There is plenty of time to make the green...What you need to find out is what makes you most happy while you are making it Once you have settled on a path ( me, husband/father), you are just along for the ride. You can't second guess yourself about your choice. If you do, you'll be 42 years old and wondering what the hell happened. If I was in my early 20 again, I would have my fill on fun and worry a lot less of what my friends and people thought of me. You can always repair youthful exuberance....when you have youth.
I really enjoyed reading all these posts, I have learned quite a lot from just reading these posts. This idea came from work, when a 40 year old asked me, if you need advice about anything in life, and I asked him, what would you tell someone who's 22, and is looking for guidance. His answer was your job, dont' work in a job you hate or detest as it will kill you in the long run - low satisfiaction in life, hatred of yourself and others, and a lower appreciation of life in general. Not only did that advice help me out, I quit that job and I landed a better job, because of it. So keep the advice coming, a lot of it is pearls of wisdom. Yours Kindly, SikhInvestor...
Take care of your health now, as if your life depends upon it. Your quality of life a few short decades from now will depend on how you take care of yourself right now. With good health, all things are possible. Good health is the most valuable investment. Good health is the foundation to build your life. Once symptoms develop, you gotta fight like hell just to stay head above water. Poor health can destroy quality of life.
The advice I would give myself as a 20-year old is worthless to most people imo. But advice to a young trader would be: Go and work for a small firm of successful traders that enjoy teaching, and immerse yourself in the business. At the same time, be aware of where the liquidity is moving [and whether the firm you are with is constantly in research mode and adjusting with the times], and understand how technology can change the trading business model and be quick to act on that [like if your firms profitability is likely coming to an end, and they are not doing anything about it, start looking.] Never close a door and try to leave on good terms, whether going out on your own, or going to work for another firm. Treat everyone with respect and don't gossip. Roll with the punches - Trading is a high stress business and people get pissed. nitro
Nitro, that's good advice, what about an update version for traders in the late 20s, who started on their own, and doing alright? (As I think it would be hard to get back into an office and work for someone else)
1) Learn how to spot monster trends from those more experienced. 2) When these monster trends come along ; go "balls to the wall" and profit large from them. It's a lot easier to leverage bigtime when you are young and don't have a family.
Last time I tried to suggest to a teenager that his point of view may not be the correct one the reply had the F word uniformly distributed in it.