Do you sometimes feel guilty?

unfortunately there is some truth in this...

 

I'd like to recommend a book I just finished. How to get rich, by Felix Dennis (founder of Maxim magazine). He does very clearly lay out how to get rich, but also very seriously explains that, for most people, the light is not worth the candle. Very sobering book.
I thought of it because of the guy who said you can't be friends with the guy making $60 per day when you're making $15K per day. Felix has great insight on the subject.

Also, Peilthetraveler, Bob111, and MachTrader, this is the highest number of disciplined traders who treat trading like a business I have ever seen in a single thread on ET; three. I thought I was on the wrong website for a moment.

 

That was not the point i was trying to make. No one is saying, go out and party and dont work hard. Obviously, we all know to be successful at this business we call trading, you have to be the best of the best, no question about it, and it takes crazy hours and dedication like no one will believe. With that said, there comes a point where you will not be able to take your money to the grave with you. I mean, when is enough, enough. I mean, we obviously have different levels of achievement, or where we feel , we have accomplish all we can and its time to do something fun and enjoy life before going into the grave. Well, unless your one of these people who says, "jut bury me with my money" haha, then i would think, you would want to enjoy what you have worked so hard to achieve at some point in your lifetime. But hey, to each his own, if you want to be 90 with a cain, in front of the screen trading, by all means, go ahead sir.

 

Haha. Don't get used to it. I'm sure this thread will turn into the typical bashing and negativity fairly soon. By the way, all you guys are posers and you suck. There. I started it.

 

Trading isn't about the money. The money is just a way to measure your success. If you think that professional traders trade so they can buy ferraris and buy yachts, you totally don't get it.

A good example is someone who decides they want to compete in an ironman triathlon. They don't do go through all the blood, sweat and tears for the free shirt, free hat, and finishing trophy. They do it for the personal challenge. If you try to enter an ironman and you are doing it for the stuff at the end and the pictures to show people you did it, you will never train hard enough to finish. You have to be one of those people who do it for the challenge.

Trading is one of the hardest professions and it takes incredible discipline and fortitude. If you are trading so one day you can buy a mansion and sip margaritas by the pool, you are likely to be drinking bartles & James under the viaduct.

 

+1 MachTrader on personal challenge.


let me repeat once again-the opportunity to make the money in trading might not be there tomorrow. it mean a lot of things-rules,regulations,brokers,software,capital, even your own physical or mental ability to trade OR to come up with profitable idea...
i can't see myself working for somebody for 10$ or whatever in hour. who would hire me? i have no experience in anything,know couple old programming languages and trading. no work history at all,not a team player.. after i've seen endless opportunities to make endless amount of money and actually able to make some money of the markets, i have no interest in anything else. at least not today. any job will be boring for me. specially under some one's supervision. it is entirely possible that when my trading is over-it might be over FOREVER. you gotta have something under your mattress for this scenario.
i'm a shit magnet,when it comes to investing. i've tried many times-fuck it. every time i buy something-it goes down to the toilet. or some epic event happens..like 9/11, when i was long up to the hilt. i have no balls to put my money in one big bet,sit down and wait forever. somehow i was able to find my way to trade,find something that's fit's me, my personality. i'm enjoying it, but also-i do realize that it not going to last forever. when my current system stops producing the money(happening already,thank you HFT bots)-then i will take my time to rest, travel,come up with new ideas etc. but until then-i have to work as hard as i can and grab as much as i can. you asking -how much do you really need? well..talking about fun..my family travel a lot,all over the world, few times a year(pretty expensive hobby,all covered off course by me),my son want's to be a doctor(gotta have at least half a mil for his education alone). don't forget that the uncle sam and obama want's his half too...you tell me how much is enough..
btw-you did not answer on my question-what would you do-go on vacation or sit down next to computer and make 15K?

 

I don't see the point of this post, lol. I believe that it comes from a place that believes the rich become rich at the expense of the poor. This is simply not true in a free laissez-faire capitalist society (not saying that we live in one now). But if you make your money legitimately (without the help of government and/or without stealing/etc), then you did not make your money at the expense of someone else, quite the opposite. You made your money by ASSISTING AND HELPING other people.

Take the extreme example, someone like Henry Ford. He didn't revolutionize the automobile industry and basically every other manufacturing industry in existence, at the expense of others. His innovation created wealth, a small portion of which went to him, most of which went to society and its posterior. Trading, believe it or not, is similar in a small way. To the extent that you profit, it is the extent that you have reallocated resources properly. When resources are misallocated it is a deficiency, if resources are better allocated, it creates more wealth and efficiency. The trader gets a small portion of that increase in wealth, the rest goes to society.

I disagree with this. First off, "2 hours before opening?" When does this thing open or close, markets i trade go on basically all day and night, lol. To the point of the message, I disagree. Hard work is not directly proportional to trading profits. In fact, in most cases it can be the exact opposite. Trading is the art of waiting for the perfect opportunity or great opportunities. Sit in front of the PC and you'll feed the machine all day. I watch on and off throughout the day and night, but i'm never spending 10 hours per day at this. And i'm quite profitable.

Of course there are many ways to skin the cat as they say. Whatever works for you. But for me, and most others, i assure you that hard work is not proportional to success.

 

That song so inspired me when it came out and is very fitting to my story







What about choice C?






make 15k from the beach while trading on vacation

 

Debaser82,

I do not for many reasons I won’t go into but more importantly, I would consider it a warning sign that someone felt guilty that they were a success while others may not be (this is what I would tell a friend who said what you said) no matter the field. But in our profession, your psychology is more important than many endeavors (IMHO). To me, a statement or opinion of that type means an underlying psychological problem that says on some level, that you don’t feel you deserve your success.

Whether this is me being paranoid or reading to much into this I do not know, but if one feels either consciously or subconsciously, they don’t deserve success, they will sooner or later find themselves back in their comfort zone (i.e. giving back those large gains they think they do not deserve) for what they might just chalk up to bad luck or crazy circumstance and may not even realize this cycle. If one feels they don’t deserve it, they won’t keep it in the long run IMHO.

I am reminded of a saying from Wall Street, Money never sleeps when Zabel says paraphrasing “Good day in the markets, I am ok. Bad day in the markets, I am ok.” That attitude and even keel mental state I believe to be very important. I have two schools of thought here and I follow the even keel philosophy myself but some others may go the super volatile (think breaking keyboards or screaming) route, which works for them if it releases their tension and they get back to business. Think McEnroe exploding about a line call and then playing his best tennis. It is the same for some in trading.

Make no mistake there have been a few potential windfalls in the last month or so if one was willing to pay attention that could have caused much larger than ordinary short-term gains. But make no mistake that most would never see or even understand the correlations of what caused these events unless they were in the financial arena or very keen market observers/fans. Don’t talk specifics to friends/acquaintances with very rare exception and take some friends out to dinner if you want as a treat (it is a good feeling), but keep the ups and downs to yourself if you want to keep friends outside the business. They will never get it as many have said before. Chat/meet others in this business for someone to share the ups and downs with.

Good trading. The journey never ends for any of us.

BM