Sorry for the dumb post guys, but just curious... For those of you who are serious about trading and who make a living out of it, are you happy with your career? WHen you started did you have a passion for the stock market and finance? And do you think, if theres no passion for the market, and your just in it for the money and the idea of working at home, you will not get far? Sorry if this post offends anyone, not my intention Thanx guys Adam
1. "Happy with career?"... Better be. Could never get no REAL job. 2. "Passion". Not really. However, we live in a society which virtually requires significant financial markets success. We MUST either acquire the expertise on our own or get help from some [likely paid] adviser. Financial Markets are an important life skill... like saying "please" and "thank you".... and flushing the toilet.
When you are making money, there is no better career. When you are losing money, it's a painful and nauseating career. Trading can flip from one to the other in less than a day. In any other "job", if you have a lousy week you still get paid. In trading, if you have a lousy week, not only do you have nothing to show for all your hard work, but you are, in fact, worse off than when you started. Not pleasant. You mentioned "passion" a couple times... I don't know if passion for the markets is necessary, per se, but a strong internal motivation is. Individual trading is a lot of work and if you are too distracted by the TV, refrigerator, computer games, kids, etc. and don't have the motivation to put in the work, then you will have a difficult time. So I wouldn't say passion is necessary, just motivation.
I trade full time and LOVE it. The only job I've ever had where I could not wait for Monday, where I'd try to sneek in extra work if I wasn't doing anything else, just because I like doing it. But I feel like it's in my blood, like I was born to do this. I definitely have a passion for it. The guys who I've seen drop out of the business did not have that desire to make it work at any cost, or the work ethic to tough it out during hard times. Or they were undercapitalized (that probably knocks more people out of the game). If you are just in it for the money and to work at home, the mental demons will eat you up. You won't have the fighting spirit in you to beat them off.
Thank you for replying guys....Thats just what i thought... I have been lucky enough to have a few pros teach me from this site what i need to know, and they always tell me just what you guys said... Thanx again guys
couldn't have said it better :| sometimes i'm dreaming about the 4 million dollar island that i'm gonna buy in the bahamas, and then the next day i feel like i've been punched in the stomach for a week straight.
Beats the shit out of any 9-5 bullshit corporate job. The stress of corporate politics is worse to me than the stress of a bad trading day. Only you determine how well you do in trading. No asshole boss trying to steal your work and efforts.
Happy about the freedom that trading for a living brings me. Its not always roses and wine, its not always so exciting but that comes with the territory. Would i recomend this "living" to most, HELL NO. I have been trading for a living for about 9 years now, i am trading diffrent instruments than when i first started out, i had to change with the times and i am always learning new things. Most of the traders i started out trading with no longer trade. I dont like paying 4x ssn taxes, I dont like footing 100% of my own medical and dental, I dont like the Long ass tax forms i have to fill out or the % i have to pay. I like the endless amounts of money you can make and hate the possiblitie of endless amounts of money that can be lost. Its die by the sword, you either survive or fall to the wayside no inbetweens.