Applied for IB account and got accepted. Waiting for funds to clear now, sent a personal check, yes I know I'm old school Discipline is key! Joe
Some extra cash was sent, not to trade but for long term investment. Most likely Verizon or ATT as if it was a certificate of deposit. Holding time 1 year+ Wife approved Joe
Five years on the simulator and a little scared going cash so starting with very very small amounts. Joe
Blew up 1st year Blew up 2nd year Minor gains 3rd year Started to get disciplined and the trading changed. Good gains 4th year Good gains 5th year Nothing extraordinary but was able to beat the typical investment vehicles. Ditching indicators and trading the plan made the difference. Joe
i suggest you start super small with real money cause thing are different especially since you will have to report to you wife.
Read the two or three articles at this site in the "Recommended Articles" box on the right: http://www.fundadvice.com/ Figure out your risk tolerance, appropriate asset allocation balance, and allocate the funds you have accordingly. Be happy that you have such a nice nest egg that might generate 25k - 40k per year to help fund your living expenses. That gets you a long way toward "getting by" every year. Forget trying to earn a living trading. You will lose your money. A man who MUST earn a living, with so many people depending on him, has almost no chance to do so via trading. You will blow up. You won't survive serious drawdowns. The stakes are too high for you. If trading is your life's calling, then do as I instruct above, but in addition get a job and begin trading on the side for a few years, where your trading success/failure doesn't determine your fate. You will not become successful & earn a living right off the bat, especially in a situation where your success is so critical. $350k and the investment income it can generate in a buy & hold strategy is nothing to sneeze at. Figure out how to do that, and do that well, and let it give you a little cushion. Find a job to supplement the rest, and then if you can trade on the side for a few years with no/little "life risk", then you may have a path forward.
Thank you for the thoughtful and honest reply. Please allow me to comment now. I won't lose my capital, at most I will lose 40k and with constant risk I don't see that happening anytime soon. The job market out there is no good. I've tried, no one wants a middle age guy with no formal education. At times I thought about getting life in order by using the capital to obtain a degree. Thinking that maybe, by the time I finish, I'm prepared to support my family by obtaining a respectable job, albeit, with no experience. Here's the problem, even the recent grads are having tremendous trouble trying to score a good job. Now, I'm thinking I would be in my 50s when I'm done, and that does not sound very appealing or inspirational to me. As far as the buy and hold strategy, you know very well there are no guarantees out there for those kinds of returns. The only "sure things" are savings, cds, and good quality bonds and those returns fall short to the kind of returns you mentioned. On top of that, you said, "figure out how to do that", as if it was easy as reading a book and doing what it suggested. Perhaps this is what the links you suggested explain, I have not read them yet, but I will, promise, so my apologies for being pesimistic without checking our your suggestion first. I got to give it this a shot, I won't lose much, and if I'm a loser, the trading will clearly project this. I'm also not stubborn, if I can't make money off it I'll find another solution but I got to give it a try. I know it's not easy but don't count me out just yet, let me at least fail first. Joe