unfortunately i had to go to wal-mart to pick up my gf's pictures ( i always go to target) and this cashier lady didn't know what 10% of $48 dollars was. Granted when your on the spot its hard to spit out computations sometimes but come on. At least the mentally handicapped try their best and work as hard as they can. Don't even get me started on pressing 1 for english. I trade for these reasons. 1. It's a consuming challenge to be the best at something 99% fail at. 2. The money that follows if you become good. J Mow what college you go to?
Many reasons. It's hard to explain. When he was 7 y.o. Jose Carreras saw a tenor on stage and knew that THAT was what he wanted to be. It was his destiny, so to speak, to become a tenor. Something in him resonated with the craft. Something in trading chimes with me. I did not know I wanted to be a trader at age 7. More like 17. I have always been fascinated by price. Why does milk cost what it costs? Or a home in San Diego? Or anything. Price discovery. It is the last bastion of true capitalism with all the chicanery that entails. No code, no rules. Somebody wins, somebody loses. And there is a brutality with that truth that to me is more compelling than the truth. How many people in the day to day workforce are getting by on reputation? Reputation is nothing more than well polished mediocrity. Like George Clooney in Iraq. He'd last about 10 seconds. He'd be eaten alive. So instead he makes Syriana. And now he can glom that Oscar and coast for another 10 years. How many people hate and curse their jobs as they inch along the freeways in their metal coffins, knowing with a Jose Carreras like certainty that they will never escape the walking sarcophagus other people call their lives. And why? They lack 3 tools. Heart, balls. And $ And ultimately it is the cash that drives us all. Trading is one of the few vehicles to create wealth that is open ended. Even a great heart surgeon or Dr Jobe that operates on MLB players ala the Tommy John procedure can only make a range. From X to Y to Z. Perhaps it is a failing in me. Some sort of reverse inferiority complex that drives me to validate my choice of profession vis a vis cash. Where I can compete with a dermatologist, or a political personage. Just a chance at a fair fight in the struggle of this world. To make it(or not) under my own steam. Probably some Freudian neurosis Im sure. But, when you interview for a job and the HR director asks you why did you leave your last job and you say "Because this one pays more". Everyone understands that. No questions. No hypocrisy. And that is why I trade. Because there is no question whether you are being effective or not. And even a Market Wizard if he gives in to hubris and starts slacking off in the work dept can blow out. Where is the hypocrisy in that?. The odds are overwhelmingly against you. But its a fairest fight you will ever be in. One you will never get in the world working for someone else.
Starting up a business from scratch is so much more demanding and draining and risky in some ways than trading for a living, I think your friend just does not get it.
It's a pure meritocracy. No bullshit politics, no suckups, no undeserved successes or failures. You thrive or fail on your own skill and self-control and have no one to blame but yourself. That really appeals to me.
The money, but also: 1. Freedom - Knowing that I can work IF i want too. 2. Isolation - gotta love it 3. flexibility of being able to work anywhere in the WORLD 4. Uniqueness - How many people in the US trade for a living?..a VERY small amount. Because of that, people are naturally curious about what we do, but for the most part, dont understand. 5. Pride - If i succeed, I'll know I'm among the top 10%..I'll be ELITE
The food at McDonalds was just too fattening and they were cutting back on healthcare coverage........oh and i forgot, the fruit and nut salads were not a part of the food program.
On a serious note, Trading is by far the best place to get paid for good ideas.....without a middle man!
I don't think your friend has ever started a business. Just to start a business takes a large amount of cash and then it takes some time to actually make a sale and even longer to make a profit. A business has employees, customers, government (multiple levels), vendors, banks and others that are all large pains in the ass.