Other than my girlfriend and her family, everyone I know thinks I'm really smart for following the markets. My girlfriend calls it, "stupid stock stuff." My parents are all about it because my dad is an active investor and they know a lot of money can be made if you do your homework. As long as i keep telling my sister winning stocks, she's all about it but her fiance always tried to talk "market talk" with me because he made $400 this past quarter in his mutual fund. Whoop-dee-doo. Sometimes i'll have a few hours between classes so i'll put cnbc on and open up quotetracker and just observe market action and price movements. Sometimes kids walk in with homework questions or just to hang out and ask me what all that crap is on my computer. I tell them, "it's just stock stuff..." and they look at me funny and i say, "i trade my own stock..." and they are "ohh...right...yeah..." It's amazing to me how many fellow finance majors know absolutely nothing about the markets. It seems like people are intimidated when they find out what i do on my free time. Also, my roommate always talks about how well his mutual fund is doing and how he made $50 last month. I tell him,"yeah...that's cool. i made $500 last week." Lesson: just be confident about it and they should respect that. If not, it's ok to be cocky and throw out a few numbers... even if they are exaggerated a bit.
If you don't want to get into a big conversation with the person who asked you, the simplest answer is: "I am in insurance." (since futures and options were invented for insurance purposes, you are basicly telling the truth) And just to shut him up for good you can add: "Do you have lifeinsurance?" Also "liquidity provider for equties" sounds mysterious enough to stop the conversation...
I was a fund manager for more than a decade and never had to worry about this issue. You know, it could be that is it harder to discuss a vocation if you have never made any money doing it. Yep that must be it. Steve
The poblem with us traders is that very few people unless they are tradres themselves really don't understand what we do, including brokers and othr wall street non trader types as well. I have a couple of friends who trade on the NYMEX. These guys make major bucks, I'm talking 5-10 mil a year. They let me come down and intern for a couple of months and I watched and learned and what not. But when I asked them how they made so much money I always got some sort of, " well sometimes I due this, and yeah I use charts a bit, and Yada yada yada." Here are guys making seven figures a year but they still can't put an exact explanation on what it is they due.I have found this is true of all real traders. A guru will always have some sort of majic Macd or secretive indicator that he'll sell to you for 19.95. Well I learned a lot during my internship, and I started trading russell futures online. With all honesty I make money almost every single day. Usally between 500 and 2k. However I really don't know how I due it. Yes charts, Tick, News, and all that other Bull crap. Besides good risk to reward, and knowing when to stay out and get in, most of the time at least, that is all I know. Here is an example of what a bug these sell side firms got up thier ass. I got an interview with Bear Stearns, only because I knew an MD in their merger and aquistion group. I bought in 2 months worth of brokerage statements, charts, and examples of my work. Now mind you I am a recent colledge grad and not some hot shot million dollar trader. The recruiter asked me the obvious, So how do you make this money what is your system. I explained well besides the basics of course I really don't know. I told her that one thing I noticed of guts making 30 mil a year or whatever that usally you get a similiar answer. She looked at me as if I was some idiot and blew me off. Never heard from them again. I guess 35k profits in 2 months for a recent college grad with little experience was not good enough for them. They probabbly hired some smuck out of Harvard who never traded in his life just because he has a 4.0. To tell you the truth I am glad I didn't get the job, because I am doing just fine on my own thank you.
The bigger question is: Are you comfortable with your role in the world. The mainstream media and popular culture demonizes traders, and other wall-street employees every single chance it gets. So, on one level, it's remarkable that anyone even enters the field of finance after being fed a steady diet of propaganda. Interestingly, those very same writers and talking heads rely on us to execute their trades, provide liquidity and give useful advice on how they should invest.. usually for free. Hypocritical? You betcha. Hey, that's life. I also teach math and computer subjects part time so I usually tell people I teach math or software packages. Do you feel comfortable with your role as trader? If not you should sit down during a quiet time and write up and/or diagram your relationship and activities and see how they affect other areas of your life, your family, your social groups, your other groups, mankind and the world around you. Next step, write up what the alternative would be if you weren't a trader but instead, were a _______ (fill in blank with previous or current non-trader job). you have to weigh the pros and cons of each. This is a useful exercise and if honestly done will generate lots of realizations and relief. Nothing is as unpleasant as dong a job that you feel isn't contributing to the many facets and dynamics of your life.
I told my girl I was a retired pornstar. She said your unit is not that big. I explained that the camera adds 10 lbs.
Being a trader is the end all be all for me. There is nothing else I could do. When I was young I studied Martial arts and Zen philoshophy for no apparent reason. I gave it up later on in life , but when I discoverd trading I found my calling. This is it for me. I work 120 hours a week at this, and there is nothing other than running with my Pit Bull or going to the Gym that I would rather due. LOL, Here is something funny for you all. Have you ever had to have sex with your wife or whatever when you had a large position on. LOL. My trading station used to be in my bedroom, and whenever my girlfriend came over it was a problem.
it's very simple, " i am a private investor, i invest in trading securities. i buy and sell securities for a living". if they want to know more i say , " i buy at a low price and sell at a higher price, that's basically all there is to it". how do i contribute to society by what i do? i am a small player in the richest sector of the u.s economy. i do the same thing that the traders on wall street do, nothing more, nothing less. i buy from sellers and i sell to buyers, and that's what keeps wall street in business. don't say anything about daytrading, swing trading, position trading or any of that stuff, they don't need to know that unless they are in the business. if that's not noble enough for them, change the subject.
If you think all this is hard.... try explaining to people why they should load up on gold/silver bullion for the next 10-20 years.... I almost got stoned to death.