How would you know? The current system is highly discriminatory and there is no data to back what you said up. There are many fields where education is very important but trading isn't one of them. If you can cite any studies done where equal educated traders are compared to non-educated ones, it would be interesting to read.
Because unlike you, I actually know some mathematics. Have smurfette calculate for you the odds that Zanger was on a multi-year lucky streak.
Who says he's even trying? The guy has made it. He's probably doing what I'd be doing: enjoying life. Not every successful person is some bottomless pit that needs more and more money to be happy. Not everybody needs billions to be satisfied. Millions is plenty if you grew up poor.
Nope, the guy is writing newsletters and selling stuff for a living -- does this site look like it's backed by big $$ ?? You need to check your facts first--- check the results of his newsletters. There is nothing wrong with this and I respect his ability to morph, but to say the guy has it made is ridiculous http://www.chartpattern.com/?gclid=CN7W3qnhnMkCFcUlgQodvzcF4Q
Black Swan--- folks win the lottery multiple times--- if it wasn;t a lucky streak of just having the right strat at the right time, why hasn't he repeated it?
Zenon12, I admire your passion to take an alternative route to success, sure it will certainly be more difficult without a degree but it is not unheard of, classical styles of education have left some great people by the way side historically. I am 24 and in a similar situation as Zenon12, deciding between a 9-5 job or spending all or a large majority of my time trading. Any general tips from the more experienced about getting started?
And how many countless Dan Zanger wannabes ended up in the giant financial wasteland? You think you're any different? From what you've written so far, you haven't even learned to walk properly and yet you talk like those lottery dreamers with big plans. Why don't you come back in about 2 years and let us know how things have progressed, if you can last even that long?
You might want to go back and look WHEN Zanger did that. Markets are WAY different now. I don't follow Zanger, but from what others have said on here, he might have been a one hit wonder.
At the end of the day if this guy wants to try trading, that's great. But to have goals like what Zanger did is unrealistic. Now, if the Vix goes back to 90 like it was when Zanger had his run then sure, a trader can go for crazy home run returns. But with the vix in the 17's or so, it aint gonna happen.
The fact remains, no trader has ever managed a consistent 30% a year over a career with very low standard deviation. The ones that have annualized returns over 30% a year did so because they had short bursts of amazing returns, mixed in with the vast majority of years being less than 30% a year. So your Zanger example is a good one. Yes of course his annualized returns are way higher than 30% a year over his career, but it's the result of what he himself calls a perfect storm that will never repeat itself. The standard deviation of his returns are off the charts high. All honest traders who have higher than 30% annualized returns over their career say the same thing. It was mostly from a few good years because of a perfect storm of success in a short period. I'm way higher than 30% annualized, more than double in fact over the last 10 years, but I'd be lying if I didn't say 2009-2012 helped. And as a volatility trader I don't think that sweet spot of perfect volatility trade set ups will ever repeat itself. At 20% a year, everybody, even a Janitor saving 300 bucks a month will retire a millionaire. Don't plan your career around a perfect storm lucky streak my young inexperienced friend, plan it around REALITY, and if you happen to get a one in a million lucky streak, all the better. But if you withdraw money every month to live on, even from a fund that's killing it at 20% a year like clockwork, you'll go broke in no time at all.