Most experienced traders over 30 die. Luckily they are wealthy and way way over 30. All experienced traders can afford anything and that includes great health. I am on a first name basis with the team of doctors who see me regularly. Traders fall into two general categories. The division is psychologically based. One causes poor health and the other is kind of vitalizing. My type is related to support, comfort and confidence. It comes from having knowledge, skills and experience in the orientation of knowing that you know and being in the market on the correct side of the market. Today, the short market started to overlap the long market on bar 51 and the overlap ended on bar 64 (ES wise) Wasn't that a fun experience?? Some types of experienced traders get treatment from people like Steenbarger. They have issues with anxiety, fear and anger. For them trading, they say, it is like gambling because they use the OODA model. They literally bet on a trade and protect their money by risk and money management. Why do people get into these states? They sound irrational, even. It can be a consequence of a belief system that they acquired by their decision making. If you get the chance someday, trying observing the kind of trader who knows that he knows and always stays on the correct side of the market. You will find it very different than your life experience so far.
another closed minded simplistic post from crgarcia. Of course there are some short term traders that make money, but the majority don't. And why do only the retired long term traders make decent returns?
Correct, and a mail man who walks around all day can just as easily be overweight and have bad health.
You are assuming that people do a job to gain happiness. Whereas the purpose of a job is primarily to make a living for yourself in an acceptable way, and secondarily to provide some value for others (in the case of trading - more liquid and efficient markets). Happiness is created by living a fulfilling life, doing things that you personally find meaningful and/or have an aptitude and passion for, not by doing job X instead of job Y. You might as well say to Garry Kasparov "Hey mate, if you got really good at pushing pieces around a board, would this make you happy?" or to Beethoven "Hey if you could make a series of notes that some people enjoy listening to, would that make you happy?". Most things that cause happiness happen outside the workplace, after all - friends, family, love, intellectual pursuits, leisure interests, charity etc. Building widgets or being a cog in a bureaucratic machine is nothing special. Approximately 50% of doctors report that they feel unhappy with their job, and being a doctor is widely viewed as one of those "holy grail" type jobs that combines high pay with socially beneficial work. Trading has a lot of benefits like independence, rewards based purely on results not on other people's attitude to you or your background, high potential income, almost limitless scope for creative research and independent thinking, scalability, an ever-changing environment, the challenge of handling serious financial risks, the thrill of "action" during volatile market environments, interacting with human mass psychology etc - and you can do it either solo, in small groups, or in a huge institution. You can also trade nowadays from anywhere in the world, which is a huge benefit if your native country happens to follow undesirable policies, if you enjoy travel, or if you consider yourself a citizen of the world. Many highly paid jobs like doctor, lawyer, teacher etc have national qualifications which mean you can't easily uproot yourself and go work somewhere else. For example, I'm emigrating in a couple of months, partly for a change and some adventure, partly to avoid significantly higher taxes raping my income each year, and partly because I am sick of how my native society demonises hard work and success and sneers at "speculators". If I was a doctor, dentist, lawyer, or corporate employee, or ran a normal business, it would be ten times harder to do that, and in many cases I'd have to take a big pay cut and then comply with new bureaucracy in the place I went to. As it is, I can simply raise my middle finger, say "fuck you" and leave. That's the kind of freedom that most people unfortunately don't have. If you aren't suited to trading then it will just appear like a meaningless casino, a lonely empty activity whose sole purpose is making money. If you are suited to it, then it will appear to be fascinating and rewarding, almost the ideal profession. A bit like how being a soldier would horrify a pacifist, who would view it as wanton destruction, violence, and oppression of innocents; whereas an aggressive person with a strong code of honour would view the military as possibly the highest calling. It's mostly a matter of perspective, and finding what suits you. If trading isn't for you, move on and find something that is. But don't come on a trader message board and try to lecture traders as to why it's bad for them.