When I tell people I'm a "trader" they ask me how much I get for a beaver skin lately. Just kidding. Now I've just started telling people that I manage the family fortune. That gets respect. It's funny about people having a low opinion about the trading profession. Whenever I see a TV commercial for some financial services firm pitch that they will embrace my dream with unswerving devotion and make it their own, or manage my kid's college education fund through not only good markets but in bad ones too, or see retail brokerage commercials where someone is cooking dinner and in between chopping cucumbers they place a trade via their laptop because they're such the informed investor given the edge of the broker's research department, or I see two guys fencing while one of them tells the other how his mutual fund has invested in REITs and is up 17% for the year so maybe his friend ought to consider it... I get sick. I have no respect for those firms because they're so full of it, those people working in those firms work there because they aren't wealthy enough not to, and the average person that just hands over their funds to those outfits are the same people whose opinions about the markets obviously don't mean a thing. They're not too discerning, so if they don't respect your profession, just consider the source.
I think it's because trading doesn't actually provide any goods or service. That's the same reason most people don't respect gamblers, successful or not. However, this does not prevent my loving trading.
Money can't buy health. Money can't buy happiness. Money can't buy love. To me money is nothing more than a vehicle for paying the bills. I could make more trading than I do but it would require me to trade more and take away from volunteer activities. And for some of us, the satisfaction we get from seeing a kid (I mentor, tutor) smile is a lot more important than making another profitable trade.
Interesting post. Reading what I utter here on ET, one might thing I am an incredible ass. That might be true, but I love to tutor kids as well. You would be surprised at how patient I can be.
Gamblers don't provide anything except profits for the casino. Traders create markets and absorb risk. Thats a real thing. Imagine doing business in some area where there are not liquid markets, then you'll know just how 'real' making a market is. Or imagine a business where you can't lay off the risk of carrying inventory and you have to do business by buying and selling the physical only.
Let's see, here are a few other "professions" that don't provide any goods or services: Anyone who does "preventive maintenance". For example, I buy a used car for $5k and drive it for a couple of years until it breaks down, then I buy a new one. Total cost $2,500 per year. My friend buys a brand new car for $20k and pays an idiot and/or crook a few of hundred dollars every few months for timing belt changes, tune-ups, brake system inspections, etc. And every few weeks some little part breaks down and costs $1500 to fix. And strangely enough, it's always something that is not critical to basic transportation, but makes a lot of noise. After about 3 to five years, he needs a new car. His total cost: probably $7,000 per year, plus he loses countless hours getting the car fixed, inspected, and sabotaged. Or an even better example: Air conditioners. You can either buy a $2000 A/C for your home, never have it serviced or inspected, and buy a new one after 3 or 4 years, or you can pay $200 every couple of months for preventative maintenance and hope that the unit lasts you 5 to 10 years. You do the math. Next useless "profession": Dentistry. You can either brush your teeth at least once per day and expose them to a little bit of 3%H2O2, which you can buy for $0.33 per quart at WMT or thelike; Or you can refrain from eating anything that contains processed sugar. In either case you will not have a single cavity, periodontic disease etc. etc. And you will even have sparkling white teeth. If you don't believe me, look at the teeth of 30 year old humans who died a few thousand years ago. They didn't have toothbrushes or -pastes or mouthwash, but they also didn't have any dental problems. They usually still have all their teeth, and they are in very good shape, just a little more worn than ours. What about actors, entertainers, musicians? They don't provide any goods or services. Or has a politician ever provided goods or services? If you are going to argue that the aforementioned professions DO in fact provide services, I will not try to argue with that. But you should also be aware of the fact that traders provide services to the public as well which gamblers in the casino don't. ------------------------------------ Edit: I just saw that PuffyGums summed it up more efficiently in the post above mine. You may therefore disregard this post.
But in both cases, there is a good reason why a process takes some time, and there is the hope of seeing good results by giving the individual situation the required time.