Now that's funny!!! And a breakthrough....Max, you divulged something about your personal past!! Good going! We are making progress! Seriously, I think you are right. GG, if he wants to trade, should, IMO (and I think this is sort of what you are saying) keep his toes wet and trade part time. And support himself for the time being with a "real job". It is hard at 25 to realize that your whole life is really ahead of you, and there are going to be hundreds of opportunities and forks in the road. If GG wants to be a trader today, and keeps focused on that, he can always get back to it. But if it isn't keeping that roof over his head, he needs something that will provide his basic needs. Perhaps down the road, he will be the next real "Gordon Gecko", or maybe he will be the next Albert Schweitzer (doubtful, but there are no limits on possibilities). My advice is simple. Gordon, if you read this, try doing what Max did. With decimalization, you can trade round lots of the cheap stocks (SUNW, SIRI, BRCD, RBAK, JDSU and about a thousand others. These come to mind because they trade big volume. But the point is, trading is trading. And you don't need a huge amount of money to trade these stocks. PDT will limit you, but that could be a GOOD thing for a while. Keep your fingers in the game just enough to stay involved, and make some money doing something else. Nothing is permanent at 25. Peace, RS
If I could be one of the top 1000 traders in the world, knocking down huge money or be the 25 year old that GG is and flat stinkin' broke, I'll take the 25.
No, I'm not 22. I'm actually in my late 20s. But these last 1.85yrs of prop trading has aged and wised me up beyond my years. Gained certain depth and appreciation for market more than the previous 5-6yrs working in institutional jobs. But, I'm getting a hang of it. I think I'll be banging out pretty nice daily/monthly profits soon since my curve has had a good ride except for the last 3 days. haha. If not then there's a job waiting for me my old bosses said when I'm bored/quit prop rading. Anyhow, have you guys noticed how you aged in dog years when you trade the market? I mean emotionally and market knowledge. Not physically aged. I look about the same as 2yrs ago. haha. 99
Must be. Was it Mark Twain? George Bernard Shaw? Well someone was the first that said "youth is wasted on the young" http://olympicpc.com/quotes/adviceforyouth.html I agree with you Max. I have no regrets. But I would always take being 25 over money. But we only get one shot. Man, I was living hand to mouth in Aspen at the time. Didn't know a long from a short, margin from a covered call. But boy, did I have a great time!!!! (At least I did appreciate it....except for all the flack I took from my family ..( "you are a "ski BUM") Peace, RS
[ i'm just posting my current situation and it sucks. [/B][/QUOTE] This morning I was reading Anthony Di Mello, "The Way To Love". He had this to say on being miserable: "Recall the kind of feeling you have when someone praises you, when you're approved, accepted, applauded. Contrast with the feeling that arises when you look at a sunset, read a book, or watch a movie you enjoy. Contrast the two. The first come from self-glorification or self-promotion. The second from self-fulfillment. Now, contrast the feeling you have when you succeeed, when you have made it, when you get to the top, when you win a bet, or an argument. Contrast it with the kind of feeling you get when you really enjoy the job you're doing, you're absorbed in, the action that you're currently engaged in. Once again notice the qualitative difference between the wordly feeling and the soul feeling. Finally, remember what it felt like when you had power, you were the boss, people looked up to you, took orders from you, or whenyou were popular. Contrast that feeling with the feelings of intimacy, companionship-the times you thoroughly enjoyed yourself in the company of a friend or with a group in which there was fun and laughter. Attempt to uderstand the true nature of wordly feelings, namely the feelings of self-promotion, self-glorification. They are not natural. They were invented by your society to make you productive and controllable. These feelings do not produce nourishment and happines. They produce thrills, excitement-and emptyness. Then observe yourself in the course of a week or month and think of how many actions are performed by the desire for these thrills, these excitements that only produce emptyness, the desire for attention, approval, fame, popularity, success or power. Take a look at the people around you. Is there a single one who has not become addicted to these wordly feelings? When you see this you will understand how people attempt to gain the world and loose their souls, for they live empty, fruitless lives. Here is a parable: A group of tourists sits in a bus that is passing through gorgeous country. But the shades of the bus are pulled down. They do not have the slightest idea of what lies beyond the windows.Their journey is spent on who will have the seat of homor, who will be applauded, and who will be well regarde and considered. And so they remain until the journey's end" Good Luck Jorge
Hey GG I may be some dude laughing at your misfortunes and really enjoying it or someone who is sincerely trying to help you out, because I was there too. Maybe I'm a guy doing both. Maybe I'm a guy who has nothing to do in life but to post on anonymous internet message boards. you make up your mind. You take this anyway you want. I don't care. The only reason I post this is because some people helped me when I was down in my life, and they didn't want anything in return. They only told me to help others out. I owe them, not you. Bro, get a job. And really look back on what happened over the couple of years. Get a job where you're not working 90 hours a week. That should leave you with some time to think about what happened. What happened as a result of what YOU did. Do nothing. Zone out. Absolutely zone out. Graveyard shift security guard job is the best for this, because you're making money at the same time. You watch an empty building for hours, with a pidgeon flying by maybe every 2 hours and just sit there. Nobody around for hours. and hours. and hours. Months of this, maybe more, maybe less, and you should realize something. Yea, sounds like bullshit. I know. But try it. You might be surprised. Then you might have an answer. If you think that a job like this is "below" you or anything like that, then I feel bad for you. Nothing is beneath anybody in this world. Some people are CEOs, some people are messenger boys. Some people are lawyers, some people clean urinals. But they all had dreams and desires. They all had high hopes. They all hoped to make it, and it's not over for anybody until they die. All of their lives are important. We live in a society where people are mocked and some people are admired for what they do, what kind of jobs they have. Where do people get off doing this? But that's another topic. Fortunes change in a matter of days to years. Today's gold can turn into tomorrow's shit. Today's shit can turn into tomorrow's gold. Or maybe today's shit is actually gold, but nobody knows it. And maybe today's gold is actually shit, but nobody knows it. Who knows what the answer is. But maybe this is what you should realize. All of this probably sounds mysterious, and I apologize for that. But really, GG, get a job and take a straightforward look at what happened and what you did. And I say months because this doesn't take a short amount of time. I would even say years. I have a feeling that you won't do what I am advising you to do. That's ok. It's your life. Jake