Having trouble focusing at my day job

Please explain that money in the bank concept. This is foreign to me.

 

Smart money,

I personally think you are putting the cart before the horse worrying about how your friends will react based on your “new riches.” You sound like a gambler to me. A gambler is counting his winnings and wondering how that is going to change his life BEFORE he actually makes that money. Sound familiar? You mentioned you were a permabull in the real estate market. If you didn’t see the many signs of trouble coming in RE (in a much slower moving market), why do you think you will notice the more subtle things that matter in trading? After all, this just shows you couldn’t look objectively at the situation before, but now you can? Why do you believe that? Further evidence you are not ready to go to the next level.

To be successful trading, you need an even emotional keel. If you get euphoric over a great discovery that has passed the muster of time (two whole weeks), thinking you are on the path to riches and then also worry about how your friends will react to your new found wealth, I hope you can see how ridiculous this sounds to a third party. If you have been swing trading for year as you say, you haven’t learned much IMHO. Does this euphoria seem like a good long-term state for you? I hope not. You trade following your rules and your reaction should be the same, whether you lost money or made money on a trade.

Take a step back and reread your thread or better yet, print it off and show it to your wife or friend and have them read it (removing names/things that make it appear to be you). You won’t like what you hear. Having said all that, I do respect and admire someone who has a real passion for a subject, any subject. But discipline to do what you HAVE to do, not what you WANT to do, is what separates the haves from have nots, in all professions. After taking care of the first, you will eventually get the second. Consider this post as a slap to the face by one of your friends trying to bring you back from your “high.” Do not quit your job. You are not close to being ready for that. Those that suggested it were being sarcastic. You have a lot to learn IMHO.

I wish you good luck on your journey. This journey of (swing) trading success never ends for any of us. As Marty Schwartz used to say, “We are just a few sunspots from unemployment.” All the best.

BM

 

Thanks for the note. I'm just real curious where you got the idea that I'm undisciplined. Did my post give that impression? Because I'm a noob? Is it the real estate? I put them in fixed notes and they stay rented...no complaints there.

Regards,

SM

 

No, but you sounds like a guy who met a great girl, been with two weeks, and already thinking about marriage.

 

Been there too - sleepless nights, breathless excitement at having found the key to quick, unlimited wealth ...

More power to you, if what you've found actually works for you (from one engineer to another). But, be prepared for one heck of a bumpy ride. The road is longer than it looks, even from this point.

 

Heh...great analogy. FWIW, I knew when I met my wife that I wanted to marry her. Been with her for almost half my life now.

 

Here's a good system: trade crude around the release of the inventory report at 9am ET Wednesdays.

Seriously, if you find the Grail, let me know. Call 1-800-THE-GRAIL.

 

Hopefully by this time you haven't been canned. I went through a lot of that working while trying to trade ..leaving work for an hour or two when things were slow(using overtime returned). Spending vacation time trading..always thinking of the trade no matter what..becomes an emotional crutch kind of.Dull Job and snotty , lying people make it easy to want to trade.
Its tuff to do especially when you picture yourself being independent in a year's time .
The most misleading thing is making Profits too quickly at first only to realize a year later that it was unsustainable .
If you have a Family and bills to pay..you gotta balance it out or possibly temporarily lose both. Much easier if you're single.

 

Thanks. No, I haven't been canned. Like one fellow predicted, I'm starting to get used to it. Still making good money...like almost as good as my salary, but since I think this could end at any time, I'm trying to accumulate as much as I can while the gettin' is good. Not spending any of it so it will compound. I feel like I'm in a race to accumulate enough to where I can place it all in something making passive returns and still be able to quit.

I still can't wait to trade, or get a buy signal, so I can put my money to work. I study every night and keep learning more. But I'm doing better work when I'm at work...really...because the year, or maybe even 2 years that it would take for me to be able to quit is still a long time and I can't screw with my family's welfare.

SM