xchamp - i left a trading house (as a techie) way back when to trade on my own. some thoughts: first, i didn't burn bridges. i knew i was GOING to leave - and was at the age in my life where i had to do it now, rather than later. if you're 50, leaving is much riskier than leaving at 25 or 30. i had lots of connections elsewhere on the street. if i failed at trading, i could go back and get a new techie job. i'm sure you know this, but once you get your foot in on wall street, are competent/can work well under pressure and don't have a negative stigma attached to you, it's relatively easy to get through the interview process elsewhere on the street. my strategy also is NOT scalable to huge amounts of capital for a bank. however, it does work nicely for me. there are days/weeks where i trade minimally. there are also days where i can't leave my chair. i'm sure you know that already. i have a good friend who is trading on a desk (15+ years). i told him that i couldn't imagine the stress of trading to make your bonus / make 10mm for them to get a % of it; he told me he couldn't imagine the stress of trading your own money. can you handle that stress, if you lose (whatever amount) you're ok with it? initially, i traded better when i worked at my techie job because i didn't have the pressure of trading being my only income; are you ok with that? i also had to take some time to determine my optimal timeframes for trading. they were different than those when i traded with my techie job, you might want to account for that. by the way, if you're successfully trading on the street (nyc? chicago? london?), remember you may not get information flow / capital backing you if you're on your own. also, i've found that once i had a strat in place, i work a lot LESS than if i traded on a desk in the city. i have time to do other things which are important to me. i don't have to reconcile other people's bad positions, or deal with office politics, or other stuff like that. i'm much more open to a person leaving if they have trading experience already and <35 than a 20 year old college student, or a 50 year old who's a professional in another field. for those who say no - if he's young enough, it's a good option. you can't understand how those long hours can get really difficult to deal with. oh, fees - if you're a professional, you pay a lot more. you don't have to be a professional at first unless you need healthcare/etc. on your taxes. i did things as capital gains b/c spouse had medical insurance. hope this helps.
If I stay at my job I plan at most to work as a sellside trader for 3-5 more years, then change jobs so I can see my family more. Also, you are forgetting compounding effects. If the strategy works for more than a year, the profits really start to add up.
Yes. The strategy is agnostic to general market trends. It is correlated with price volatility, however. Summer doldrums in August are not good. But, no one can make money then either.
OP I read you initial post and some of the replies. Here's my informed advice. Nobody goes to the Street to make the world a better place. There are three types: 1. Those who get cut before they hit their number. 2. Those that hit their number and walk away. 3. Those that are in it for the ego trip and stay even after they hit their number. I recommend that you set a number that will fund your current lifestyle for at least 20 years with no additional source of income. Then hit the number and quit. If that is not attainable despite a modest lifestyle then just walk away now. Or modify your lifestyle to fit the number. When you walk away with 20 years of runway there is plenty of time to start a new career if your plan fails. And to be blunt, if you don't think you will ever get there then why are you wasting your life away in a bank?
He is probably worried about quitting his job at the bank because he finds it impossible subject himself to living on what he probably considers an insect/parasite salary. Personally one can live a nice life in the south of France for around 2500 euros a month. So for 20 years you need about 750k euros give or take. Since he works in a bank I would assume he has at least 500k saved somwhere (IRA/401k/stock portfolio)...500k will get you 5-7 rental properties which will net you 300 each per month at the lowest, Perhaps even 500-600. the OP must like living the high life out in the Hamptons too much. When I say the south of France I don't mean Cannes and Nice...Montpellier and Perpignon, Narbonne, Nimes is the cheaper side. French is not that difficult to learn and the Wine and cheese is great.
Are you doing this? How many properties do you have? How's the weather in France these days? You can live in the slums of india for $5/day. So for 20 years, you need $40,000. Everyone speaks English in India so you don't even have to learn a new language. You are probably used to some hoity toity lifestyle of owning a car and having access to clean water.
I don't have any properties personally yet. I manage some for a retired family member who does that. I lived in Paris for 7 years. Great city...but the weather completely sucks, which is why I suggest the south. The weather is great in the south from early April until October time, even then in October its only mild. Still playing tennis outside until around thanks giving time in Montpellier. A few hours from MOntpellier you have the Pyrenees mountains for the winter sports crowd. I am back here in the states finishing my degree, I will hopefully move back there once I put together a nice portfolio of properties and I can generate a nice paycheck from those combined with trading, if trading fails for some reason I can pick up a job teaching english, and combined with rental property returns I should be able to net 3k a month without too much trouble. Personally I prefer the European route compared to the $150 dollar a month life in India, although I am sure that you could maybe upgrade your life in India to around $700 a month and be living close to European standards for yourself if you do not mind the other things that some people would consider drawbacks of living in a country like that. I have never been to India, perhaps I would enjoy it there...I will try it out before I decide on France . I find that life is much cheaper over there compared to here. Obviously there are places where you can spend a fortune, Cannes, Nice, 16th district of Paris are made for ultra rich. But if one does not have that sort of disposable income, there is a great country to have a nice quality of life for less then the USA. I personally I prefer to have my life rather then slaving away at a job. In my 7 years in france I found that 2500-3000 euros a month is more then enough to live a decent life there.