Seth, You are correct, imagine that with a few $200-300k investment on margin which is easily attainable. You'd be up 2-3 million. To think, all you started out was risking 30-50 cents.
Welcome to the line of schmucks who were lucky enough in their last/current career to do well and now think they deserve or can somehow transform that 'success' into big dough on wall st. Hah! That line of people waiting to join the losers' club is huge. It snakes its way to the end of the block, around the corner and it's probably a mile long. Wake up dude! There are VERY, VERY few who can make it trading and quite a few here who tell you it's easy or possible have some self-interest to keep that myth going for as long as possible to sucker in 'winners' like you who'll drop some dough in their pot, no doubt.
Number 3 is your best option even through it is part time but doing due diligence is full time. It will take you a minimum of 4 to 5 years creating a trading system that suits your gains....one thing to expect is losses whether they are heavy or light, but the most important thing is to learn to accept losses. It's a long road travelled but only you can determine your success. Also your background will have no bearing if you're a successful trader or not, discipline is key and only you are in control of that.
Well, if you really do have friends that make 7 figures per year then you need to be talking to them and talking directly to people that are in the business. A successful entrepreneur would assign someone to do the research for them and tap into a network of reliable business associates to get this type of information ... and they would discern valid and realiable channels of information.
my situation is very similiar to venturerider. i am in the process of selling my business and will have a seven figure sum. i plan on putting that money into Muni's and using the interest to pay most of my monthly bills. That way I can take my time and really become a profitable trader without as much stress. By the way, I am 38 and have 4 young kids also. Venture, maybe you should try something like that as well.
My situation is a little different though. i was a broker for 11 years and have been trading successfully part time for 4-5 years. just sick of dealing with employees and business headaches and would much rather sit in my home (which i own with no mortgage, so also should take off some pressure) office and trade full time. Trust me every business has risks and rewards, trading is just one of them and if you can take care of the losses you will be able to do fine.. in my opinion.
I think people get hung up when they hear "7 figures". It's purely an ROI equation you want 1MM a yr? become a 20% ROI trader and trade a 5MM account. It seems people might be losing sightof the fact that building up to a 1MM/yr trader starting with 25-50k is not nearly the same as starting off with a substantially larger account - if your end goal is a set $ annual income. I assume a "mid sized" services firm in NYC would be equate to quite a decent living and nice pay out when sold, considering what a TINY firm here in the midwest can do with just a small handfull of billable consultants. Assuming you can come up with a decent "bank roll", I'd venture to say the quickest way for you might be to utilize your contacts. If you can become consistantly profitable, put up your stake, lean on your friends and start a small fund. just a thought...