45 years old. Learning to trade with a severance package from a previous job. Last job I had I was commuting for three hours every day for two years. In the second year of that they cut out my expense reimbursement because they knew the jobs had dried up. I would say I'm really motivated.
My capital came from starting successful businesses which I still run: A software business among them. Years ago I could have started trading on small lots and with small capital. After seeing many traders at the CME routinely get washed out I decided to finish my education and make my money and when I had sufficient capital only then did I decide to invest in a trading business.
After 23 years in the work-a-day world I finally figured out that no matter where you work or what you do you are bound to run into just a sufficient number of "problem" people to seriously degrade your quality of life. Most people are ok but all it takes is being stuck working in close proximity to one irritating individual to totally screw things up. There aren't many things worse then being required by your employer to "get along" with someone you just plain don't like (I'd rather be honest!! ). Day in and day out, maybe for years, and you can't just walk away. Life is too short. Decided that I wanted to work for myself.
I'm 30, I began trading 6 years ago with intially 10K from my savings, lost that, borrowed another 10K, lost that (all in commision charges). Then I began to work for a firm which let me play with their money, I stopped looking at it as money and began to trade well. I wouldn't believe that the numbers on the screen were real until I recieved my first check.