Hello again, I have the habit of calculating exactly in percentage terms the taxes I pay on any given year as a self employed trader. Can someone tell me on the top of his head what would be the total tax I would pay( Income, Self-employment, Medicare, state tax...whatever...anything you have to pay )in a pass-through single member LLC in Illinois for a 50k$ income? 200K$?500K$? 1m$? 3m$? I am just asking for the first numbers that comes out of your head...Thanks
I would be delighted to have the opportunity to be of service in this way, and thank you for the excellent suggestion to pay it forward by sharing the information I have received. Its inspiring that thanks to modern technology and a generous helpful spirit, an independent trader in Europe can benefit from the knowledge of a market professional in America, and then publish what he has learned for the benefit of any interested parties worldwide. I'm calling in 20 minutes and look forward to updating the thread.
I assume that was British sarcasm. I totally understand if you don't feel it's right to share. Best wishes to you and garachen. You are two of the very, very few contributors to this site worth reading. I look forward to reading more of your informative posts. Hopefully the knuckle draggers that like to shoot their mouths off at every opportunity will not lead you to take another 18 month hiatus. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has learnt much from you. P.S. I notice on another thread that you recently mentioned NoDoji and I was reminded of your exchange with her a couple of years ago. Just looking at her post history it would appear she has finally admitted to being a fraud. How very predictable.
I actually couldn't figure out if that was sarcasm either. But he fully meant to post but I asked him to remove a few specifics so he probably fell asleep.
What I wrote was sincere - I was reflecting on how the job I do and the opportunities I have had simply didn't exist as recently as 15-20 years ago. Further, I never cease to be amazed and humbled by the caliber of people I have interacted with in the trading world who have shared their knowledge and experience and given freely of their time. The situation with NoDoji was indeed obvious, but only to those who had chosen the path of thinking for themselves. A rare skill today, and the vast majority of people who consciously try to practice self responsibility could still be doing a lot better. One of the very serious problems which will not be solved any time soon due to what we humorously call our education system and the mass media. While you and I might have seen the red flags, it does little to aid those taken in by self promoters with little of value to offer. This is particularly pernicious as it serves to misdirect and waste energy and natural curiosity. Seeing so many taken in and understanding exactly the path they would go down made me feel sick for them. However, unlike talented children at school who are prevented from learning and have their innate curiosity institutionally removed, or people who are genuinely discriminated against and oppressed for reasons of race, disability, place of birth, etc, (things which it is justified to feel some righteous anger which can be productive if you are in a position to assist)...those who get taken in by trading gurus are victims only of their own greed, and there are bigger problems in the world. I'm a naturally calm person but NoDoji brought out the absolute worst in me. That was actually an opportunity to learn more about myself and my own emotional states. Certainly a weak position to be in if others can inflame your passions easily. A lot of this becomes clearer with age; maturity and perspective is a difficult thing to ask of the young. Trading, perhaps more than many professions, forces one to address and resolve personal weaknesses. Thank you for your compliments and I'm glad you have found some value in my occasional writings here.
