Quote from Kastro_316:
I was just wondering if everyone here has a degree? Are there any without?
im 19, and im just done my first year of my degree, and was thinking today, why do i need this? Spend another 4 years of my life at school, only to start something that does not require a degree?
Your implied presumption here is that you will be successful enough at trading to make a continuous living at it. You might, you might not. Lots of people go down in flames. Others make some good supplemental cash, but never enough to fully support themselves (or at least the lifestyle they want).
The college degree for the most part isn't a magic "now you are intelligent" certificate - it's just your ticket to job interviews, nothing more.
You may come out of college like some, not really knowing a hell of lot more than they did going in (which frankly is a shame but for some people - most info just goes in one ear, rattles around long enough to be used on a test, and then falls out their other ear - which is often to say that it falls out their ass since that's where their head usually is - yes, some colleges do still manage to stamp out complete fools with degrees).
Anyway, you don't really know if trading will work out for you (it sounds good and attractive, but unless you're pulling in consistently good bucks - it might never be enough for a "living") and you should always have a plan B.
$60K is OK bucks (not great, but OK) and if that's enough for you AND (more importantly) you want to be a cop - your Vancouver PD idea might work for you as plan B. Otherwise, stay in college and get a degree in something useful and more importantly - in demand.
If you have to go down the plan B path, keep rational - a degree is little more these days than an entry to job interviews (especially if you didn't get any practical work experience in your field while in college). It says to an employer that you're at least educatable and potentially worth their spending a lot of time and money training you.
Keep your options open though until you know absolutely that you can make a living trading - which will take more than a few months or a year to determine. Remember that there were an awful lot of "geniuses" during the latter part of the '90s who fashioned themselves as budding Soroses only to find out that during a wild market trend even Homer Simpson can look like a genius. Some of those guys are now flipping burgers at Mickey Ds.
Good luck.
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