Now, when people ask what I do for a living, I say I am a Paper Removal Engineer, they can understand this and I must have something that sounds like I clean up. I don't remember when, but somewhere along the way I lost concept of money, maybe when I made it almost impossible ever to worry about it again, so I still will try to take every last nickel but I feel more freedom. At some point you have to diversify, spread it out into other businesses, projects, charities, otherwise you become a hermit. What RN said about trading is difficult rings true, you have to become almost psychotic, I know I am, you have to love games, numbers, to compete against the best including computers, but you have to have passion cause you going to give up huge amounts of hours of your life and it be times where you are at family time, but you thinking of the markets. When I look at mountains, trees, buildings-now I see Bar Charts and picking out where I get in and out. Your personality does change, you become at times a real a-hole, you doing what many only dream about, you have conquered your emotions basically, you have accepted that making money is based on good Trading Plan and then becoming a dumb monkey to not give in to impulses of altering it while trading, you form rules where you can only make a change if you have 10,000 sample size of back testing, this rules has changed me from wanting you make changes, either it is a long tiring process or accepting what I made as it aint going to get much better than that. It is only when your passion demands you go through all the work involved. But my personality has changed, if a relationship with a woman not going well in beginning, cut losses and move on. Lost desire of ever getting married again, risk too much. I also watch people much more thinking they are much more happier, so money doesn't make you happier or worse, it is just there, but having it is better than not, LOL Yea, being a Trader is best job in world, but I never considered it a job, it is a passion. Great trading to all this week.
Trading, if one is successful, pays better than doctor, plumber, piano tuner and lawyer combined. It's the best paying job in the West afaik. Why not try to master it? I've spent a few hours a day for twenty years on it and not regretting it at all. The worst thing to be, the most cursed thing to be is a borrower. This is right out of the Old Testament. The best thing to be is a lender. So what's an aspiring trader if not maybe a borrower or possibly a saver but moving towards lending?