Never too old' When I was a the Bright office, SF, half the guys (OK maybe 25%), were 50. The old guys did best. Jay
You are not to old to join a prop shop, but I would not join an equity scalping shop... that is generally where the younger traders succeed. Look for a place that has good, solid training and don't be picky about what products they trade. All in all, I say go for it and accept the possible consequences. There are a couple of really good prop firms in Chicago, just look around. Good luck!
I appreciate the experience and opinions that you have posted. They are varied as I suspected. It's certainly a major decision at my age because if it blows up there is less time to recover finacially. Worst case senerio I could burn through the 10K and be nothing but pissed off. 5-6 months living out of my checking account and fail...again, nothing but pissed off. Quit the job and fail...once again pissed, but I can always drum up another job. After that the money starts coming from places other than "fun money". Then of course, there's the biggest hurrdle of all, selling this brillant idea to the "little woman". We've discussed it on occassion and while she's not totally opposed, she's not totally behind the idea either. Oh! to be 24 and single instead of 54 and married. But, at 24 again I'd probably be smoking weed and guzzling Mad Dog 20/20 just like before. Once again thanks for the opinions. For now I'll probably just keep trading my little system and see if I can tweek it in to profitibility rather than going sideways.
Hey you getting ready for Football season?? I hear Auburn cleared itself of any wrong doing in the Barnergate deal. John http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2545992
there was a 90 year old trader at the NYSE a year back, might still be there. there was nothing slow about him when he was dancing with the chick that was interviewing him. basically, if you can still draw air you can trade.
LOL, in the good old days, drinking mad dog 20/20 mixed with tequila and qualudes and you were set for da nite. John
Bright trading has guys alot older than 50. He has 80 year old traders working in his prop shop. The Bright brothers aren't exactly young themselves. They both look like a bunch of old fogies. lol. I'm sure they don't mind me saying that, since they are old fogies to anybody younger than them. But seriously, Bright trading really does have some 80 year old traders. And I think this whole conversation is stupid because age has nothing to do with managing finances and trading stocks.
Age was addressed by Barton Biggs in "Hedgehogging". He had over 30 years with Morgan Stanley before starting Traxis Partners ($1B AUM). He is, I think, well over 70 years old and writes when asked about his motives:
Trading is one of those jobs you can do well past the age when you can't do other jobs. It requires no specific location, no physical strength, merely the decision to buy or sell. That decision can be carried out in an infinite number of ways that are about as challenging as breathing. It is a mental skill. Period. The longer you trade on the same capital, the better your skills will become. That, to me, is the primary skill. Survive. Survive with your trading capital, while you do what it takes to have a life. Sometimes that's saving a bunch before you start, maybe it means having a day job or night job while you develop your trading skill. This crap about older people not having video game skill, well, it may be true. But there are an infinite number of profitable ways to trade, so you pick one you can do, and modify it if age changes things too much. The most critical question to ask is not,"Am I too old to go Prop?", it's really,"Do I really want to trade?" If the answer is yes, then your age is just a number relative to other ages of other traders. Who is anyone to say one is too old to trade prop? As long as you make money for the firm, they couldn't care less if you could somehow trade from your grave. Money is what matters, making it. Age, in this business, does not.