Is it worth investing both time and money into post secondary education if my intent is to become a full time trader? For example, four years for a bachelor of commerce and then another year and a half for a MBA. What are some of the better routes leading to this career?
If you can do both at the same time, do it. If you were force to pick one, do not be a buffoon and drop the school. However if you want to become a trader and going to school, why not study psychology and statistic - not sure what the commerce will do for you in trading. Why do you want to become a trader?
Only a matter of time before EMG posts... Many will disagree on the merits of going to college or not. Not all traders are successful, those very few who made it and even fewer who made it without continued education are in the minority. If you have the opportunity to go to college, an education is never wasted. A formal education can open doors which are closed to those without. If you are looking for a reason not to put forth the effort of going to a university, you pretty much have your mind made up and are only looking for justification not to. Perhaps the better question would be to inquire which course of study will better prepare you, not whether you should go or not. Your life, your choice. Nobody on the internet cares one way or the other, no sense asking about such an import life decision on a public forum.
A college degree is a good insurance policy against your trading career. You never know if you will blow-up or become unprofitable. But you won't learn much there that will help, with the exception perhaps of probability and accounting.
if you decide to go to college don't mortgage your future with student debt. if you end up with a lot of debt you will become one of obama's serfs, forever dependent on the gov't. try trading for a year. then make your decision.
Here is an idea for the OP that saves time and money: Don't go to college, but take evening classes at your community college. (like stats, math, psychology) Even if just for a year, you will save a shit load money and you can even trade during the day. Advantages: 1. Obviously cheaper than full time college. 2. You can cherry pick your classes and take only what you think will be useful later on, instead of having a major with a bunch of BS classes. 3. You can start trading (and losing money) right away, while you are doing this. Also, there are some online trading college classes if I recall, they are just hard to find. So if after 1 year you still think you want to be a trader, you can keep doing this until you think your education is over and you are actually profitable. If/when you get fed up with trading, you will still have a few most likely transferable classes and you can go fulltime student... In short, you get best of both world....
not sure if answered already. 1. How much is school? INCLUDING interest, etc......when it is all said and done. 2. What would be the size of your trading account? 3. Are you remotely passionate about being a doctor, etc...that requires school; however, not sure if you would like it? 4. Are you a good public speaker, and don't mind missing out on trying to mack on 19-year girls for years? my undergrad was almost free. grad school a little pricey, but not bad. i had tons of time to trade as well. maybe i made $300k more because of my grad degree, then it really became pretty much worthless. yeah, an mba. now i would never get one, unless you are going top tier. top tier. whatever.....if you trade and fail......you might get depressed, since identity just got lost. school with 150k loans....you just got owned. good luck
Listen to Altucher http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/james-altucher/dont-send-your-kids-to-co_b_409900.html http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2010/11/8-reasons-not-to-daytrade/ http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/01/8-alternatives-to-college/
'Independent trader' is not a career. Yes, some can make a living out of it and very few even a very good one. However, most don't and even if you are successful for several years you should never take it for granted. Markets change and they may change in a way which renders your trading approach(es) unprofitable. Until you have reached the point where you can put away a few million bucks, i.e. diversify into other, low risk investments, there is almost no security in this kind of job, if you have no other sources of income. Because of that, it's a very good idea to have some kind of backup plan.
Also, I would like to point out that OP can go to full time college and still trade at least 50% of the time. Annually college only takes up 8 months. If he schedules his classes wisely, he can still trade 2 full days per week during the school year, even more if he lives on the West coast. He can schedule most of his classes after 1 pm... So it is not really an either/or question. He can do both....