Thanks, yes I did. I'll come back to the thread over the weekend to add what we discussed - I'm tired at the moment and don't want to botch it. Certainly hope I did not cause any offense. I ought to address this point. While some things can be attributed to cultural differences (are the British really known around the world for our sarcasm? I blame Fawlty Towers!), the evidence suggests there is to a degree a problem with the way I communicate. At this stage I'm prepared to acknowledge that it does me a disservice. By way of explanation, I believe this to be a result of years of self imposed isolation which occurred first through circumstance and has persisted through inertia. I have lived alone for several years with my social interaction being limited to weekly grocery deliveries and very occasional visits with friends. I have relied on letters, email, and IM for communication. The natural effect of this is that my telephone manner likely leaves a lot to be desired, I have developed involuntary verbal artifacts and stutter, and I find any spoken language processing to require excessive concentration (with my only prior similar reference point being high school French examinations). I did not begin with the intent of becoming reclusive. It was a natural consequence of no longer interacting regularly with former colleagues and peers when I began my life as an independent trader. Casual relationships break down in the absence of shared goals and pastimes, and independent trading from home does not provide opportunities to meet new people. It was sufficiently demanding in the beginning that all else was de-prioritised. For the first few years, I lived frugally and did not bother with such things as holidays, regular dinners out with friends etc, and ultimately my life did not involve much socialising or many hobbies except for gym and reading. I do not drink alcohol or enjoy frequenting bars. Add in to working on trading the vast majority of my waking hours including weekends for several years... There is a sense of alienation as I have very little in common with the majority of people I am likely to meet outside of this industry. In addition, I do not really wish to share too much about the nature of what I do as it invites unpleasant assumptions from a misguided public, and instinctively I think it makes sense to stay low profile given the resentment against achievement which is commonplace. Of course this is far less of a consideration when dealing with other successful people, or those in the industry. I particularly enjoyed aspects of garachen's posts where he refers to his institutional background and the difficulties encountered in receiving promotions as deserved when working back east due to the corporate culture. I certainly gave up some advantages in not going the traditional route or getting any industry experience before beginning independent trading, and of course this is no longer a route which is open to me, but on balance I am happy with the decision, despite the social costs which I should work more on mitigating. I have a legal background and was well adapted for that environment, was quite eloquent at one stage, and understood how that particular game is played from relatively early on. Choosing a different profession was a challenge to laziness and due in part to my realisation that to be a career lawyer would likely rob me of the opportunity to do something personally meaningful with my life and obtain the degree of freedom and autonomy which I desired. There are also certain aspects of the law that are downright unethical / corrupt and I wasn't interested in being involved in that. It became clear that this may be a prerequisite to advancement in certain areas. I'm very fortunate to enjoy a calm, peaceful life with plenty of time to relax, read, tinker with computers, listen to various music, and be engaged in work which I think I will always find varied and challenging. Trading is far from easy but this does not mean that people with the appropriate savvy cannot make themselves successful. It can be a lot of work and one should expect to make mistakes along the way. Perhaps I've neglected what is important, and so I look forward to improving my social skills in due course.
Just an advice if I dare... I hope to trade all my life and do nothing else, but it has a temporary nature, there are so many things ( FTT, national law, the exchanges deciding you are not their friend anymore, HFT intruding your markets...) that can put you out of business. You have to be ready to go back in "real" life any day. I am quite solitary too trading from home, but I make the effort everyday to keep that in mind...Go make some friends through sports, hobbys, journeys... The things I continue to do everyday with friends( not working ) are those keeping me sane... Just my 2 c.
Good advice, thanks. And here is a brief summary of what I have learned recently about memberships and costs. To trade futures, one must have an account with a clearing firm and a way to execute. You will need to pay for the execution platform, can be around a few hundred dollars a month. Clearing costs can be from 5 to 35 cents/contract on average. Contrary to what I'd experienced earlier, no clearing firm should have an issue giving limits in multiple products. Trading limits of 10 lots per product times 12 products should be fine on $100k account. So in summary small sized traders doing 10k sides or more a month would likely benefit from getting an account direct with a clearing firm that caters to higher volume traders. Then paying only clearing, exchange fees, and execution platform costs - not brokerage also. Exchange fees can be lowered by leasing seats and joining exchange incentive programmes. Little known fact: buying or leasing a COMEX seat gives member rates on the COMEX metal products but also a reduced rate on NYMEX energy products. Can lease a COMEX through the LLC which is also registered for ECM-W. Exchanges only concerned that its for the beneficial use of one person, not a trading arcade or similar and enquiries from the exchange are unlikely. Depending on products traded, corporate membership of CME under ECM-W volume incentive programme provides reduced exchange fees, and has a low volume requirement. (50 sides/day average over a quarter)
Thanks Blotto. You are a gentleman. It takes a robust personality for someone to be able to publicely analyze the negative aspects of their life in such a rational way. I applaud your honesty, as I suspect many other independent traders find themselves suffering from similar issues. Perhaps, having put in so much hard work, your trading success will now permit you the opportunity to get out and enjoy the spoils with some new friends. After all, we humans are inherently social animals and require interaction with others in order to maintain our mental health.