It's a good list. As usual we dismiss the tails as not being significant. It's because they're just tails. Yuk yuk.
I think it was Richard Dennis who said that you could publish The trading rules in a newspaper and no one would follow them.
Isn't it just the nature of the markets that only a few are allowed to succeed? If everyone took money from the markets, they would cease to be markets. If there were no lure, the innocent would not try their luck.
Ok the obvious question is do you think it gave you an advantage and do you notice differences in your thinking over others who didnt have that exposure? I say your mind is less polluted at a young age, and if you were to train early you wouldn't have as much baggage as the rest of us. Plus, you came from a background of risk taking. Proper risk taking, I assume. That in itself scores you much higher. Most of us are taught the opposite. In school.
Since I've been blabbing incessantly, I haven't had the urge to trade after I said I was done for the day, nor even check the currencies and equities. Anyone see a connection to the OP?
I agree with your perspectives. But I can't judge this for myself at all because (a) I have nothing to compare myself with, and (b) I have Asperger's syndrome and was always very "mathematical" anyway, so I can't really tell to what to attribute the benefit.
In life everything is a competition where only a minority succeeds: A minority gets a university degree A minority gets a very well paid job A minority will find a beautiful and successful partner A minority will become rich A minority will win a medal in the olympics A minority will become successful sportsmen ... It is kind of supply and demand. Many want a lot of things, but these things are only available in limited amounts. Like all good things in life. So this has nothing to do with trading or the markets. In everything in life more people want the best, but not everybody can have the best. So there is a selection that reduces the number of candidates to the level of the benefits that are available for distribution.