I've been where you are: you're burned out. That will get better if you can find a way to take a vacation. When you say the extra money doesn't mean anything to you, you are probably looking at a (say) 3% raise to your gross salary. Instead look at it as a much larger percentage raise to what you will be able to put away each month. I'd take heed to what everyone else is saying: your fortunate to have a steady job right now, and you can never have enough money saved up.
That initial quote is very true, particularly for businesses with relatively low barriers to entry. Sometimes you need to choose the "security" that a job can provide you (I say security quite loosely because many jobs are not really all that secure), and there are some professions with excellent pay (e.g. accountant), but in general the path to true financial success most likely involves owning your own business. Many are content to work for others for their entire lives, which is a personal choice, but I personally feel that the risk of being self-employed is well worth the rewards.
That it "can be done" and that it can can take the length of time you mention to get a real edge, I will buy. But unfortunately, "relatively simple" that flies in the face of reality. There are few longterm, lucrative traders, including on ET. Some who claim this then blow out and lose almost everything. People should go to some of the auditing sites, and see if ANYTHING is of value. There are at least 10 auditing sites/brokers who track systems on the web. They claim between a few dozen to "10,000+" systems. It would be amazing if 2 or 3 systems together on on all these sites actually has longterm, risk-adjusted reward, serious outperformance value. And that might be 2-3 systems too generous. And there is an endless supply of new people who are convinced they break the mold, but they too disappear.
i was just like you, in fact in the same bank as you but in the analyst class one year before (judging by your location). couldn't stand it, wasn't for me, and i kicked out a few months before where you are now. i fortunately started trading in 2008, supposedly one of the best years for daytraders, and was able to pad my account going forward. in that time, i travelled all over europe and asia, trading odd hours (but seeing/doing some amazing things), while my buddies slaved (and still slave) away on the trading/banking floors. the time and flexibility of trading helped me preserve my youth and has given me immense opportunity to "live" my own life. as they say, an ounce of gold can't buy an ounce of time; i made the choice and gave up my huge bonuses down the line to lay in this bed, but so far it's been pretty comfy!!
by "Relatively simple" what I meant was its more of a personality game-some have it some dont-if you keep making same mistake over and over again then of course you are not going to have much success--best traders are ones who are dynamic--changing whatever needs to be changed. I can only talk about myslf and my journey. What worked for me and how I make money can be learned by anyone in a day and repeated practise can be successful in a week or a month depending on the person's ability but "finding" what works and how to make money and fighting with my own personality type took 4 years fulltime. And you don't need a big system based on algorithms and such to be successful. Just an edge of 2:1 or 3:1 is good enough. And to BP--if 3 words can make you a better trader then more power to you. But if you don't have an edge, no trade management skills, no capital preservation and no risk management I can't see how you can work without these 4 wheels of trading.
http://www.babypips.com/school/drawdown_and_maximum_drawdown.html Tradermike.net There you go pretty much everything is there
Being healthy, young and single with no kids makes a world of difference in a career decision like this. Having a close family support system is another biggie. Having an "edge" applies not just to the actual trading.. but in your personal situation as well... which is different for everyone. But having the above is definitely having an edge.
I left my former company for another one because I was no longer happy with the management and their policies. And I fully understand that I will be giving up a couple of benefits in exchange of my happiness. Salary-wise and health benefits are some of the factors that had a great impact on my transfer. I had to cut down some costs to adjust with my new salary. Health benefits for my parents were even canceled because of the transfer. But for me, it doesn't really matter. Because what is important for me when working for a company, is if I am happy with what I'm doing. If I am, the rest will just follow.
I just finished reading through the thread and there seems to be a lot of perspectives from both sides. Has anyone ever considered working at a firm (that didn't do business with securities, no regulatory issues) and simply focus on day trading 1 or 2 securities during the day while doing a full-time job? It seems like a good alternative with a mixture of the best of both worlds aspect...Thoughts?