Haven't read the entire thread but my take is if you have to ask, don't do it. If you really wanted to and it was in your blood, you would have gone ahead no matter what anyone says here. Look, there is a reason why there is such a thing as a job and a career path and why most people do them even if they hate it. Job security and the ability to live a stable life is not without it's merits. Also, the longer you are out of a job, the harder it is to get gainful employment again, especially if you were simply trading from home. Your resume will simply have a big black hole. There are tons of people here on ET who will tell you to go pursue your dreams. Most of them are retirees who already have worked their ENTIRE life and have a pension pot or high school kiddies or college freshmen full of fantasy and idealism and think they are the next Steve Cohen. For every 1 Bill Gates or Michael Dell or Steve Jobs, there are 500 Gates/Dell/Jobs who are still living in their parent's basement with no financial ability to get married, start a family or even go out with their friends for a drink and do any normal things that people do. I took that step to become a trader, forsaking the normal career path and it has cost me in even though I was born into a relatively privileged family. Yes, I make a decent living now but knowing what I know now if I had to do it all over again, I don't think I would. It took a tremendous amount of time and effort and in the process, bridges were burned, weekends gone, friendships were lost, relationships broken. As you grow older, you realize some things are much more important than money. In the search for the ideal life, in exchange be prepared to give up this life. That is a real and distinct possibility. But hey as I said, If you really really wanted to do it, you would disregard what I just said.
I agree with you on most things. Having sacrificed my teens and most of my 20s. after dropping out of school and leaving my full athletic scholarship to pursue a pro career. I took my chance, and at the moment I fully believed I could make it to the league, and when it was all said and done I ended up being just short. However I do not regret any of it. Given the exact same situation I would do it again. And more then likely I will give trading the same shot that I gave pro sports, and sure maybe I will regret it, but I know for sure that I will regret it if I don't try it. I never let social stigma or any comments influence me. How are you supposed to be great at something if you listen to every naysayer? I'm back in school ready to finish my degree, so I have at least 3 years of trading ahead of me before I make a decision that the OP is having to make. But if you feel like you are a profitable trader...go for it.
Just do it. You are still young, and if you are not going to make it, you would know quickly after about a year. And you can look for a job if you feel at that time that trading is not all that it is cracked up to be. But there are a few things I should mention before you put in your 2 week notice. 1) Forget about working 2 hours a day trading, you will probably put in more hours than a regular job especially if you are not trading the equities market. Trading is NOT easy. 2) The Market doesn't care about you or your story. If you don't feel like you have emotional/mental state to swing trade, then you market will take all of your emotional weakness and exploit it on a daily basis. 3) You will need a good sized stake in your account if you intend to go full time trading. I would say you will need at least 2-3 years of your current salary to start for safety margin and allot time to make mistakes until you become profitable. If you can't replace your current income, and make more money, then you will be drawing down your profit (if any). There has to be account growth or you are treading water.
Can't relate or give much advice on the "keeping a regular job" part as I never had one, but there's some significant difference between trading and other business endeavours : on down days you LOSE money over your business running costs, whereas in most business , when business is slow or dead, you just lose whatever is the cost of running this business, which can usually be lowered when necessary. I tended to feel depressed when I didn't close deals (sold goods actually) in my main activity, losing money in the market is much harder emotionnally. One reason I'd be wary of living off only trading gains. Having a couple of sources of income is very conforting ime, nowadays I can take take quite a bit of time off without much stress (still only moderate drawdowns do affect me and when those happen I tend to put some more work in the activity I know better )
I'm 35 now I quit my job as a GM of a golf course 4 years ago and it was the stupidest thing I have ever done. Back then my reasoning was that busting my ass at this job just wasn't "worth the time." I'm a very introverted person and thought I would never care if I ever saw these people ever again. And besides I would still see them here and there playing golf. But when I did hang out with my old circle of people it was just weird. At the time I quit we were also getting ready to have our first kid so in my mind I'm thinking shit I can stay home and raise our kids and save shit loads of money on daycare. Wrong again! As I speak we have two kids both in daycare which costs roughly 20k/year and since I have no w2 income I can't even write any of it off But if I had to raise kids day in and day out I would blow my brains out. I always thought I was a very patient person but it turns out I'm a fucking OCD psycho. For me finances had very little to do with the decision. When I first started working in the golf biz I wanted to be a player and after years of blood sweat and tears it just wasn't going to happen so like many wanna be professional golfers I ended up working in the business and every day I went to work it just reminded me of my failed dream. I guess if money is an issue don't quit until you get to the point that money doesn't matter which depending on one's lifestyle is different for everyone. I'm just as happy shooting a duck or a deer and eating that than eating at some fancy restaurant. I'm also lucky to have the coolest wife in the world who doesn't give a shit about material garbage.
Interesting perspectives being shared. I would advise taking the long view - but then again that's my nature. Very wise advice to make sure you're not figuring out how to tread water (i.e., only cover expenses) on your profits. That sounds to me like a recipe for anxiety and depression. Step 1 - build your capital through savings from your work income and your profits. let compounding work for you. Also make sure you've gone through a nasty market with your system, not sure how long you've been at this but I agree with the earlier poster that you need to know you're not only succeeding when the tide is rising Step 2 - when you've had a year with investment gains sufficient to cover your year's expenses (when you know ex-post that you could have lived off of your trading alone), set half aside in a savings account and quit. Step 3 - spend 6 months making a go of it, living off of your 6 months worth of expenses set aside. If you're sufficiently profitable during that 6 months, consider continuing for another 6. If not, a 6 month hole on your CV isn't that big an issue. Consider coming up with some other endeavor that you can spend a couple hours a day doing while you're trading - write a book, start an internet based business, take some university courses, volunteer. Something that you could always spin into a cool story if you needed to re-enter society and wanted something other than "I was daytrading and failed". It will give your life balance too. At the end of a year doing this for a living, you'll have a much better idea as importantly about whether you can succeed and whether you enjoy the life. Also, make sure you're not running away from a dayjob you hate but rather going to a passion. If you just hate your dayjob and are looking for an escape, get a new dayjob. My $0.01
If you could do it you would do it Just like pulling the trigger on trades Scared money is dead money. Save up 1 year of living expenses and then take 1 year off and give it your best shot. Immerse yourself fully and eat, breathe, and sleep trading because this is what it takes to get on top and stay there. If you don't have the hunger to put in what it takes then do not even attempt to trade for a living. If you fail you can always put you started your own consulting business for a year but then decided you wanted to go back to corporate work or whatever. Whatever you do don't wait until you are older and married with children to pursue this. The pressure and stress to pay your monthly nut then will either kill you and/or cause a divorce. Go big or go home 20 years from now you don't to sit around and wonder what if Financial pain is temporary Regret us forever
really insightful thread. Here is some other type of perspectives. great career=great trader. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iKHTawgyKWQ?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>