My own plan is to reach a point where being an employee becomes superfluous. In other words, I'll only quit when I've basically covered my income for like a year from trading. That's not going to be next week but that's OK. I'm patient and I believe I can make it.
I work full time and trade with an automated system, i keep tabs on my trading PC which is at home with remote desktop throughout the day. Its not advisable to give up a full time career, especially if you spent 3 or 4 years at college, and 10+ years getting experience, you spent the first 5 years just raising your salary just when you start making a good living you dont want to quit. Personally im waiting till the next recession in IT when i have trouble finding work, ie ill be earning $0, then i will give it up for good. Until then, the double income from trading and working will mean that i will be in a great position to give it up when i have too.
ive been building up passive income and selling some property - i have no debt and really dont have to work at all. im almost finished paying off my ex-wife (just a bit left, i pay her quarterly), but here come 2 college tuitions. i keep my biz going as a safety blanket, but ive come to really not look forward to working every day. i can let stock prices wiggle a bit, because i can crank up the biz again. as work has slowed, im actually "forced" to keep in closer touch with clients. i tell them when im taking off for 2 or 3 months, which may not be a good idea. im just now starting to unwond a bit from trading/working FT a few years ago... it can really burn you out. if you can consult and make some money, thats good. ive been offered jobs before to teach my specialty at community college, which i have been considering. night classes preferably :eek: :eek: keeping the biz open is getting tougher as work shrinks - as efficient as i am expense-wise, it still costs money to run a biz, even if you arent working it!
i wanted to quit years ago.... i decided to ride the r.e. upswing as long as possible, then the last couple years i started taking 3 months a year off to study trading, trade & just unwind. ive started taking only the easier jobs... i say NO alot these days... oddly, my income actually rose quite dramatically when i started saying No! now the market is slowing and im working twice as hard for less money; hourly income sucks. i make really good dough in Nov-Dec, but one of my clients is getting swallowed up, so i need to fill that void... what i really wanna do is tell everyone to kiss my ass! trade in the morning, beach or yoga in the afternoon and gym/boxing/yoga in the evenings. what you are describing is golden handcuffs, they pay you enough to keep you, but not enough so that you can tell them to "F off!" keep you overhead low, increase your safety net and increase passive income.
thanks, they usually put a big carrot out in form of options, so they can pay you even less and make you depend on that pot at the end of the rainbow. one of the nastiest stories ive ever heard... company was being taken over, big VP was best friedd of CEO, but not privy to takeover talks... Big VP quit 2 days before the takeover was announced. hundreds of thousand in options up in smoke... the Big VP's address is now Patton State Hospital for teh Criminally Insane... p.s. - they are no longer friends
There are many things to consider, money being but one, albeit an important one. Bottom line, is the bottom line. How deep are your pockets? How much debt? How long can you survive without touching, or adding too, you're trading capital? Make the move too early and you may regret it. Happened to me. Then you get to go back looking for a job trying to explain your day trading career. Makes for a good story at the interview, and the HR mopes are all ears when you're telling it. But at the end of the day they don't like free thinkers and risk takers in corporate America. They like worker bees that follow all the rules and don't take risks. My advice...take jobs that allow you to trade, if not all day, at least part of the day. When you're consistantly profitable and have a comfortable nest egg to pay bills with, then and only then give it consideration. This is where those other things to be considered come into play. Things like life style, family considerations, your emotional well being and your general health. You'll have all the stress of trading, all the bullshit of a job, all the pressure of family life and you'll be tired as hell most of the time. What's that going to do to your head after a few months, let alone years? Lots to think about. Good luck! As an adendum: If you're a single young buck, or buckett, still living at home with mom and dad, ignore the above. Put 5K together and hit the nearest prop firm. Worst happens, you learn some shit, go bust, and join the working drones like everyone else. Build your stake again and do it the slow way.
I think this is very sound advice. I have seen a lot of people come and go in the trading world and most of them are the ones that think trading is an easy life so they up and quit their jobs to trade full time. Right off the bat they start putting a lot of new pressure on themselves to make money everyday. Pretty soon this pressure turns into a string of losses and they panic. Panic and trading don't work together. I own my own company and work 7 days a week most weeks at it. I trade some long term options and when I can the ES. I think I have been able to remain profitable in both because I keep them balanced. I know what my prioities are and don't mix the two. One day I plan on selling my company and retire. By that time I am hoping that I will have gained enough experience in trading to do it full time. Until then don't push it. You'll know when it is time.