Not many people, you included & I am certain of that, can afford buying properties in Chelsea as an investment, so let's just drop it.
depends what u buy, and ever heard of mortgage? if i had to buy i would buy there and i can certainly afford it.
Bit, I don't know you, but from what you've been posting I can draw certain conclusions. If you've been in the property market for almost 50 years that would make you at least 60 years of age (that's deducting good 5 years based on precision of your statement). Now @ 60 I don't know many people using the sort of lingo that you use, not to mention your City piazza ownership comment, I checked out your PnL posts and they do not represent a performance which would be associated with a well capitalised person. And no, I do not know what is a mortgage.
As for real estate, I like to use the "Starbucks" factor. If the customers at Starbucks are talking real estate up then the price must be going up...when they either stop talking about it or talk negatively about it then we have problems. Public sentiment is the key to real estate. . .
Yeah, I know what you mean. I live in NYC, and whenever a Starbucks springs up in a previously borderline area, it starts getting hit with heavy gentrification (I guess those folks have got their demographics down pretty good). In regards to the UK, I spent a lot of time there as a performing artist in the 80's, and while my dance experience wasn't always so great (dancers get worked like dogs) I really enjoyed the areas we stayed in and the people who live there. It is possible that the real estate situation there is very similar to the one which exists in certain parts of NY, LA, Japan, etc., where the housing most definitely doesn't fit any classical standards of value, but can still represent good premium, high quality, purchases. (example: studios in certain parts of NY go for 100k-150k, and with the blowout year wall street had in 2006, they will not only hold their value, but probably increase). Good trading in 2007, JJ
i and my family before me have been involved in the property mkt for that long. i thot that was obvious. my dad died a couple of yrs ago, and i and my brother are left managing what we have by ourselves that is 2 large buildings that are rented to banks, 1 restaurant, 2 shops and several offices in the middle of roncade. the huge villa we share is worth north of 2mln alone. it's a small city with a small piazza. i can give u my real name and address, and all the locations of all the proprieties i have, u can check it out anytime u want. i find it hilarious that u bring up trading, like if the size i do has any connection to how much i have in my acct and how much i make overall, aside from the fact i had a pathetic yr and i said over and over that trading is not my main source of income. since u are accusing me of lying which i dont appreciate why dont u step up to the table and take a wager with me; i can make it affordable to u.
IMO deciding how to best "package" yourself is not the main question. Think about it - you want to leave trading because you no longer enjoy it. If you go to another field, then unless you enjoy it you are going to have exactly the same problem, but with no reputation, skills, contacts etc. So surely the first thing is to figure out which fields you would "enjoy" and be passionate about? Once you have decided on an economically viable field which you find stimulating and enjoyable, then really you should find that you don't need to think to much about packaging yourself. It should come naturally. Your enthusiasm and commitment will shine through at interviews & applications and you'll make a good impression when you try networking in the industry. So rather than put the cart before the horse, I would find your chosen field first, and worry about everything else after you've made that decision and committed to it. Finally, you ought to consider whether you really have become bored of trading. Maybe your method or approach has just become boring. Trading covers a myriad of different activities - quant trading, arbitrage-type strategies, research driven investment, daytrading, global macro, technical, fundamental etc. If you need a new challenge or a change of scene, why not try something different but still within the trading field?
Someone recently let met know that this thread was still getting responses. It has been a year since I last updated this thread and a lot has changed for me. First off there is a life after trading for those that want to move on. I stand by my earlier comments that if someone would take all of the energy, work, and drive that they put into trading into another field that they are interested in that they have the opportunity to be widely successful. To start off with at the beginning of last year I started taking a couple of night classes at a university. The classes were relevant to what I was trying to get into (for me that was commercial real estate). This helped in trying to change careers. I continued to interview with firms and landed a position at a large commercial real estate firm. I knew what position I wanted in commerical real estate and was able to get it. I am a lot happier now that I have moved on. It is a night and day difference for me. In fact my current salary/bonus would put me in a very good year of trading category with the potential in the next couple of years for move up to put me in the great year of trading category. I used to say I would try and trade in the morning but to tell you the truth I have no desire too. I am so involved with what I am doing that I do not even think about trading anymore. Yes I work more hours then before, but truthfully I really do not notice it that much since I really like what I am doing. So basically my life is much better now and I am much happier now that I moved on. I also really enjoy the social aspects that come with working with other people again. One of the question that I was struggling with was how to represent my previous trading experience. What worked for me is to not use the term "Day Trading". I would suggest Equity/Futures Trader or Proprietary Trader. Really most people do not understand what the above terms really mean so it sounds more impressive then it is to them. I focused on the knowledge and skills involved in trading -- research, interpreting Fed moves and Economics, building trading models, etc.
Well I just remember I last updated this thread at the beginning of last year. To recap I quit trading 2 years ago after several years of trading which included trading stocks for 3.5 years and 2 years of trading futures in Chicago for a prop firm. I finally decided to move on and had to figure out how to package my trading background into something sellable for my next career. In my previous posts on this thread I explained more indepth how I went about doing this so that I could get into commercial real estate on the buyside. I was fortunate enough to get the exact position that I was looking for (after taking some classes and hustling to find an opportunity) at a large pension fund. Things have been going great and I love my job. In addition to enjoying what I am doing I also get fantasic benefits and a nice retirement account. Last year I earned close to a 100K working for the man which I was satified with seeing that it was my first year out of trading. I know this is not a lot compared to what a trader could potentially make (I know because I have made more when I was on my game). However how many actually consistently make any kind of living with trading to begin with? This year was even better where I have progressed in my new career making close to 300K. I am not posting this to brag but to just point out that there is life after trading. Prior to leaving trading I often wondered what was possible for me if I could find a career that I enjoyed and approached it with the same intensity that I did with trading. Hopefully I have shown that there are other great paths out there besides trading. Of course if you are one of the great traders who consistently knocks it out of the park every year then trading is the best job out there. I was no longer one of those fortunate ones.
downtickboy, That sounds great that you've finally found something you really enjoy and can make good money at it as well. I'm curious as to know how you've managed to make 300k in real estate especially with all the turmoil caused by the subprime mess. I've read articles where subprime has started to spill over to other parts of the real estate market. And since you're on the buyside, I would think it should have affected you by now.