Im a fresh out of college kid - accountant in NoVA Anyway - I have been reading the forums non stop and have yet to find any definitive answers. I have a decent amount of starting capital (enough to open up a couple of managed accounts) and I was wondering this: ** Would you experienced traders recommend trying to teach myself forex/props/options/etc. trading (not all of them of course) or recommend trying to find a trader/some traders to trade my money? I understand the fees I really have limited time for outside of work items (its tax season) so if you guys tell me to learn it on my own, I need to start NOW with a demo account/stadegies Also, if you recommend finding traders for hire, are there any good places to start looking? Thanks!
============== Blackwhitefrank; Frankly don't give investment advice and whichever fork in the road you may take; I would want to learn /receive much wisdom on it before hand. Some markets, like derivatives , its common to have 50% drawdowns; stock funds may or may not tolerate that, long term. Jack Schwager 3 top trader books are helpful; mostly stocks & derivatives. Age is a factor, like a lot of us , my CPA traded derivatives when younger; more stocks now.
In my mind you don't have to do it yourself to be a sucessful investor. There are many good high quality professionals out there - warren buffet style - you can trust your money with. But in any case you have to read a lot & educate yourself a lot to find those people. The learning process is a must for you either way. I would recommend to shop for the top performance mutual funds.
Im not necessarily sure if I am in any sort of position to be handing out "advice" but I think that in this particular situation, the only person that can answer that question is you. You have to really ask yourself what you want (be honest) and how you would like to accomplish that. Time is a very important factor in regards to your situation. If you plan on learning how to trade on your own, from scratch, that could potentially take years to become comfortable and consistent. And that is only if you survive that long. And what about your current job? If you plan on trading yourself, learning the many skills involved takes a lot of time, energy, and dedication. Just a few things to consider. jm
http://www.aetv.com/listings/episode_details.do?episodeid=135410 AE TV today had an episode where the money manager at HighTower Investments, Inc lost his complete account trading commodities. He didn't even have the discipline to quit at this predeteremined stop point, -50%. The end result was 3 deaths, and a commodity trader counting prison bars (not the bars on a bar chart). Now, ask yourself.. would you rather be the commodity trader, or the family that invested money with him and lost it all?