Hey guys- I'm 16 and a sophomore in highschool. I got into trading last fall and I've fallen in love with it since. But now I'm realizing I want to pursue a career in finance/quantitives/economics and have started to toss everything else to the side. I'm sure this is what I want to do. I no longer care about classes like Latin or English and I haven't worked out in forever. Everything besides trading, economics, and making money don't matter to me really anymore. I'm afraid my GPA is going to slip, etc. etc.. I feel like I'm alone- my parents don't know anything about this stuff that has seemed to engulf my life and my classmates thought when I said something about "securities" that I wanted to be a cop... My guidance counselor told me I need a degree in business to pursue this path... Is there anyone who is/gone through this? Anyone have any tips for how to keep everything balanced? Sorry for the melodramaticism.
Stop trading. Focus on Finance and a GPA that gets you into a top tier school. Pursue finance and a path toward a job at an investment bank.
Just the aspect of trading is great to me. Everything you do is directly correlated to your success. If I work a job there is no incentive to preform. Whether I help another company or not I get no more pay at the end of it all- unless by promotion I assume.. You're probably right though. I have like a 4.0 GPA weighted.. I hate to be conceited but I think I'm a lot smarter than almost all of the kids in my school. They have higher GPAs because they take easy classes (AP ART) or get 100s in normal classes. I guess the SAT will tell..
It's great that you are sure what you want to do. I suppose I went through a similar situation. Here is what I would do in your shoes (or if I could redo it for myself): 1.) Just nail it in school. Get good grades in all classes even if you aren't all that interested. The last thing you need is stress from poor academics slipping into what is already a stressful business. 2.) Open an account to either paper-trade with or an account to trade EXTREMELY small. Just learn as much as you can. 3.) Pursue a degree you find interesting and one that can open doors for a trading career later on. It seems like you already are on that path.
You need a mathetical/computer degree with 3.9 GPA or 4 ...you need to study very hard, believe or not. then pursuit a MBA, CFA & CA. after that go & work at JPMorgan or Goldmansach. try to make the most money in 5 years then retire in italy. you can do it all by starting now, study and study. be good in math and computer programer with combined degree MBA, CA and CFA..............if you study hard night and day, you can get CFA & MBA all in 2 years. your CA needs a little more time. if you don;t get CA, a combination of CFA & MBA plus mathetical/computer background will do........................................be an investment banker.........make a lot of money while you still have your youth & health...........................retire at 35 years old, you will be burned out after the age of 35 in this career. thus you need to be aggressive in your youth years & make the most money then hit the exit door & go to beautiful italy, you get it?
Haha I get it. CA = Certified Accountant? What's CFA? I have about a 3.9-4 weighted GPA but it's rising a lot. I've hit the books a lot harder this semester and it's paid off. But I feel it starting to slip again. I guess I just need to readjust. The thing is, I hate math such as Algebra 2. I took Honors as a sophomore, but then again my teacher was HORRIBLE- everyone agreed, it wasn't just me. I love other types of math, and I'm sure I'll love statistics. I'm good at math, I just don't LOVE it. I also wouldn't really want to be a computer programmer or major in it at all but hey if it helps you make bank..
I am trading right now in a 1k Account. I'm going to be keeping a journal. Thanks for the great advice.
advice you got so far is bullshit you need to realize that trading for profits is completely different and separate from bank job or trader job like broker job Not that being a high up math wiz in GS and JP won't make you rich but being able to sit down and trade is completely different from business pencil pushing You should get your degrees / diplomas etc but after you are done with school, you'll need at least 3 years to learn to trade. 3 years if you are smart 5-10 years if you are stupid You don't need bullshit bank job to learn to trade. You will NEVER learn to trade with your bank job. If you want to learn to trade after you are done with school. Get a real FX micro account or trade single share on NYSE or NASDAQ and learn to trade YOU CAN NOT DO SCHOOL AND LEARNING TO TRADE AT THE SAME TIME. I KNOW YOU THINK YOU CAN CAUSE YOU ARE YOUNG AND STUPID. BUT YOU CAN'T. AFTER SCHOOL, take the time and learn to trade
The guys said:"I want to pursue a career in finance/quantitives/economics and have started to toss everything else to the side" Giving that information, I'd advice him to pursuit a HIGHER LEVEL CAREER than being a trader. Average salary in GS, based plus bonuses & profit sharing or stock option incentive is $500,000. How can a average trader compete with that? He needs to go to investment banking to make big bucks & retire at 35. You don't BS & give the young guy the wrong idea of 'being a trader'. Most 99% are poor & quit. I don't want him to be poor like them. Be an investment banker at GS & JPMorgan if he is still young & willing to study hard. Face the fact most traders are loser & make no real profit. Only 1% can make it. He needs to study hard to give him an edge to get a REAL JOB at GS & JPMorgan that they pay you while training vs other traders pay to get training then quit because they can't afford a living. WHAT A JOKE!!!!! Don't U give young people any stupid advice & ruin their lives for good!!!! U understand me?
there is nothing sweeter than being your own boss without office politics what you are saying is that he can't be a trader anyway so he shouldn't try what about a hedge fund, you think good traders can't start those up there is NO FINAL answer here