excellent. if you really want something badly enough in life, you will find a way, no matter what, to reach it.
eagle488, You're giving ten sigma examples. The probability of the thread started being in a hit band(sarcasm - i hate BEP) like Black Eyed Peas is remote. He's not going to come across the next great idea sitting in some factory looking at LED's all day. He wants to get into trading . . . maybe it's not about the money . . .maybe he likes the risk of trading . . . yeah Sam Walton is super rich but he deserves it . . . running a Walmart has to be the worst job in America besides actually being employed there. Telling this guy to sit around on the sidelines trying to invent the next big thing is silly. Tuneman's probably not in the position to go to Harvard or Columbia, unless he got a 4.0 at Loyola and scored like 750+ on his GMats, anyway. Face it most of the people in Ivy Leagues are on that course at a very early age. Most of the time they make big time sacrifices and work super hard all thru high school. You don't have to go to great school to be a trader. Sure some openings are not going to be viable but you still have a chance to get a start somewhere.
Your right. I have tried to talk him out of it the best I could. Tuneman, if you must trade. Then your first stop should be the public library. Get some books and read first. Plenty of them out there. Educate yourself first. . . Actually, your first step is to get yourself a ROTH IRA filled with mutuals. Max out the 401k. Buy some large cap dividend paying stocks to hold for 20 years. Create the basement before you build the house.
Gates said that he had to make a decision and it would require dropping out of school to pursue the opportunity. Right place at the right time scenarios don't wait around for you to graduate. Wish I knew that in 1999.
I agree and disagree with Eagle488. If money is more important: I agree. You have a better chance to be rich twenty years from now if you get a cushy physics job at GM and bring home 75 grand a year, make sound investments(like eagle488 mentioned), read some trading books and wait to open a personal futures account when you have a house paid off and kids college paid for plus health insurance and all that. Tuneman is not in a position right now to start as a junior trader with a salary and benefits etc. That means trading right now will be a tuffer path. You'll have a few years, at best without being in a position to comfortably pay for health insurance . . .(i'm on salary, but I still don't have benefits) . . . If you're willing to tough it out for the chance to trade full-time . . then do it. YOu might need to go back to school though.
I really appreciate all the advice, and welcomes, this is really fantastic. I find it would be very tough for me to do this. I can honestly see myself going into the ibanking/trading industry, and not loving it. I think thats true for any industry I go into. I also know if I dont like the trading industry because of the prospect of money, or because it really intrests me. So while i think you're right, I don't know if I'd be able to stick to anything. Ya something like that is my second choice really. There's a place that build helicopters where I live, getting some sort of engineering job would be my 2nd choice.
"I find it would be very tough for me to do this. I can honestly see myself going into the ibanking/trading industry, and not loving it. I think thats true for any industry I go into. I also know if I dont like the trading industry because of the prospect of money, or because it really intrests me. So while i think you're right, I don't know if I'd be able to stick to anything." Every job you go into will most likely become routine after a while. Every job is going to be *tough*. Remember the tired old cliche "There is no free lunch.". The only people that enjoy their work are those that live on the top deck. All of the institutions out there have great training programs. Here is one for Wells Fargo Bank. A 24 month development program: https://www.wellsfargo.com/employment/undergraduates/fulltime/investment/ If you want this job, you will have to start churning out the resumes tonight and be aggressive with the emails. The older you get, the harder it will be to get this type of job. Even if you wait a year or two, it will be harder. *Much harder*. Make a list of the institutions, go their websites, apply. As I have demonstrated with Wells Fargo, there are many more institutions out there besides your Bear Stearns and Goldmans. You also have many boutique and regional players all ready to hire and train someone young. I did meet a woman who was 23 years old and a graduate right out of Kentucky working as an analyst in NYC for some place I hardly heard about. She had a degree in Economics. One time 60 minutes interviewed all the guys on an aircraft carrier. They first started on the top deck with the pilots and they loved their jobs. The guys at the bottom deck hated their jobs. So thats why I say if you work on the top deck you will enjoy your work. However, one thing is for certain. If those guys on the bottom deck decided to buy large cap dividend producing stocks when they first joined at age 18, they would certainly be able to get out of the Navy by age 30 with a nice bankroll. So I am telling you my best advice now. Get off of here. Go to a website like www.fidelity.com or www.vanguard.com. Open up a ROTH IRA right now. Here are two websites to demonstrate my point. If you had invested 10,000 in sleepy 3M in 1987 it would be $62,000 today. 10000 in fun Fidelity would have yielded a return of $620,000. Do not wait. Buy some McDonalds, buy some AllState, buy some Wells Fargo, buy the Fidelity, buy the BUD, buy the Fidelity. Hold it until you cant hold no more. http://www.investor.fnf.com/calculator.cfm http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=MMM&script=345&layout=9 So if I had simply joined the Navy at age 18 and invested all my cash into Fidelity. Then I could have seen the world and retired a rich man with a pension/benefits at age 38.
<i>Quote from Tuneman: I also know if I dont like the trading industry because of the prospect of money, or because it really intrests me. So while i think you're right, I don't know if I'd be able to stick to anything.</i> ____________ If someone were to ask you the right questions, you'd be able to find out if this path is worth pursuing. This must be your lucky day, because I'm now bored enough to ask you the right questions: 1) Do you have a history of <b>obsessing</b> over various games, trying to find formulas and edges to exploit for your financial gain? Poker, sports betting/handicapping/bookmaking, pool sharking, MTG, card counting, etc... Any of this describe your past or present interests? 2) Do you devote thousands of hours of every year to playing games? Do some games fascinate you? Does playing your favorite games regularly put you in a state of flow? 3) Are you easily made content and satisfied, or is your mind in a constant storm of restless activity? 4) Were you able to crack this game in under 8 minutes? Not having a sharp eye for detail (misspelling the name of your own school, among other things.) is a formidable weakness to overcome. However, If you were able to crush the 4 questions above, you just might have a shot...