With the amount of money he's taking out of the markets, obviously money is not an incentive for him to teach hehe. Are there other angles you can work on? Some people might enjoy the pride of mentoring a little padwan much more so than some doctor's $250k. For one you could read some books based on what he told you about his trading, and try to talk to him again when you learned a bit about what he might be doing.
Currently I make good money but am an absentee father and husband. I want the bucks to basically eat and be at home and not travel and work all the time. If I could make 2% a week, that would be enough I think. (4:1 on the $25k) Even just to slow the savings drain a bit and be at home for a while and recover the marriage and teach my sons to catch a ball and swing a bat. Breaks my heart. noble cause for sure. I am brushing up a bunch. I currently trade but am learning that I am only a hack. In the last week, I have learned that I don't know Jack and will be starting at the bottom. Trading now and I don't have a strategy, just market order entry and limit exits. Last week I made less than 1% per day, but its better than a sharp stick in the eye. I will lurk around and read some books. Any good books? I think the daily plucking is swing or trend. I have the Investools thing going, but they're no help for swingers, just the investor.
Crap, how sad. I am alone in the house trying to become an expert at a completely new game while the family is driving away on vacation. work takes all day? It takes your life.
Hey dude, I think I understand a bit about what you're going through. Before I tell you what I think, first a disclaimer. I trade stocks in my spare time, been at it since early 2000 Used to lose big, now do better but I'm not consistently profitable. I think I'm on the right track but have no numbers to prove it. Really I don't know what I'm talking about. You might've heard the saying: "scared money can't trade". From my own experience it's true, the more scared I get the more I lost. Read some good trading books and you'll see a lot of stories about spetacular losses when people trade in fear, or when they are going through a tough time in their lives. Speaking of books, I highly recommend Market Wizards and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. What I learned from those books really helped turn a corner. It sounds like you're in a situation where you NEED to squeeze a certain amount of money out of the market. I don't think the market will oblige. With $25k capital, you're on the cutting edge of pattern day trader eligibility, one small draw down and you're out of the game. $25k daytrading with 4x leverage, if you make 2%/week, assuming you with draw all profits that's $100k income a year. That's more than twice the average household income in the US. Is that just barely enough for the lifestyle you want? Maybe you have a problem with overly high expectations in the household. 2%/week sustained is 170% gain per year. That's trading superstar performance, according to Market Wizards. It's been done before, but very difficult to be consistently at that level. If you're well paid in your job already, why not just cut back in the hours and money and spend more time with the family? If your wife demands more of your time but no change in the money you earn, well the problem is not you.
good read on things and I've had those a few other thoughts over the last few years. The $100k is a lot and I live well enough and have been able to put away some. I am not trying to keep up with the Joneses or anything, just change. Grass is greener thing more than likely. I have also looked at real brick and mortar type small business ideas like carwashes and laundrymats. Who knows.
Hehe nothing wrong with the grass is greener thing. Isn't happiness all about the persuit of something better? First you're a starving student and you aspire to make decent money in a steady job. Then when you have the decent job you want your own business for the freedom and better hold on your future. Well, that's where I'm, and that's why I'm trading. Starting small businesses have a horrible reputation for free time to spend with kids too. Making a living off trading also. What you're trying to do is hard, I wish you the best of luck. But hey, only the people with guts to try ever make it. I'm chicken, so I'm keeping my full-time job to pay the bills and save more while trading on the side. I know if I just plunge in I won't really be in a psychological position to win. But that's just me.
I am conflicted for sure. the mid life thing. money, women, geez. they don't teach this shit in college. I need a plan. I seem to be bouncing off one "bright" idea after another and I can't stand to see what I come up with next. I should just stay at work because I am good and well respected and well paid and a 5 minute commute. Too bad my collection of hotel room keys is 6 inches tall. I am a real grump because of asshole customers. (we develop products for bossy people)
Lucky guy that got the 'commission' for that program. I bet he ain't programming anymore! He's probably switched his activity going in the 'moving' business himself right now!
There's gotta be a bright idea among a big enough pile of "bright" ideas. I've never had that kinda responsibility so I don't know what it feels like to feel "locked" into a job that I don't really like. Or do you? Being good at a job, being well respected and well paid usually is good for job satisfaction? Trading is hard, and there are a lot of sharks in the daytrading crowd. It's pretty easy to burn all your capital on the first attempt and end up with little options. I was lucky to get into the market at the peak early 2000, and learned the hard lessons early. I rode my initial brokerage account down to about 80% drawdown thanks to Nortel. Nearly lost all interest in investing/trading. Luckily it didn't kill my desire to trade, just any lofty expectations about what I can do jumping into shark-infested waters without putting a chainmail on, a cage around, and a harpoon in my hand.
Oh and I haven't heard of any instant successes in this game. There are just too many normal human instincts that you have to train to overcome before you can really make it. The only instant successes tend to be people that just bought long (sorta a instinct in mass psychology) in a boom market like tech in the late 90s. Problem is those are also known to hold on to their stocks and lose it all back in the following bear market. Now, if you can play this game, pay a lot of tuition in lost capital, endure many losing periods, and wait two years before paying any bills with it, then you might just make it, and make it big. That tends to be the profile of a consistently profitable trader...