Dr Z I've been trading a little longer than you have and we are almost the same age. I'm glad you are perfect. My father died when I was 1 1/2 years old. He left $200,000 for me and my mother. Needless to say it wasn't easy- that money was in annoying bond coupons I clipped as they matured and eventually I started investing the money as I went to Boston University and it almost held out all the way into the mid 1980's. That's not easy (20 years). I've fallen victim to bad LP's, Enron, Infospace, and any zillion other bad tech ideas and still I've traded my way through it. I never had a normal job in which I was really under someone's thumb- the closest I got was a long stint at Any Warhol Studios and you could roll in there after a long night on the town no problem. The dark tunnel I was referring to is the passage of age not investing. Mephisto11 where o where do I start? The Greatful Dead- my roommate being passed christ like along the top of the crowd- unconscious. When he woke up, No Joke, he was a deeply religious man and we hardly ever talked again. U2 when they where great and the wet mushrooms they told me to eat 10X the normal amount. Not the correct ratio especially when everyone decided to stand on their rickety seats! REM at the Beacon first big show for them. What an experience- that guy with the pipe he said it was opium. The Smiths when did I not see the Smiths? What a great band. For years I DJ deep house in NYC among other venues at The Tunnel in the downstairs party room. Under my bed is something like 3000 records I wonder if I'll ever hear again " Jack this " " jack that" out of Chicago and all the good OLD rap when it was fresh. Tons of house & Body & Soul stuff...Now I'm left ordering bizarre and rare Italian soundtracks and Brazilian Beats. Music as it stands now has never been worse. I too dabble in day trades and ST stuff and I am burdened with some long standing holdings, a proper mix is essential. If you are all ST you churn and burn and at the end of the year you're not up as much as you should be. If you have a balanced portfolio and are lucky enough to get a couple take outs the return is much higher, especially so when you factor in the lower tax rate of long term holdings. I have been right on the cusp of saying buy and hold does not work the last 5 years but I'm not there yet. As for: But when scalping the futures, I can only hope that I am in front of the herd, so I don't consider that as being a follower. One thing I do know is that I always beat the alarm clock out of bed, because the internal anticipation has already started to build for the new trading day. Scalping futures puts you in bed with everyone else trying the same thing- that is herd mentality and wether just ahead of the pack or in the middle it's hard to paint a pretty picture. It's certainly not what I consider " investing " it's button pushing. It's not due diligence, research up the ying yang, undiscovered gems, picked up coverage, technical charting, predicting breakouts, etc. Research you can be really proud of. Back to the 40 year old daytrader... yesterday I had two amazing daytrades working I had the research down- I had already been following the stocks and I knew they were ripe for big moves. Well I got the moves but my 3 year old also got his first earache! I had to transfer my action to my lazy ass brotherinlaw who was home instead of at work at Wackyovia- so I had to trade while I carried my boy twenty blocks to the Doctor (he insisted on being held) trying to finagle a cell phone out of my pocket and with my aching back scream in some symbols and directions buypoints and exit points... of course everything got ass screwed up- he bought the stocks out of sequence and I didn't make nearly as much as I should have. That whole situation would not have occurred if I was 27 and staring at the computer all day. Real life does take control. I like your take on bounding out of bed! When I'm on one of my hot streaks I can barley sleep! I'm so excited for the next days trading, I'll even be watching Bloomberg's asian reports at all hours of the night. conversely- When I make a couple STUPID ASS mistakes as I have lately, I want to stay under the sheets and I become very grumpy. Like gambling it can change your whole mood around the house and for that I'm sorry to my family. You got to take the good with the bad in investing as well as in getting older. I planned a 5 day trip to Puerto Plata for Jan 2 after a nailed a big trade many months ago and I would so just like to be free and travel at a whim, but now I have my poor kid's ears to worry about and no trip insurance-- and I'm just more "scared " that I would like to be about many things in life. If that's " Paranoia " DrZ so be it.
Stay away from the Hemp in Puerto Plata if it is offered! ZERO tolerance in La Republica Dominicana, and you will be set up. Make sure you visit Cabarete and Sosua while there, 1/2 hour cab ride. el surdo
By the age of 40, most traders have hopefully realized that daytrading has a disproportionate effort to reward ratio... moreover, I have found that position trading is actually more profitable... I am a little past my mid-30s...
reading this post prompted me to respond - i can't believe how much we have in common. i, too, have associations with the dead (bill weir and buds). i, too, used to groove to house music and old rap (still listen to backspin on sirius). and i have a friend who dj's house in nyc. dr z is just being a nudge, sucking away your energy instead of being positive. just b u, dude. you're a-ok in my book. hang loose....
Thank you so much Surdo for the tip. I haven't been to DR for 17 years I'm sure things have changed quite a bit- it was rather free wheeling back in the day. I will visit Sousa & Cabarete for sure! I do need my medicine though! And flying these days looks pretty tight security wise I don't know weather I can roll a few J's into a sock and pack it away anymore. Damn these terrorists! Perhaps I can find a local to befriend who won't set me up... If you don't hear from me Jan 8th you'll know something is up...~ stoney
My experience has actually been the reverse, for some reason. I'm 63 and have been trading futures since I was 19. In the early, technologically deprived, days I was a position trader by necessity. But, the older I got, the shorter the time frame I traded, until now I'm a pure day trader. By "day-trader" I don't mean a hot-shot gunslinger. I make one or two trades a day, but I'm always out by the market close. I make a good living, and there is little stress. No fast reflexes required (fortunately). I used to think that day-trading profitably was impossible in the long run. Turns out I was wrong. For me, it's the easiest and most comfortable trading I've ever done. Sometimes I miss the excitement of a long holiday not knowing what's going to happen to my positions, but mostly I've gotten used to just making money and not suffering so much.
Ditto.... I'm not quite as old as you. Highly likely the survivors will eventually evolve to your style.
37 here ... pure daytrader , about 10 years running .. spun deep house down here in miami in 2003-2004 .. just a way to let my creativity run wild ... have about 35 80 minute mixes that i did during that time ... can't trade without them ! as i get older, my trading is absolutely becoming better .. i am down to 2 trades per day ..and i am making more money. my win percentage is in the 90% and i have learned to sit on my hands more and more. after the tech bubble popped, i decided to leave trading and open a fitness center in miami .. let me tell you .. it was the wrong thing to do ... my passion lies with the markets ... not with running a business .. and i learned very quickly. to never leave what you are passionate about. age is just a number .. your successes lie in your mind ... i am currently in the process of opening an investment management company with an in house hedge fund.. life is good and i expect it to be even better well into my 40's and 50's! good luck --m
Hi Linda nice post. It's funny but " post " is a word we never would have used in our youth. Like " thread " and dare I say "Fax". Did you ever think about us being the last generation that grew up without a computer? Multiply many generations forward, when everyone lacks the ability to use a screw driver themselves and I wonder what the real " productivity " has been from computers. It certainly seems to make investing easier! Or does it? I'm starting to think everytime CNBC goes into their " the dow is 5 points above an all time high rah rah's the market is inclined to go down. I'd just like to stop celebrating already and go to work. Maria sat across from me at dinner she's a lot shorter than you would ever imagine. Joe is so damn proud of that hair he had me fooled. I thought it was real! Cramer I don't know what to say I'm starting to hate him. The other day he pushed a stock I sold the day before made it go up $1. ~ stoney