random thoughts after reading through this whole thread: first, if i was a starting trader and knew nothing, i could get attracted to how cramer does his spiel. seemingly honest, "great" recommendations, having his own tv show, etc. if you want to help him with that particular affliction, point him in the direction of cramer's "action alerts" portfolio, which was up 24% or so, last december, over the last 5 years. only problem? the s&p was up roughly 23% over the same timeframe. if it makes you feel better, one of the people i'm currently helping was initially the "i'll work harder than everyone else, i'll be a great trader tomorrow!" and i had to keep being real honest with them about how poor their initial ideas were, most ppl aren't a great trader in 24 hours, etc. he's slowly realizing things better, and i think now he might have a chance for success (i can't judge psychological stuff so well), whereas before, he'd have been better going to a casino - at least he'd get free drinks. i'd recommend 55k for a starting trader in their trading account, another 45k in an account when they blow out below 25k, and that's all independent of their living expenses, real money, etc. i suspect you weren't harsh until they became all sorts of "i'll show you!" in which case, you had to tell them a bunch of the hard truth. i took lots of pieces from different people, books, msgs, etc. until i got something that i'm comfortable trading, both from the (this is how i should trade) standpoint and the psychological standpoint. i was never arrogant, but more or less confused until i felt completely comfortable. now? at the end of every day, i mentally go over my trades: "i screwed up this trade entry / didn't get out when i should have". i have those every day, and i KNOW i do wrong things in my little stock world. and every morning, i remind myself how i can lose if i'm not disciplined / stick to my rules, and yet all the good things that happen if i don't foresee how much money i'll make on this one trade. oh, one final thing? get them _reminiscences of a stock operator_ or give them the html link for it online. it may go over their head, but c'est la vie. you don't become a surgeon overnight, you don't (usually) become a trader overnight.
JJ, I haven't spoken to them directly since then, but last I had heard they were going to a seminar (not sure if it was a pay seminar or trader's expo or what... Just hope it wasn't WizeTrade... ha ha) and I never heard whether they ever opened an account or not. My hope is that they took my advice of gaining further knowledge than what they possessed when I had spoken to them, but my gut tells me they probably didn't. I don't really expect to hear from them again, but I'm sure I'll hear something through a friend if the account goes kerplunk. Good post and great insight gaj.