daughter asks for advice

Quote from StarDust9182:

I had to think a while what I would say to my own granddaughter. She is two and smart as a whip. She could send text messages to her Aunt at 10 months old. Of course, no one knew what they said. Her Aunt was thrilled. She is a talker and a dancer.

I would suggest that she start creating a base of her own capital to trade with by saving and setting goals. That will show discipline which is useful later on. Too little capital can knock one out early.

I would suggest that she start researching what works and what doesn't in the stock market. Be skeptical about almost everything you read and hear about trading and learn to see both sides of all arguments. The ideal would be to work handling other people's money in an investment firm. ( She may not be able or willing to spend some time doing this). Learn from the mistakes of others with no cost to her capital.

I would suggest she start learning, thinking and reading about the market. After a year or two, when her capital base was sufficient, she could practice trade for a while and then go live. The best would be with a mentor checking the trades at the beginning. There are so many lessons to learn. Most will not hurt you much. One must look for the most deadly ones.

Trading is continuous improvement and breaks are good for the spirit at times. Some kind of stress relief - zen, yoga, exercise, solitude - is essential I think along with a strong desire and belief in yourself.

I would suggest she study business failures, successes, trading failures and successes, and life failures and successes trying to discern what causes each. Luck and skill will be in every trade, given time the luck will cancel leaving only skill. Skills can be learned by observation of others and reflection of self.

I have thought of writing a book sometime with less technical stuff of trading but more observations, lessons, and stories of how others crashed and burned and how a very few succeeded. I have seen so many fail and only a few succeed longer term.

The books by Dr. Elder are great for learning the technical side.

If she still wants to be a trader/investor when she has the capital then go for it. Preservation of capital is essential or you are out of business. Blowups are not necessary to trade well in my experience.

Mark Twain said something like: It's not the return on my capital but the return of my capital that keeps me awake at nights!

Hope that helps.
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you might like a book written back before options and forex called "The Swiss Axioms"

it is exactly what you are talking about, non technical, just some observations

can't say I agree with everything in the book, but I got turned on to it when I read one of his more recent books called, "The Luck Factor"

ah those were the days man, when you could make it all back on T (telephone)
 
Quote from Took2Summit:

right, but im not a teller, im a financial adviser on the brokerage side. im done arguing about this, the 3 points i listed are the only things i have to follow. its up to you whether you want to keep your tinfoil hat on or not
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ahhhh... you should have started by saying that.... so no, you dont work for an investment bank... you work for a bank that has a brokerage division... your bank, more than likely, purchased an investment bank... so you are more than likely talking about BAC/JPM/C .... which have bought IB's... you are a "financial adviser" which is basically a sales position at your branch, but you are regulated by FINRA and state regulations... that would explain your laxed compliance rules... if you were on the actual investment bank, you wouldnt be trading your account...

now, what you need to realize is that your statement was that I was incorrect about IB rules... and that your rules were it... when in fact, you are not on the IB side (but rather the banking side) and your knowledge of compliance for the IB side was (because now you should know) rather limited...

anyhow... this is now boring... so moving on and letting the thread go back to its original discussion about how to get oldtime's daughter to a new career...
 
Quote from ofthomas:

ahhhh... you should have started by saying that.... so no, you dont work for an investment bank... you work for a bank that has a brokerage division... your bank, more than likely, purchased an investment bank... so you are more than likely talking about BAC/JPM/C .... which have bought IB's... you are a "financial adviser" which is basically a sales position at your branch, but you are regulated by FINRA and state regulations... that would explain your laxed compliance rules... if you were on the actual investment bank, you wouldnt be trading your account...

now, what you need to realize is that your statement was that I was incorrect about IB rules... and that your rules were it... when in fact, you are not on the IB side (but rather the banking side) and your knowledge of compliance for the IB side was (because now you should know) rather limited...

anyhow... this is now boring... so moving on and letting the thread go back to its original discussion about how to get oldtime's daughter to a new career...
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naw, we're done, that's cool, thanks for the contribution

If I want to take it any further it certainly won't be on ET

but ET is a good place to start

I would reccommend all beginners start here

thank you for taking an interest

like the man said, "Can't we all just start fighting again?"

One time I thought I wanted to be a stock analyst. according to SAT I have a very high aptitude in math, and the lady told me, "Anybody can analyze, you gotta be able to sell it"

which is why I am not a broker anymore. I put on some good trades, but I couldn't with a good conscience sell them to anybody else.

I can't even sell my own forex strategy to my daughter, because I don't want anybody else to go through what I have to go through.

they talk about doctors and lawyers, but the highest paid profession is in sales

and there are plenty of salesmen in the trading and financial business
 
Quote from oldtime:


I don't know that much about stocks, but she is a born natural, has all the elements a trader needs, ice water in the veins, she's a good card counter, and can read people, and most importantly she can talk you into anything, a very good salesman.
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None of those attributes will have any impact. Tell her to get her 7 and look for a wirehouse job in sales. She will blow out. The SPX is at an 8-figure on RV and she has no edge. The best advice would be to persuade her to forget about active trading.
 
Quote from atticus:

None of those attributes will have any impact. Tell her to get her 7 and look for a wirehouse job in sales. She will blow out in trading. The SPX is at an 8-figure on RV and she has no edge. The best advice would be to persuade her to forget about active trading.
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any wirehouse in particular you could recommend? I agree, that is the way to go. and unless they have changed things, she'll need a sponser before she can get her 7
 
so this is the last email I sent her

so what you need to get started is something called a Series 7 License. Back when I took it the study guide was about $320, and it took about ten days drinking beer in your pajamas to study it, then you go take a test.

But you need a sponser, some kind of brokerage firm.

Just start asking around, tell them you want to be a stockbroker and need a Series 7.

This is not an easy business kid

almost everybody fails at it

the difference is, you are much smarter than me, and have excellent sales skills (and you will need that until you get started trading your own account)
 
Quote from Chuck Krug:

are you in chicago?
this is for example an entry position to get the 7
http://www.careerbuilder.be/nl-be/j...=myrec&Job_DID=J3J16967TL5SP1XJKL8&jrjob=true
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thanks Chuck, no she no longer lives in Chicago, moved to Asheville N.C.

It's amazing how conservative I am with my trading advice when it comes to somebody I actually care about

if it was a son or some kid on et, I would just say, "open an account at ib and see what you can do."

thought about prop, but not sure I want to blow through 50k just for training which may only scar her for life

at anyrate, she is very independent and will never do what I tell her to do, all I can do is try to point her in the right direction, and try to warn her about the traps

I just don't know anything about stocks, and I think that is where she should be

It takes a certain kind of special person to trade stocks

I know I am not one, and I'm pretty certain she is

oh well, time to let these kids grow up

trading has been very good to me, I aways hoped one of them would take an interest in it
 
I would never encourage my child to enter a trading career unless they were destined for an investment bank or a decently sized hedgefund.

Being second tier in this industry is like playing in the canadian football league.

It's like encouraging your kid to become an actor. Odds are they will be waiting on tables.

Better for them to find a profession that will value their education and experience and if they want, they can trade on the side.
 
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