit for military service towards their pension. These guys got 8 years of pension credit back in 1995 or 1996, so now they will have 30+ years of vested interest in the year 2020 because of Corporate Greed chasing away good medical providers. My doctor complains he's not going to get a pension like the doctors that left the practice back in 1995. He say's with is dry sense of humor "Those guys can retire and I am going to be working till I die like that old doctor in Stanford, California who still works at the age of 100!" What would you tell your doctor or lawyer friend that complains they have no time to look up financial information on both stocks and bonds? I printed out a very conservative back when the Dow was above 18,000 and begged him to reduce his exposure from stocks lower, he liquidated all his stocks in his retirement plan and put everything in a "No Load" short-term Bond Fund! After watching the Dow crater, he is funny as hell, other patients get 5 minutes before his eyes click off, he's done with them. Since we met, he's been very kind, always gave me more time even when I wanted to bail! On Wednesday he asked me "What should I do with all my cash? I think the Market is going to break!" I am his hero because the Wealth Advisory firm that manages his money and that of the other doctors, he's the only doctor whose retirement plan is not underwater, a few were in the MLPs and their getting slammed. A lawyer friend over the years would ask me what was safe, I would give them a safe mutual fund I thought was safe and he would provide free advice after making good money. Last Wed, two of his other doctor friends hit me up for ideas, I get nervous giving people advice because I hate the thought of people losing money or not getting out of positions once their ripe. Over the years I helped trade people out of holes, I got nothing in return except for one person. So what would you tell your doctor or lawyer friend that's bugging you "What should I do?" after you saved them from getting clobbered? Over the years I have helped people make money, many of them were really ungrateful and showed no appreciation. My doctor is a good man, I don't know what to tell him because my vision for 2015 is very cloudy. When I presented him with well thought out research the Dow was above 18,000 and many sectors and hi-yield and preferred ETFs were pretty pricey, I don't want to lose my good relationship so I tell him "things look too murky, we need to wait!". Are there any doctors or lawyers on Elite who do their own research or you too busy? I think if your saving for retirement how could you not take the time to do your homework so you don't end up getting destroyed. I know a few clerics from a strange religious cult that put their entire church like elders in Enron stock at 100%. Now they have nothing, after saving back money they got clobbered in 2008 and I heard one of them saying "God must really hate me!". How do you give advise to people making lots of money that you don't want to lose a relationship with? What would you tell a doctor or lawyer that say's "I am too busy to do my own stock research" and than they use you up for 30 minutes thanking you or complaining they don't know what to do?
Before answering your main question I should note that I have completely stopped talking with people in real life about stocks. People just don't get it and are full of misunderstandings. What they believe about the stock market is usually wrong and it's not something you can correct with small talk. Speaking for myself, I cannot correct their beliefs in a short and clear way. If someone is really interested, then OK, I have no trouble teaching, recommending literature on the subject, recommending the best teachers/courses, etc. But people in general are not really that interested, they either want to make money fast and easy with no risk and absolutely no loss tolerance, or they fear the stock market and think they can lose everything in a blink. Also, sometimes disagreements on the subject can cause trouble. Now about the topic, I believe people from all careers can learn and pick stocks for long term investments if they learn to ignore price, charts and focus on fundamentals. Daytrading is almost impossible when you're worried with your job. Well for starting, the learning process and practicing takes a lot of time and needs full time investment for at least 6 months before becoming consistently profitable (usually more than 6 months). Now I know some professional traders who trade on the run. A friend of mine was trading on his phone the other day, while we were having dinner out, but he's been trading for years and consistently makes $1000+ everyday, with rare losing days. Of course he's addicted to this game haha and he usually is trading with 3 screens instead of a phone. For people with full time jobs, I would consider learning swing trading instead of daytrading. Why would they daytrade anyway? I'm assuming they don't need the kind of leverage we have when daytrading. Swing trading is much more cool and "easy". The emotions are not the same as in daytrading. You pick your stocks, you pick your entry, exit and stop loss points and can watch them after work, when the market is already closed, using only the daily and 60m charts. Now how much are doctors making in your country? Because over here they sure make enough to avoid stock trading haha and retire young, unless they are addicted to making more and more money than they will ever need. Some are crazy enough to love working as doctors, go figure.
l"But people in general are not really that interested, they either want to make money fast and easy with no risk and absolutely no loss tolerance, or they fear the stock market and think they can lose everything in a blink. Also, sometimes disagreements on the subject can cause trouble." Dino Yes, we spend our Friday Nights, Saturdays, Sundays while others are goofing off, I want to learn as much about Trading as I can before I die! Others with far more money than us don't really care if they had to go to fifty banks to put their cash in each one so its protected by the FDIC yet they continually lament the the Fed's "low i-rate" policy because their not getting anything! Why do they complain if they do not want to study to achieve a higher rate of return without putting on too much risk. Personally its hard to justify telling someone how to invest their money if their unwilling to spend any time trying to learn about the Markets. Thank you for writing a great post, I wish people who are not as motivated to learn how wonderful the Markets are would reflect on your words! Peace and riches to you! I noticed some of the Puts I bought and sold last week, the common stock seems to bottomed out and stocks you would think should go up got weaker, we now have more clarity! I made several hundred trades last week off the same group of stocks I follow, seeing a few get stronger while their Sector gets pounded might be a sign?
MDs and lawyers aren't smart enough to trade successfully anyway. Don't confuse the ability to memorize a lot of stuff in expensive schools with analytical skills.
I agree, Most people assume just because doctors have PhDs...that they can do Everything in life exceptionally well. My dentist wanted to trade (grow money more aggressively than investing getting nowhere)...but from listening to him speak briefly...he sounded so dumb and naive on the subject. We made small talk on the subject before he began cleaning my teeth.
I had a doctor back in 2000, a year I did really good and made more money than him. That pissed his him off, why should someone who did not go to Medical School make more money than him? He told me "I am going to quit my practice, start Day Trading, if you can trade than anyone can!" I felt like dirt after visiting him for back pain, if not for all the years of hearing trash like that I might have had my pride hurt. I took my kids (8-13) at the time to one of the most fanciest restaurants just to piss in his face. Has that ever happened to you? I never went to that asshole again!