How do you handle someone asking you about trading stocks, etc?

Hi, I have found that when someone tells someone that they trade stocks, as the general public knows them they start to rain questions.

One thing that really ticks me off is after you tell them the very very basics that even a dog would understand, they say 'i should do this'. Ahh, perhaps I should become a lawyer or doctor tmrw?


Anyways, how do you guys handle when people ask you what you do for a living, then start asking how'd you learn it, what is it etc etc?

And how do you handle the average american who jumps up and says 'oh i should do this, im going to buy google because i use it everyday!'??

thanks

 

Don't ever tell anyone that you trade stocks.

 

Time & research & developing your own system is what it boils down to.
I tell people that if you can discipline yourself towards devoting a lot of time to research, analysis & study and then apply those into a unique systematic approach, outside of the pre-packaged junk that's out there, you might have a shot at being consistently profitable down the road.

Or again, you might end up with nothing.

Most folks change the subject after I tell em that part.

 

I tell people: "Remember all those times your 401K cratered and you lost years worth of contributions? Yeah? Well that was guys like me did it." End of discussion.

 

The worse thing isn't when you tell them thats what you do for a living, it's when you tell them thats what you intend to do for a living....

The cringes...

 

The conversation usually goes:

“What do you do?”

“I day trade stocks and futures.”

“Making any money?”

“A little but I take a lot of losses”

End of conversation.

 

On June 23, 2009 my friend called me and said that after being in cash for the longest time, she had 3 stocks she wanted to buy because she did business with these companies all the time and they were great companies and she just knew they were going to be great investments. The stocks were AMZN, COST and NFLX. She wanted my opinion on them.

I looked at the charts and, based on technical analysis and nothing else, told her that her stocks were all "buys" and told her where to place her stops.

Every one of those stocks had excellent gains, with COST gaining almost 40%, AMZN nearly doubling in value, and NFLX more than tripling in value.

I spoke to her recently and mentioned how solid her stock picks were. It turned out she did not buy a single one of them because the concept of "stops" scared her. She said she couldn't bear the thought of losing money on them.

 

I tell them that I cannot tell them what to do, since everyone's approach will be somewhat different, but that I can tell them what to read so that they can learn to be successful for themselves. However, they don't usually want to hear about my recommended books and web sites. And those few who do, never end up reading any of them. My guess is that they don't really believe anyone can actually learn this. The financial industry has been very successful at driving the buy and hold myth home. And the truth is that until I started reading books, etc. by people who have successfully made a living in the markets, I would not have believed myself that it could be done. I was a buy and holder for a long time. No mas.

 

I tell em I see equity insurance.

 

"Buy low, sell high." Don't even get started on shorting stocks.