A very good friend of mine asked me why I started to trade considering it was so risky, etc... Then I remembered Sekoya saying in Market Wizards that you get what you want from the markets... I began to reflect and realized that my true motivation was freedom. Freedom from being told what to do. Freedom to not kiss ass to excel. Freedom to decide what I wanted to do each and everyday. Or as Bogart once put it, "The only point in making money is, you can tell some big shot where to go." Just wondering what others think of this subject. There are so many differing opinions on how to make money on Elite, I thought, perhaps, there are just as many reasons to make money. Some thoughts on the matter... Wealth is in applications of mind to nature; and the art of getting rich consists not in industry, much less in saving, but in a better order, in timeliness, in being at the right spot. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~ Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. ~ Ayn Rand ~ Every man of ambition has to fight his century with its own weapons. What this century worships is wealth. The God of this century is wealth. To succeed one must have wealth. At all costs one must have wealth. ~ Oscar Wilde ~ Perhaps this is too personal to discuss on ET... (and yes, I am too pretentious and loquacious
Brother Barbarian, This is so true... indeed, Sekoya's words not only apply to the overall motivation for trading, but to the nitty-gritty of the trading process... within me lie my so-called trading demons... much introspection has led me to believe that these trading demons are nothing more than a perverse desire to make things difficult for myself, resulting from a misplaced notion that one has to 'work hard' to be a successful trader... Just my 2 centimes. With loving feelings of fraternal instinct for all my fellow travelers, Candle
I have never found trading to be difficult, yet, I have refused to achieve a certain point of success, and this is because I do very little in the form of work yet still make money. Everyman has his levels of acceptability/limitations. The strong learn to break through such barriers. I am still working...
I'm so used to being broke, I wouldn't know what to do if I had money. http://www.siliconinvestor.com/stocktalk/msg.gsp?msgid=17010740 If you consult Basic Information Before Leaving Earth, being rich does not seem to be all that important. I would love to be able to give away millions. http://www.famm.org/ would be my charity of choice.
I would most definitely agree with freedom. Though this is more likely due to my brief experience in sales, in which I hated the job, and much more so, hated the bosses (as did everyone in the company). So I'm sure there are good jobs out there, but I honestly cannot imagine myself working under someone ever again. Of course, I was also home schooled, so maybe I'm just spoiled and simply have not grown accustomed to the "real world" (though rarely do I choose to conform to this "real world" of society). Perhaps another aspect of this freedom, is a lack of rules or limits on trading. You are limited only by your knowledge and understanding and self control (in the long run), and this is directly proportional to the amount of money you make. There is no kissing up to someone higher, or showboating your achievements, or direct competition with others for that raise/promotion, etc. It is simply you and the market, all accomplishments and gain are yours, all mistakes and loss are yours. Ben
Ben, your last post reminded me of a job I had with an investment newsletter writer. People could even call during the day to discuss trades with him. After hanging up the phones he would always yell "Idiots, these people are fu@$ing morons!" I am so glad to be out of there. I am in complete agreement about it all coming down to you. No one to blame, nowhere to hide. It's all on you. I love that about trading.
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