Anyone not making 200k a year from trading is a piker
- Thread starter gmst
- Start date
Yes, but it is a trading forum so it is totally appropriate. My reasoning is that there are many jobs that can get you to around 150K per year doing 9-5, plus medical and vacations.
Whoever jumps into this fields, should be aiming to at least mid 6 figures, otherwise the hours and stress not worth it.
with compounding, IF you can make 200k/year say 3 years in a row, "the sky is the limit" in theory. 
Hello friends.
* At my prop firm, I noticed that the hover-point average for people who start to get on their feet and become consistently profitable tends to be around the 150k-200k mark.
* Everyone hovers somewhere around this region, as long as they are profitable. Now it's hard to measure it year-to-year, but its easier to say that people eventually take around ~15k a month, for themselves, on average.
* However, after this beyond there is a significant amount of tapering off in terms of the number of people alive and how much they really aim for (i.e. there's a lot less people making the 30k to 100k per month on average).
* For example, there is a cluster of people who would get the 15k/region handled per month (for as long as they are profitable in this uncertain career) but then there are the true veterans and hard-working and/or gifted traders who can make 500k up to 5 mill a year. And you can count them all one by one.
I've been working extremely hard and through tough times as a testament to how great I would need to be in order to survive for another 10 years.
It's not easy to just scale up and whatever. Markets do change and your edge can become a different beast at any time.
* At my prop firm, I noticed that the hover-point average for people who start to get on their feet and become consistently profitable tends to be around the 150k-200k mark.
* Everyone hovers somewhere around this region, as long as they are profitable. Now it's hard to measure it year-to-year, but its easier to say that people eventually take around ~15k a month, for themselves, on average.
* However, after this beyond there is a significant amount of tapering off in terms of the number of people alive and how much they really aim for (i.e. there's a lot less people making the 30k to 100k per month on average).
* For example, there is a cluster of people who would get the 15k/region handled per month (for as long as they are profitable in this uncertain career) but then there are the true veterans and hard-working and/or gifted traders who can make 500k up to 5 mill a year. And you can count them all one by one.
I've been working extremely hard and through tough times as a testament to how great I would need to be in order to survive for another 10 years.
It's not easy to just scale up and whatever. Markets do change and your edge can become a different beast at any time.
ssrrkk: That's a great point. That the very same reasoning that I quit daytrading and went back to corporate world. The risk/reward just isn't there unless you are a superstar at daytrading.
Now, I just trade on the side. Swing and daytrade. It doesn't materially affect my net worth. But I think maybe in 5-10yrs of this side compounding it might be worth something.
At least I'm beating the bank and Amex savings account by a HUGE margin. That's my benchmark. As long as I'm beating my safe alternative then it's worth trading on the side.
ssrrkk, good points you've made. Here are the proof:
To elaborate, here are some sample salaries at a high paying tech company (Netflix). [Note: I do NOT work there.]
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Netflix-Los-Gatos-Salaries-EI_IE11891.0,7_IL.8,17_IC1147427.htm
Sr Software Eng $120-$275K
Dir of Eng up to $350K
VP $400K
With these salaries, there's almost NO incentives to trade. Remember, there are benefits on top of this, vacation, stock options, etc.
For someone on a good career path, to switch to trading, the payout has to be in really high. Maybe in the low 7 figures to make it worth it.
You go pick out some of the most high paying jobs and then conclude that trading is not worth it? These are not easy jobs to get. I know many people in the corporate tech world. One company in particular as I play in their sports league and there are tons of qualified smart people there with crappy jobs. Some ok director positions and even then a bunch got laid off last year and are out of work now. The only superstar is a close family member but even then hes gotta move around to get the good positions. Not easy with kids etc. Plus he's been building his resume for the last 15-20 years methodically to get the high posts he gets now. And for some reason all of his buddies and colleagues aren't making it.
But I agree, if you are making tons of money in the corporate world you would have to be an idiot to quit and start trading.
7 figures? Not true. I've been trading full time 17+ years. I had a good secure corporate job prior to that. I would first ask WHY you'd need 7 figures to live? Unless you're into a highly materialistic lifestyle you wouldn't need that level income. I live right on the ocean in the southeast US ... no debt of any sort. Right now I'm spending a month in Maine with my wife on the ocean. I can trade wherever I want. Can the engineer, VP or other highly paid employee go wherever they want to work? Can they work only days they want? There's a lot more to life than $$$ ... the freedom trading offers can't be measured in dollars IMO. Later this morning I'll go for a run and then out kayaking. Then maybe trade a little more in the afternoon. Corporate life didn't offer that and I had both flex time and ran my own projects.