dna, I wouldn't really say that I have a theory on all of this. I'm just curious about the effects of one's past on their trading. It sounds like you weren't spoiled, and are being persistent in trying to achieve your goal. Maybe it's less about who's money your trading with, and more about how you were raised. Good luck to you. Corso, Good point. I thought of this before and I agree that a certain disregard for money can definitely be good. Though I think this disregard(emotional detachment) is something that is developed by most traders over time. If you start out with it, you might as well just go to the casino and not bother with trading, just my opinion. Another thing, spoiled children aren't used to having things taken away from them, so when they lose their money, I think their attitude goes to hell and they're less likely to recover. It's less likely that a spoiled person will be able to effectively deal with losing.
Hi I'm new to the forum. Been watching this site off and on for a few years. Newly registered have been trading for 6 months. I grew up in a very comfortable environment. Not obscene but well above average. I would say that there were advantages and disadvantages in my upbringing. But the disadvantages were not directly related to my parents being well off. Possible Advantage 1. I was exposed to and developed an interest in the markets at an early age. Stocks, bonds, housing prices were regular topics at our dinner table. Possible Advantage2 I learned about the power of compound interest and living debt free. These things are frequently taught but seldom lived. This introduces the concept of financial discipline and setting financial goals. Possible Advantage3 With my parents help I has able to get a pretty good education. I was lucky enough to complete College almost completely debt free. Has this made me a better trader? Yes and No. My first few months of trading I lost very consistantly. Since then I have been winning and net positive almost every week since. I had paper traded/ read every book I could get my hands on. I followed practically everything for 3+ years before really committing $$$ on hardware, software etc... I still work evenings to support myself and to add to my brokerage account. I am aware that this will be a long process. However, the potential benefits outway the costs by so much that I just can't pass it up. This is the lifestyle I want to live. I don't want to say that children of priviledge have an advantage. Hard work/intelligence are great equalizers. Especially in this field. However, I don't think I would be here without having the childhood I did. I believe I was born to be a trader. I wasn't handed 25,000 by my father. I tried to get him to help out. His refusal to put up all the money was the best thing that ever happened to me. It led me to the futures markets. From all the books I've read I've learned one thing. There is no right way. Each trader must find their own way. It would be wonderfull if I had found a mentor who would have let me sit beside them and tutored me. But then I would be bound to them. I would like to work for a firm eventually but only so I can pick up my licenses. I have a real fear of banks/institutions trying to shut out individual traders. I am inherently skeptical of everthing that I read, here etc... I do watch CNBC but with the volume down. I've found it helps in case I experience a cable problem and need to close out a position by phone. In conclusion the only real advantage that having lots of $$$ brings is that you can get started faster and possibly receive superior education. Trading school etc... I still believe you must develop the business plan, find your edge and most importantly own your trades. A little luck never hurts. I think my inherent skepticism and willingness and knowledge that I must adapt help. I trust my charts. I trust myself. I ALWAYS leave when my stop is hit.
indeed an interesting thread, i understand your reasoning behind finding the reasons for success, but personally think things are a bit more complex than that. What i found in common between all succesfull traders that i know (people i have seen trading on the floor in Amsterdam and people trading for Belgian MM firms) is not intelligence or education or pampered or spoiled but a big drive. This drive got them through the bad times and made sure they learned how to trade. They all did everything humanly possible to become better even when they were trading bad at that time. Maybe some people with a big drive dont succeed, but at least those who succeed have it. For some it was even more a kind of incredible urge: they HAD to become succesfull.
another thing i can think of: they are all fast thinkers, not necessarily intellectuals or something, just fast. My best friend at the time in Amsterdam went only to school till 16, and he became the biggest future local there. But he was fast in all he did ... Could be though this is more a caracteristic of a typical floor trader, but i still think it has some importance if you are behind a screen.
Great thread: I began working at 10 y/o, became a manager of a local bagel store when I was 12. I wrote out checks, kept inventories, ordered merchandise, and fired people twice to three times my age. In a broken family, I worked 18 hour days in the summer, and 8 hour days during school (working at night, and going to school in the day). I handed my mother $500 per week, and took the bus with my younger sister to buy us clothes and books for the upcoming school semester. I entered Wall St. in 1989 full time, while taking on a 16 credit load in college. My diet was, coffee, cigarettes and NO-DOZ. I made enough money to pay off my mother's mortgage, and live a decent life. I never blamed anyone for my the cards I was dealt, and if I could do it again I would and so it the same way. By the time I was 22 y/o, I had $15mm under management and had Fortune 500 execs as clients, and managed 80 registered reps. The way Oliver Stone and my professors portrayed Wall St, could not be any further from the truth. I became a SOES trader in 1995, and have been trading and teaching ever since. There are wealthy kids that kill their parents, and poor kids that grow up poor and become wealthy later. Go figure. I speak for myself...having learned at a very young age how to support myself and family, I was much better prepared to handle risk, upset, failure, and just an overall crappy situationto rise above and change my fate.
Jai's got a good point. Economics of growing up are only one part of it. What makes someone better able to handle trading than someone else? Many factors. How about developing indicators to chart the effects of upbringing, class, education, and circumstance on trading skill?
Absofuckinloutly... I totally agree. Also not all kids from rich families are spoiled. Alot of them grew up with a strict respect for money and taught to pay attention to how to keep it. Alot of them don't drive the beamers or mercedes they buy honda and toyotas. They are taught by their dads what it means to invest at an early age and told stories of warren buffet and the ideas of simple compounding. Its the dreamers that play the lottery and swing for the fences that get burned and suffer. They feel like they can bet the money, when in reality its even more psychologically damaging because the truth is they didn't have the money to spare in the first place, so once the loss is accrued its detrimental to that persons development. Also, I think that privledged kids learn a lot about life at an early age. They go through a phase where they are flashy and spoiled, but then look at themselves and their parents and realize they are not a bit happier than when they started, that why alot of rich offspring are surfers and newage hippies. Meanwhile another person will spend the majority of his life chasing an illusion of happiness they think they will attain if they did have money. Some of the richest people I know are also the most miserable and lead these empty lives cocooned in an unrealistic shell of wealth useless materialism. "There is always someone richer" So their kids finally see this and realize money is nice but its not everything. Also I think this association of money and happiness is very dangerous. If you have more money you are more happy? WTF eventually you get to a level that more is not going to make you happier. Also this association means when you loose it you are unhappy, a loser ect... that can be a very paralyzing way of thinking. So, I got to agree maybe there is an advantage to having the chance to be spoiled and detached from money. Its an oppurtunity to rise above the idea of the mouse chasing the cheese and realize its just cheese its everywhere it will come to you with paitence in more amounts then you need. Just in the meantime don't lose the cheese you have.
ahhhhh, was this before child labor laws ?? now you "sell" your knowledge for 20k for a week ?? what happened ?? sorta spooky if you ask the rabid. JaCk
I put in more hours before I got my working papers than most college grads put in within the first few years of attaining their degree. I don't know about child labor laws, but I do know I had to provide for my family, regardless of my age. Funny... I didn't mention my coaching, or what the fee is for it, in my post. Actually, I have never mentioned it here. Interesting you should bring it up. I have addressed that issue in many posts, and if you revisit my site, you'll see that the program is not for everyone. Thanks, Jack.