Hi
As I know some of you as very friendly and exited persons, do never get started trading as a full time job with such an idea in the background....
Dear Dan,
Much delighted to see your reply on something which had put me at crossroads in my life earlier and I think would also have impacted all us traders.
While I can go a couple of steps back and start discussion on : Why do we trade? What is a personality of a trader? Did we undertake trading profession just because we are not asked questions, no one supervises us, no one gives us instructions, deadlines, targets and there is no appraisal etc. or more realistically are we incompetent at other professions?
But I will leave it for everybody to ponder over the above.
Coming to the point of making trading as a full time profession, I pose a simple question:
What do we need for a living, I mean, a good living?... MONEY !!! But is money everything which can get us all what we need in life?
While initially a decade ago I thought so, but then I realized that it isnt the only thing. All traders want to make money, more money and even more money but what about the life you are leading. I have met many traders in my life a few of them very successful. They have tons of money but I fear what kind of social life they lead for themselves their society and do they have a sense of satisfaction of having done or helped someone or their community. If they indulge in parties or donations to show off their wealth, it is all short lived. People around them do not understand their profession and are not interested in knowing it either and most disturbing is that these successful full time traders do not find any thing in common to discuss at social gatherings, marriages or even during morning jogs. They are all aloof for the rest of the world and their world is either 10x10 office or a tiny room of their big houses.
Some of you may not agree with what I have written because the immediate thought that would come is all the above is absurd and we all can lead a good social life as we will have lots of money and more and more free time to devote to our families and society. But just imagine what happens after 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years would you still feel the same.
Man is a SOCIAL ANIMAL, and we all need people to talk, listen, love and confide. Trading is one profession which does not involve anybody else than you. You live with yourself. You are your best friend, the worst enemy, it is you and only you. The people around you give you a skip and you dont understand them as you have mentality of a trader which they dont have so there is no compatibility. You cant teach them trading too as your strategies and methods will not work for them, even if someone does trades as per your advise, he will still lose in the long run as your personality and risk taking ability is different to theirs. So you are all alone again.
Thanks to technological advancement, most of the full time traders will find virtual friends, enemies on such forums, some will become virtual mentors. Their lives will be confined to a monitor for trading during the day and seeking peace by surfing the net during the night. A few may write books, newsletters which will contain nothing different than thousands of trading books available today. - A point to ponder again!!!
The problem with most of the part time traders (who are also doing jobs) is that they WANT TO LEAVE their jobs and do full time trading but are still hooked on the job (for whatever reasons) due to this conflict in their minds they fail in trading and at job too. I being one of them a few years ago, when redefined my objective (by incorporating the initials discussion above) of NOT wanting to leave my job and doing only part time trading, I could see U turn, both at trading and at work.
I find it worthwhile to lead a neutral life, make money by trading part time and still feel complete by being just another man going out to work every day morning.
Regards,
p.s. Again sharing my thoughts basis my experience, no offence meant to senior and respected full time traders on this forum.