Get this degree: http://eng.ufl.edu/about/departments/detail_department.php?dept=ECE Then you won't have to worry about trading - you'll just want to!
SarahG....Just a little venting from things i've seen in my family and friends, i'm not even married. Sometimes things don't work out the way they should and a couple has to eat what's in front of them (for better, for worse....blah). Trust me, i'm the farthest thing from a loser, especially in the markets. The last thing my future ex-wife will need is job. She just better not eat all the bacon I bring home and keep the LBS off. SarahG - please refer to this link. http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/suppose.html Tudor Jones....Profitable traders can teach other traders how to trade. With the money they make, then they can fund charities for diseases (like breast cancer) so people don't have to lose loved ones prematurely. That is certainly something you can look back on and be proud of.
It's women like you that make me fall to my knees and thank the lord that I'm not married. What a nag you must be.
Amen! Now let's try and answer this kids question. l4t....Most prop firms, at least the ones I know here in ChiTown, don't require any capital. And you don't necessarily need a college degree. The desk fees/draws start coming out of a debit account that you have to pay back. Hell the guy who owns the prop shop where I work ,went to community college and most guys don't have a finance degree (myself - PolySci degree from U of Iowa and I used to park cars). Good prop shops will have great resourses like analysts and good feedback vehicles for traders to communicate through. Trading on your own is a bit more expensive, at first because of line fees, non-economies of scale in commisions and resources, and other equipment outlays. Good Luck.
I didn't read the whole thread, so I apologize if this has been stated repeatedly already. Get a quant degree. Only thing of value if you want a wall street "trading" job. Firms rarely hire pure traders anymore, and those that do, hire only the best guys around. If you don't want to go this route, then I'd say don't do college at all. Start trading as soon as possible. Work two jobs if you have to. If it doesn't work out, then go to college and do something else.
Look into a double major. If you're a freshman now you should still have enough time to do it. What subject do you want to teach? If you are looking to teaching math, you could do a math/econ(or finance) double major. That would make you relatively marketable in both industries, since there is a need for math teachers. Also, many high schools are now offering Economics classes, so you may want to look into teaching that as well. Good luck to you.
Perhaps I'm a bit naive, but when I was interviewing with prop firms in Chicago, the best require(d) you to have a very strong educational background (either that or an innate ability to do math and be very familiar with finance). Top tier prop firms here (DRW, Wolverine, etc.) won't even look at you if you're doing poorly in school. This is not to say you can't get a job there, but I imagine it would take some rigorous networking. College gives you more security and a good backup. If you want to work at a prop firm where you need to put up your own money, or are responsible for your losses while you're learning, then sure - no degree necessary. But if you want to work at a firm that will pay you salary (around 60k starting now), teach you what you need to be profitable - go to school. BTW, a lot of companies are hiring out of computer science and technically strong majors now-a-days. As someone said earlier, the quant position is very nice. For the record, the only trading firms that I've been exposed to are those that pay salary, so I'm not sure the success otherwise; but at the top firms, the success rate is very high.