%% Yes speed read; + when you find something you like read= read it 2 or more times. I save WSJ + maybe find 5% help/95% not useful... IBD [investors.com]about 80%- 95% useful/+
That's how frustrating it is, JSOP. 4 friends with "good" jobs do exactly that commute. At least these cats make 250k/yr. But others I know are well under 100k. Talk to them about trading and even show the numbers? In one ear out the other.
Yes, humbletrader, I am a lonely son of a gun. The more money one got the more miserable one can be, the further away from HOME one wanders like a zombie lost in material stuff. Those who don't got the money think that those that do are in Paradise. They be dead wrong. I'm not talking about day to day superficial happiness that comes from outdoors, boats, cars, parties, golf, bla bla. No chief, its something deeper, much deeper. 2 days after getting a huge trade profit, the joy wears off and I got nothing. But, sitting in a restaurant, then thru' the window seeing 4 obviously not well off young uns looking longingly at the food, I go out and bring 'em in and pay for the full stomach. That high lasts for weeks. That's when I started really living - giving it away as fast as it comes in and it never stops coming in. Friends dying in crappy jobs not able to make ends meet but cannot even consider going into trading despite the example I've set - kills me. Have to bail them out on house payments and whatnot, but do it gladly but they could be in the driver seat themselves.
Yeah but the territory comes with a steep learning curve, years of pain & frustration. Took me years to get my head around it, years to recoup substantial losses (lost circa $100,000) The fact that in some instances I could reclaim losses via taxation was encouraging.
No humbletrader, I understand you perfectly in that after helping someone you get a kick in the ass and that kills it for you. Here's what I am saying ........... give it for free to a total stranger(s) you come across singly or in a group or village, who says or does something that catches your attention - give it and then walk away expecting nothing in return, not even perhaps a thank you. Just give and walk away and forget about it. You'll drown in well being, HT.
$250K is a LITTLE bit more justification for a Four-hour daily commute but $100K is NOT worth it. They should either tele-commute or change jobs or try to live closer to the jobs or at least reduce the frequency of commuting. Because assuming that your friends work standard 8-hour, 5 days a week job, so $250K/52/5/8 = $120.19 per hour, this is their hourly rate now for the 4-hour commute, they are NOT really spending it on their life, their leisure, or their family or their friends. Since they incurred that commute for the SOLE purpose of going to work otherwise they would've just vegged out in front of the TV with a Bud in their hands, so these 4-hour commute should really be allocated to their work, so technically with the commute hours added, your friends are NOT really working an 8-hour job but a 12-hour job!! So their hourly rate is really $250K/52/5/12 = $80.12 per hour!! With $80.12 per hour, their annual salary based on an equivalent of 8-hour, 5-day a week job, is really $80.12 X 8 X 5 X 52 = $166,649.60! Your friends have just effectively taken a (166,649.60 - 250,000) / 250,000 = 33% pay cut just by driving FOUR hours each day!!! Your friends who are earning $100K is really earning $66,666, literally turned their otherwise a six-figure job into a 5-figure one, a entry-level manager's salary, And this is not mentioning all the stress from the commuting, higher incidence for accidents, lowered productivity which would've added more cost to the bill. At the end of the day, the real take-home pay is even less. People really don't realize the detriment of long-distance commuting and how much it costs to the workers, the companies (the workers are not really available to do work during the commute so it's wasted time for the companies too), the taxpayers who have to pay so much for road maintenance and the police and the environment for causing so much pollution, noise, endangerment to wildlife. Excessive long-term commuting is a lose, lose, lose, lose situation for everybody! It was such a bad idea to build so many roads. They should've invested in internet right away in the 50's instead of appeasing to the construction and automobile industries!!