I was wondering how you everybody in ET got interested or started in the markets? Was it something you fell into, love since childhood, following in your parents footsteps, former broker now trader, better then the grocery business? I have always been fascinated by how diffrent people end up in this business. This includes at home traders and the corporate traders. Even parttime traders and sellside analysts. Or even brokers. Its always been fascinating. I have friends who majored in history and sociology who ended up being brokers and traders. I shall start. I have personally been interested in the stock market since I was 4 and reading the bylines of business section. Those I have personal interests and a life besides the markets, I love speaking shop talk and everything about the stock market. I first got my real taste of the stock market when I was 11 and I was allowed to buy stock using my dads account. Oddly I made money. I have been hooked ever since. I got my undergrad from the university of victoria in economics and minored in pychology. LOL I minored in pych because there was alot of cute girls in pychology classes. Im now a fulltime trader, and I help run my family accounts. I invest in all markets, and if you get me talking about markets I think I might never stop.
interesting thread. Here is my short story: Graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston w/ a degree in what amounts to music business. Graduated last August. Immediately went to work for Sovereign Bank (go figure), and a collegue of mine introduced me to the market through scottrade - ugh! Quickly became addicted, and now 9 months later, I'm trading full time in good ole tennessee. The only prior experience I had w/ the market was in 6th or 7th grade during the stock market game. We were seperated into groups and decided which stock to buy based on yesterday's paper. My group came in last.
hey congratulations, do you want to head back into the music side of business along the way or investing and trading is something you can make a long term carreer with?
It was February 2000, I was in my fourth year of university and had basically done fuck all the whole time I was there except for a shitload of partying. I was taking business and always wanted to make something of myself but never really took interest in any particular profession. Then one fateful night my roommate and I were sitting around smoking a bunch of herb and watching tv when our neighbour came over and started telling us about this great tech stock he owned. He told us his dad got this great tip on this company and it was going to go through the roof. He showed us a chart and surely enough it had gone from $1 to $15 in the last 2 months. We looked at each other thinking we'd hit jackpot and without hesitation bought $1000 of this stock each with our credit cards. At this point in time, I was in debt several thousand dollars and was in no position to be spectulating in the markets whatsoever, but I figured it was easy money and went ahead with it. Needless to say, over the next couple of months I watched this stock go directly into the toilet. It was basically back down under $1 within a few months or so. We could have sold at any point along the way and salvaged at least a portion of our "investments", but we kept holding out for it to get back to the price we had bought it at. Every little bounce in price always managed to generate enough optimism to convince both us to hold on. In the end, we lost it all. Anyway, it turned out to be the best $1000 I ever spent. I was so pissed off how miserably this venture had failed that it motivated me to learn about the markets. I started reading all sorts of books and checking out websites to learn as much as I possibly could. Then when I graduated after my 5th year I went and got a job as a prop trader and rest is history. It probably wouldn't have happened had it not been for that incident. "If these trends continue...ayyy!" - Disco Stu
When i was 15 (20 now) i was a race car driver, got on a big team, raced in Pro classes in Eur. One of my rivals was a CEO of a top financial firm. He took me under his wing showing me the ropes to the financial world!
Awesome story. Me, I received a flyer in the mail one day telling me that I could turn $1,000 dollars into $10 million within a year trading egg futures. Assisted by a broker of course. I wanted more. I would rather turn $10,000 into $100,000,000. Thus, I put a years worth of earnings into this so called "futures" and the rest is what they say, history. It is not how much you loss that matter, only how much you will make one day!!!
Rod Shaft, This is uncanny, my story is pretty much the same. I was in college and my friend brought in a copy of Money Magazine with lots of tech stock buy recommendations. He explained to me how his friend had made a load of money in stocks and that he himself had made great money during the summer by buying penny stocks. Shortly after I borrowed $1k from the parents. The next day I met him in the cafeteria, slammed the money on the table and said "I'm in!" We pooled our money together and bought Intel, WorldCom etc. This was right at the time that the market started to sink. Suffice it to say by the time I got out the $1k turned into $200... I finished college with $35k to pay off in loans, plus the $1k I owed to the parents. It was one of the best lesson of my life and has lead to my current addiction to the market. -Neo
Musicians are lazy, irresponsible people. The market shows up every day at the same time, which I like. Plus, there are very few musicians worthy to play with me in this city. Sounds conceited, but sadly true.
How i got started................. I worked in a factory on a dead end job.....you know, a sweatshop. Working along with other immigrants that could hardly speak English. Worked there for 15 years.....never having a dollar to my name....always wondering why some people have to work until they die while others can pull them selves out of poverty an become wealthy. Finally started reading magazines about investing etc....and one day i decided enough was enough and i went on took the biggest risk of my life.....left the security of my job to become a trader. Must say it was not easy at first....but now its getting much better. I believe anyone from any background has some potential to make it.....providing they have the starting capital and don't fall victim to their emotions.