Can't bring myself to leave my job.

rimshaker · May 23, 2006

Withdrew enough profits before this major correction to pay for rent/bills for about 2 years.... guess i'm gonna dive in and see what happens. Even with living expenses taken care of, i'm still nervous as hell

Just knowing you won't have a biweekly paycheck backing you up is stressful.... no matter how much pre-planning you do.

copa8 · May 23, 2006

yup, keep your day job and trade on the side. anyway, to answer your question. i daytraded from 2002 to 2005. i resigned from my prior firm (back working for them now) to go day-trading b/c i was thinking if i didn't try it now, then i'll regret it later in life. better to try and fail then not try at all or something along that line.

rimshaker · May 23, 2006

Quote from copa8:

yup, keep your day job and trade on the side. anyway, to answer your question. i daytraded from 2002 to 2005. i resigned from my prior firm (back working for them now) to go day-trading b/c i was thinking if i didn't try it now, then i'll regret it later in life. better to try and fail then not try at all or something along that line.

Yea, that's exactly what I said a few pages back... regretting.. and better to try and fail, etc. So you think it's all just naive, idealistic thinking then?

jgfutures · May 23, 2006

rimshaker,
congrats on your success. a few thoughts:

1. have you quantified all self employed expenses? ranging from healthcare to retirement (outside of trading)
2. the lack of social interaction?

my advice would be find a new job in the city, even if it requires a pay decrease. continue to trade. once you get to 7 figures, then re-evaluate your life and trading full time may be the answer.

simply put, it is hard to give up good benefits as an employee in order to sit at home alone. i think a new job in a new city may refresh you and keep you trading part time.

just my 2 cents.

ajau · May 23, 2006

Quote from bstay:

It's only 5 weeks out of job and I'm getting depressed. Lack of social contact is hard to deal with in my case.

So, I'm your reverse. I'm going back to work, and trading part-time.

I am exactly in the same situation that you are in. Former EE, miss the interaction, getting bored, etc. I recommend getting out of the house and getting into a pro or pro trading firm. It will bring structure to your life and it will build self dicipline. Of course if it is female social interaction you miss, you're on your own.

ajau · May 23, 2006

Quote from jgfutures:

rimshaker,

simply put, it is hard to give up good benefits as an employee in order to sit at home alone. i think a new job in a new city may refresh you and keep you trading part time.

just my 2 cents.

Of course if its benefits that are a worry (and it shouldn't be for a healthy young single guy) you could always move temporarily to the UK, Australia, or Canada. Those countries have universal health care and their version of FICA is much less onerous than in the US.

bstay · May 23, 2006

Quote from ajau:I am exactly in the same situation that you are in. Former EE, miss the interaction, getting bored, etc. I recommend getting out of the house and getting into a pro or pro trading firm. It will bring structure to your life and it will build self dicipline. Of course if it is female social interaction you miss, you're on your own.

I'm trading from Asia, so U.S. markets open at 9:30pm (or 10:30pm). No prop shops in my country. There are local brokerage/dealing houses hiring advanced traders but you must use their proprietary trading platform which isn't as sophisticated as TradeStation/RealTick/CyberTrader, etc.

I'm not yet making big money, enough to enjoy fast cars (and women) and golf during the day. It's still a dream of making it in trading .... taking losses .... and it just felt empty and bored during free times. Must find work.

bstay · May 23, 2006

Quote from rimshaker:Yea, that's exactly what I said a few pages back... regretting.. and better to try and fail, etc. So you think it's all just naive, idealistic thinking then?

If I recall your earlier post, that u live/work in a remote area. This could be the "need" you want to fill, not making tons of money. Once the trading turns bad, you will begin to feel the lack of social interactions again. Very depressing from my personal experience.

rimshaker · May 23, 2006

Quote from jgfutures:

rimshaker,
congrats on your success. a few thoughts:

1. have you quantified all self employed expenses? ranging from healthcare to retirement (outside of trading)
2. the lack of social interaction?

my advice would be find a new job in the city, even if it requires a pay decrease. continue to trade. once you get to 7 figures, then re-evaluate your life and trading full time may be the answer.

simply put, it is hard to give up good benefits as an employee in order to sit at home alone. i think a new job in a new city may refresh you and keep you trading part time.

just my 2 cents.

There's no way to quantify and account for 100% of everything, just trying to cover the major bases at least. I got healthcare taken care of thanks to being an IEEE member. It doesn't cover small things like dental, vision, periodic exams... but covers the major incidents instead that would require hospital stays, etc.

I started my IRA when I was 19. I'll be rolling over my 401k from work to the IRA where I can finally put that money into better fund choices.

Lack of social interaction?? I mentioned earlier that I already live/work in an isolated, rural area. Single life shot to hell since day one... except for one ex g/f

Coworkers are mostly older family guys. I'm like one of the very few still single in the building. So yea, not much chance of missing something that wasn't there in the first place.

rimshaker · May 23, 2006

Just for the record, I think the social interaction thing is overrated,.. unless of course you're chick hunting.

I'll be the first one to admit to being introverted and not really a people person unless i HAVE to be at certain moments. Which is perfect cause trading is a one-person job. I dont' talk to anyone at work about my trading. I trade alone and with only my thoughts and opinions. Jesse Livermore was absolutely dead right (no pun intended) when he said you should trade alone and in secrecy, never discussing open trades, or your past winners and losers.

I do remember telling a few cowokers to consider buying gold/silver bullion back in 2003. They thought I was fukin nuts. This month 2 of them actually came to ME about how to buy coins after gold hit past $700. Bingo!.. .a sign that literally hit me. Sold enough profits to pay rent/bills for 2 years should I decide to quit. Lacking coworkers to use as contrary indicators I admit I'll miss.