Ok, not sure about the US system. You do NOT need a college degree. Point. You can go to trading right away. Point. Doing so without a backup plan is stupid. BIG point. And here it gets bad I never went to university but finished what in germany is "Abitur" - the degree allowing you full access to university. I went to become a broker from there, got pissed at churning customers after a year, carreer went VERY disperse. At the end, I was left with no higher degree and no funds thanks to a relation with a girl nearly breaking me. Be aware that does not happen to you. That said I spend 10 years as IT consultant. Whatever you do, make sure you have a backup plan. Mine was that I was really good with databases and forgot more programming languages than most professionals ever learn. That said, that small computer business of yours seems like a failure. Your options are limited. * The computer business does not work out. That actually IS hard business to be in - risk reward wise most are crap these days. * Your trading skills are bad. In your soituation, putting in 200 to 300 usd a week, you should be able to be on your own feet after a year. Your expenses are close to nil (living with your parents), you have your computer business on the side, and you CAN blow your account. So, give it a couple of failures, but you should be able to make 150 usd a day with an account of 2000 usd. Take the money out. Once you have 3000 saved, put it back in and do not increase your risk. If you blow, start fresh. THat is a lot of dough. 150 a day runs down to 200 trading days (little holidays), that is 30.000 usd. Little? Well, here is the deal: Once you have that in the account... you can ramp up the risk and make 300 a day. Build your computer business on the side. But whatever you do, make sure you have a backup plan. Really. Get the videos of that UK Show "Million DOllar Trader" (three episodes, one hour ear).They took 8 regular people and tried to turn them traders for 3 months. Half blew - and not only money, blew emotionally. They could not handle the environment and the stress. Chances are, you WILL fail. Make sure you have a backup plan. And forget "easy life". Good trading is long hours, hard work. The "easy life" is the easy life of a top athlete spending countless hours training. Chances are actually not that bad if you BURN for trading. If that is what you want to DO. I returned to trading a month ago after a year long absence, and it is wonderfull. I dont really care whether I win or loose for that feeling - it is just what I want to do (not getting me wrong here - I care for the profits from a business point ov view, but I trade for the love of Trading, much like a good artist does his art for the art, not for being famous). What I Do not understand, though, is why your computer business is going crap. Why dont you contract out as network admin, setup etc.? Should be quite some money. Even with the economy in the dumps. At least enough to support yourself.
You are 24 as you stated-now grow up. Most of what is learned in college is a total waste of time-due to the way they teach people. If you are not happy with what you are doing-you are wasting your time. If you want to learn about trading-you must ask "real" traders-not people who do not trade the markets live-each and every day. To win at trading-you must first learn how to lose correctly-this is Golden Rule No.1-and comes before everything else. If you do not-or cannot-understand this simple concept-then you best forget about learning how to trade-full stop. As for plan-K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Stupid No rubbish-no set rules except the Golden Rule-you will learn why as you practice "live" trading. So-are you happy with some real trading advice-or is it not what you want to hear-for that is the way the majority think-and you know what the majority get! The General
It's not necessarily doing bad, it's a side business that I would like to grow into a fulltime job, I have had it for I guess 2-3 years now and every year I have made a profit, no losses have been incurred but no new clients either... I am currently at a fulltime job...I hate it.. Phone Support sucks, I am more of a desktop support person this economy is making it hard for me to get one.
You can just keep doing what you are doing and trade on the side. This is what I do. I work on a night shift and am able to trade during the day on a few days. I am also in the IT industry and hate working for the man. If you are swing trading instead of day trading you can just set your stops loss orders so you don't have to sit and watch the charts for 7.5 hours. You can be talking on the phone or whatever you do with your job and have the trading app running in the background. You can glance at it from time to time. I think when you are starting out it is best to trade small to minimize losses until you learn how to profit consistently.
Contro, I would recommend college only if you feel that you need more knowledge in a specifc area crucial to your career. (Perhaps some computer- and business-related courses). To go minimum $50,000 into debt just to take some literature and art classes seems like a waste of money to me. One possible route you can consider is working/going to school during the day and trading SPX or bond futures at night. The post 5pm session is slower compared to the day session which could help you learn to trade without the "distraction" of wild pnl swings. Of course the futures market is highly leveraged and that must be taken into consideration. Especially in this economy, I'm having serious reservation over the idea of sinking up to $200,000+ into a four-year college on the hopes of a good job.
There was a college that came to the building I worked at he's gonna waive the application fee I am just looking at my options nothing is set in stone yet, I see college opening doors up for me but I also see debt as well, from what I have been hearing a ba degree is no longer enough so people are going for master's degree. An alternative I guess is to save up and buy a small shop at least this way I am my own boss and will be making money.
Do you actually want to go learn anything in college? Is there any field of study you actually have interest in? Don't expect college to teach you anything about trading or real business. Stick with what you know, improve your computer tech skills, build your business. You don't have enough capital to start daytrading. You can join a prop firm with $5k or so, but 90% chance you won't make it.
Well I'd like to take economics, finance, Political science, or philosophy. Economics and Finance imo are math heavy I don't think I am good enough at math to pass those courses. Political Science and Philosophy no money in those fields so I am thinking of just going to a vocational business school I don't want business management I have heard from a old co-worker of mine that it's not something he would reccomend he said.