I am sure you can find some of that I would think of the money Electric makes, you should be driving a car without wood siding, or maybe a ferrari -Kastro
Lately, I have had to "deal" more and more with this question, not from friends (that was several years ago), but from insurance and credit companies. I recently switched my auto insurance for a better rate and had to go into the fact that I don't have to use my cars to drive to work since I work from home and will probably put less than 5000 miles/year on my vehicles. Needless to say, my rates are substantially lower, but the levels I had to go through to answer what I did for a living were ridiculous. First, you have to realize that most of the people asking this question (whether on behalf of insurance/credit companies or at cocktail parties/BBQ's) don't have a clue to how markets work other than the little bit they sock away (if any) into a 401K. Remember the U.S. citizenship are net spenders/consumers and have negative savings rates. So, to make it easy, just remember most people don't have a pot to piss in, and if they do, they're one paycheck away from it being repossessed. Now, with that in mind, back to the insurance "agent" (that BTW, is reporting to her cubicle every day for probably some menial sum and answering probably over a hundred phone calls per day, modern day slavery but most call it work) and her "occupation" question. I first stated that I am "self-employed", as this is usually the easiest route and the truth. Well, evidently that's not specific enough so she needs "clarification". I state that I own my own private equity partnership. Again, the truth, but of course no "regular Joe or Jane" has the foggiest what private equity means. So, in some confusion she asks, "Private Equity? What's that?" So, here we go I'm thinking as frustration is welling within. I start to think how much easier it would be to say I work in the food service industry, but oh the tribulations of the career trader/investor that makes a living doing what they love and are good at. Once again I try reverting to the mean, simplicity. "I am in finance." I thought that would do it since I'm sure she has some check box with "finance" next to it, and sure enough she does, but evidently it's not sufficient (probably sufficient enough for the insurance company, but not Mrs. Nosey Rosey), and she insists yet again on specifics. By this time I've had enough with the level of evident ignorance with which I am faced, so I must get "Medieval" and state, "I'm a wealthy, self-employed individual that invests in small to mid-sized private companies as well as select market derivatives on behalf of myself and fellow wealthy clients." (A truly cathartic statement which pretty much sums it up in the in-your-face way which I have found is required for the typical Joe and Jane six pack) Needless to say, that was sufficient for all involved as the next words out of her mouth were, "Oh, that's great! Highest level of education completed?" Just a walk through of the typical "What do you do for a living?" Q & A. Happy Trading/Investing!
You could have saved yourself all the trouble and instead of being vague and assuming the person in the cubicle was an idiot, you could have just said that you trade full-time from home . The more you try to dance around what you do, the more room for lack of understanding. Instead of assuming you are dealing with a cubicle slave, just treat them with respect and tell them outright what you do. I doubt you are the first full time trader from home who needs car insurance so I am sure they would know how to handle it if you were just straightforward from the beginning.
As you develop as trader you learn to keep quiet in following stages: 1. With your family 2. With your friends 3. On trader`s forums (like ET) I don`t know what is next though.
Tell them the same thing as the bumper sticker concerning the oil business says: you are a piano player in a whorehouse. That will either stop the conversation altogether or make it very interesting. Either way, I doubt if the subject of the stock market will come up.
Thanks for the usolicited advice and moral judgement "coach". The point is, more than adequate answers were given, the "cubicle slave" was just prying and being nosey for self-intrests. Self-employed in financial invesment is more than sufficient for insurance purposes, especially since they're pulling up your credit records anyway. The fact is that in my experience, most people that ask this question in social situations are doing so in order not to "make conversation", but to better judge and pigeon hole you. Personally, I think aking the question in normal cocktail conversation is rude and usually employed by numbskulls without much interest or conversation skills.
Kastro, Electric is like an old cathedral. He has his first computer he ever had and he keeps fixing his old car. How else can I explain him.... I am working my scalping shift with him and will get my Hummer myself! If you come here 10 years from now, he will still be posting here in ET, as if he knows nothing. In the hopes he can gather yet, some more information to get lost in. Wifey P.S. Last week a guy (looked like he was out of GQ mag with those Ray Bans on his head) pulled his Mercedes Benz..up in front of the Gym and everybody was crowded around it...it was one of those special models...so what does Electric do? the next day he made a satire out of it and he pulled his wood grain up and opened all the doors including the hatch, and told the gym owner to come out and he proceeded to explain all the features of the van. It was so embarrassing he had the headlights on and everything in the middle of the day...Only I knew what the idiot was doing and I do not think he should make light of people that way, but I still love him. (he had ZZ top sunglasses)
funny, i always think brokers are rich and dumb, whereas those who trade for a living (and successful at it) are some of the smartest people on earth.
Well, you're partially correct. Brokers are dumb. (Don't know about the rich part.) Successfull trading does not equal being smart. It's way more about persistence.