Has anybody taught a close relative how to trade?

Discussion in 'Psychology' started by ChocolateGirl, Aug 16, 2008.



  1. I agree 100%!!


    But what you need to understand is in THIS day and age, it is.

    Kids these days are taught to idolize MONEY (not education).

    Kids these days are taught to idolize MONEY (not integrity).

    Kids these days are taught to idolize MONEY (not ambition).


    So what do we go to college for? MONEY. I'm sorry but this how it is for young people these days. This is what we are taught by what we watch and what our teachers tell us. When we go to college the true nature of education is wasted on us because we are only seeking one thing: guess what it is? $$$$$.

    Its sad.
     
    #21     Aug 17, 2008
  2. Johno

    Johno

    Hi Synic,

    "Getting an education isn't just about making money. A liberal arts education liberates one's mind, helps one to think for himself, and broadens the mind.

    I would not give up my education for a million dollars. I don't think I can put a price on it, frankly.

    And as for my children, if they want to trade, they will have to finish college first."
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I couldn't agree more, it's just so important to feed the mind, although my children (except for one) studied finance/marketing. The one most likely to follow in my footsteps is the one who joined the Army at 18, 5 years ago. Funnily enough he intends to resume his studies ( maturity begins) if he doesn't get deployed again in the near future.

    Hi 04,
    Unfortunately you make the mistake of believing that everybody thinks as you do when in reality you are probably simply surrounding yourself with people (loose cannons) who reinforce your views.
    Having observed my children and their friends I'm led to believe that happiness/self fulfilment and financial security are their main goals rather than money for moneys' sake.

    After all, there's no point being the richest person in the cemetry if you've left a trail of destruction behind you!

    Regards

    Johno
     
    #22     Aug 17, 2008
  3. cvds16

    cvds16

    hmm, strange discussion that you have to have been poor to become a good trader imo, although I totally understand the reasoning behind it and even agree with it. I know quite some kids with (really) rich parents and one of the main drivers for them can be not to be just 'the son of ...' but making their own way (none of them were really spoiled dispite of all the money their parents had, so the way they were raised might have something to do with that.) My own father is a cardiologist, I am quite intelligent and really didn't do much in school (didn't have to ...) and I dropped out of university (mainly because I became bipolar at age 21 which is a condition I inherited from my mother's side and had a lot of trouble of the side effects of the drugs I was taking at the time: I was spending my days in bed for over a month when I became ill). I was always very ambitious when I was young but didn't pretty much do anything regarding studying as I was pretty bored and it didn't interest me at all. Against the advice of my dad I stopped my studies and went to Amsterdam to become a local and like to think I have really been working my ass since then and studied much more than I ever did during my whole time in university.
    I have had my ups and downs but now I am pretty much consistant. Can't say my surrounding, meaning the people who live in my city or my brothers, were very supportive during that time; being manic (I don't got the depressive side) at times doesn't help with other people trying to understand trading neither doesn't not having an university degree if you try to land on an derivatives job. But my dad is quite well known in the city I lived in and I wanted to be more than his son, my disease became an additional motivation as I know I was pretty much enemployable because of the way I think and because the outbursts about every year and half of my disease. Trading was never much about the money for me, but more about the intellectual challenge and making my own way. If however one of the children of one of my brothers wanted to trade I would always advice them to finish university first (no matter how much I hated the structure and the fact I dropped out myself) as it enforces a kind of thinking, discipline and perseverance which can help you on your queest to become a good trader; the only thing they would have to have in mind though that getting a degree is only one step and not the end, like I saw myself with some people at university. I would also tell the elaborately about when times were not that great and about how much effort it took to become decent as a trader.
     
    #23     Aug 17, 2008
  4. I just re-read the post and realized that in typing I phrased the statement wrong. I was speaking figuratively as I actually don't even have children yet.

    Doesn't make a difference anyway. The point remains. Children are not entitled to their parents wealth, and parents should make their children earn things rather than habitually giving handouts.
     
    #24     Aug 17, 2008
  5. That's true. You had it worse than I did.
     
    #25     Aug 17, 2008

  6. I could expand, but I don't want to be argumentative. I will say this: You are agreeing with me. Going to school for "financial security" is not what school is supposed to be about. It has been made that way through the years. The qualities that make you successful aren't tangible and they aren't teachable (at least not in the traditional sense). Education is just that and we should all want it for its own sake. For whatever reason we now go to school simply for a piece of paper that we know will at least guarantee us a decent paying job, i.e. successful. Since this has been true in the past, we tend to think it will be true forever. ? We all know that a degree is arbitrary and the roots of success are in tenacity, hard work, thinking big, etc. Americans have become used to achieving mediocre success without these, but what happens if for some reason us young people really have to compete against people that have both the mindset and the education? We will be no match. Look up our ranks in education as compared to the rest of the world and its not a pretty picture. IBM has something like 80,000 employees. Right now we are all under the impression that the only thing you need to succeed is a degree and IMO it won;t be that way forever and all the young people will be left waving their degrees around wondering why it doesn't count like it used to.
     
    #26     Aug 17, 2008
  7. Cutten

    Cutten

    To the parents planning the lives of their offspring - who says they are going to listen to what you say and do what you want? Maybe they'll tell you to butt out, and just go ahead and do what they want instead.
     
    #27     Aug 17, 2008
  8. Unfortunately you make the mistake of believing that everybody thinks as you do when in reality you are probably simply surrounding yourself with people (loose cannons) who reinforce your views.
    ------------------------------

    My thoughts also, confirmation bias. Regarding 04 comments "love to learn" and what they teach is not relevant to the job. A college education will provide a foundation, and at the time may not seem relevant but a foundation is.

    I skipped college yet love to learn. I took alternative routes to formal education and chose to skip what I thought was irrelevant yet there is a disconnect between self taught or hard knocks or learning by experience and a formal education.

    To the original poster, I took my daughter when she was 16 to night school for options classes. She was a numbers girl but her interests changed since then, no or low risk tolerance or guts to continue. I even offered to eat half her losses on a bad trade if she used her own money.

    My other daughter, I did have her trading somewhat but again that fizzled out for more immediate concerns of boys, cars, work etc.

    I always stressed the positive in the markets and an introduction to the world of finance but maybe it'll be something they'll do in the future. Face it sooner or later we all need to invest for the future.
     
    #28     Aug 17, 2008
  9. How to trade, no (someone has to teach me first).
    What trading is about and how money is made and lost, yes.

    I took a stack of 5ers, and scalped the YM for about 15 minutes with my adolescent nephew. For each winner I gave him the appropriate number of 5ers. For each loser he had to give the appropriate number back. (he got lucky, first trade was a winner). At the end of the session, counted the number of trades and he gave back 1 fiver for each to simulate commission. Anything left in his hand, he got to keep. He was net positive and very excited. (In hindsight, I should have taken a few back to simulate taxes, oh well). Now that he is turning teen, he has started asking me questions. :)

    Osorico
     
    #29     Aug 17, 2008



  10. Education was never meant to be a means to success, or wealth. What exactly is this foundation you mention? I'm sorry but its not there. College now is simply a means to an end. Don't take my word for it, go conduct a poll. Ask 25 college students why they are in college and see what they say. They will say career, or success, happiness etc. Now ask those same kids if they will except an annuity for 8,000 a month for life if they don't go. How many do you think would take that deal? A lot. College has become a loathsome requisite for getting a piece of paper that will hopefully assure you at least a decent job. Thats it.

    to the OP, sorry for going off topic. This is a subject that I'm deeply involved in, so its hard for me not to comment.
     
    #30     Aug 17, 2008