I currently work full-time as a mid-level manager and I am essentially doing daytrading all day long. I trade on the Canadian markets and do about 30-40 trades per day and I am doing quite well ($250,000+ per year on trades alone). Financially I could easily quit my job and trade full-time but I am concerned that I may regret the decision. I fear that I may feel very isolated and couped up if I trade from home all day long. As a positive if I trade full-time I will be able to spend more time with my 2 kids (aged 6 and 8), have less stress and have more freedom to travel whenever I want. I would also basically be my own boss and not have to worry about reporting to anyone. Does anyone have any similar experiences that worked out well? Any experiences not work out well? If I do quit and decide I want to go back to working for whatever reason I doubt I will be able to do what I am doing now (trading all day) as I do have a pretty unique setup going now at work which allows me to do all of this trading. Any and all feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Brian
Brian, continue what you are doing for a couple more years and bank roll everything you can. Your kids won't get any younger but playing the way you are, you may eventually get caught and be forced to make the decision then. If you are doing that kind of return, you should be able to sit back soon enough. Good hunting...
Chances are you are stuck on a legacy/grave yard IT project with lots of free screen time. Therefore ride it out, at some point the easy life will end, then you wont be able to do 40 trades a day and you will be forced to go full time.
Brian - you have the best of both worlds. As long as you're not travelling often, and are at home at nights and weekends, you'll have plenty of time with your kids. They're at school during the days, so you probably wouldn't see them as much if you worked from home. You may want to take long vacation or leave of absence from 2-4 weeks straight, and see how you like it working from home, and then make a decision afterward. My old job allowed me time to do some trading (not as frequent or as successfully as you presently are.) But I was always on the road, and only saw my family on weekends. Left a year ago to trade from home. You'll find you'll have more time to pursue both your trading career as well as your hobbies. I still do some consulting for my old company, and have developed friendships with other traders.
WTF? Why you need advice, lol. Sounds like you're a rock star. Just keep doing what you're doing and don't think twice about it. I am assuming that is 250k net (before taxes).
pay off any obligations you have (student loans/mortgage) , have some cash in the bank in case you hit a cold streak, then tell your employer you found another job
I appreciate the replies. I figure in 6 months I will be debt free with a good cushion should things change. I have been doing this for the past 15 months experiencing pretty consistent success (never had a down week and only about 1 in 20 down days) so I am getting more and more confident that it should not change too much. I honestly feel that the low-stress of quitting my job would be a big benefit. It would allow me to pursue hobbies as well as to enjoy the time off work much more as I would not have to think about work or anything else. I just wonder about the isolation factor. As for any job openings...I'll keep you posted. There might be one soon... Brian