Effect of children on your trading

S

saria

Hi All,
I have a questions for all of you guys that plan to make trading your career or already are career traders (I'm not there yet, still in the learning phase -- so much more to learn). Given my current situation with her biological clock an all, I figure I have another ~3 years of being child-free.
So my question is this: realistically, does having kids completely derail the goal of becoming a career trader? do you bascially have to choose one or the other?
I would really like to hear from those of you that have kids, but all insight is welcome.
Thanks.
 
Quote from saria:

Hi All,
I have a questions for all of you guys that plan to make trading your career or already are career traders (I'm not there yet, still in the learning phase -- so much more to learn). Given my current situation with her biological clock an all, I figure I have another ~3 years of being child-free.
So my question is this: realistically, does having kids completely derail the goal of becoming a career trader? do you bascially have to choose one or the other?
I would really like to hear from those of you that have kids, but all insight is welcome.
Thanks.
More...

Interesting question Saria.
I would suggest that you do not try to make babies while you are intraday trading...very very distracting.
 
:D :p

Quote from commanderco:

Interesting question Saria.
I would suggest that you do not try to make babies while you are intraday trading...very very distracting.
More...
 
Children are a profit drain and the worst financial investment you could ever make.

However for all the other reasons they are certianly worth it :D
 
Since I had my first(I have 3 now).I have traded bell-to-bell about 20% of the time for the past 4 years. Part laziness but most of the time picking up after them, taking them to doctors, school vacations, snow days, etc. Oh and summer!!!!

BTw I do agree with OC on this one-certainly worth it.

So trade away coz once you get the first. Switch to options or swing
 
Hey Saria, how about some details.

Are you working, are you living off of a windfall, how far along are you with your trading, does the better-half work etc., etc., etc.,?

:confused:

Jimmy
 
Living off a windfall, I wish that were the case :)
We're both working right now. We each earn enough now so that only one of us *needs* to work to pay the bills. She would go back to work after (at least part-time). I probably wouldn't be trading intra-day anyway.
I'm still in the learning phase (I've been studying and doing small trades for about a year and half). I've been spending about 2-3 hours most nights after work either reading or in front of the computer working on strategies. I'm hoping I can still do this even with kids (until I switch to a trading career and leave the day job). That's what my question's all about.
 
Quote from saria:

Living off a windfall, I wish that were the case :)
We're both working right now. We each earn enough now so that only one of us *needs* to work to pay the bills. She would go back to work after (at least part-time). I probably wouldn't be trading intra-day anyway.
I'm still in the learning phase (I've been studying and doing small trades for about a year and half). I've been spending about 2-3 hours most nights after work either reading or in front of the computer working on strategies. I'm hoping I can still do this even with kids (until I switch to a trading career and leave the day job). That's what my question's all about.
More...

Hi saria,

I have a family (young family) and my spouse is a stay at home mom.

Trading will obviously be different when you have toddlers running around.

Babies (before walking) aren't much of a problem unless you have a baby that seems to be a chronic cryer.

As a trader...what I did was arrange it with my spouse to have quiet trading hours.

What I mean is this...most of my trades occurs between 0930am - 11am est.

This is a period where the spouse knows things are intense for me and will do things with the toddler that's either outside or in the house in which he doesn't get too excited (ex. story reading time, puzzle playing time, arts & crafts activities et cetera).

Also, you may need to trade trading instruments that are active while your kids sleep eventhough they may not be as suitable for your trading style in comparison to other trading instruments that are.

For example...DAX, FTSE-100, CAC40, DJStoxx50, EuroFX, Hang Send et cetera if you have a child that sleeps U.S. time from 7pm to 6pm.

My trading style is more suitable for DAX, CAC40 and EuroFX futures but due to personal reasons (raising a family)...

I'm only able to trade ER2, ES, NQ and YM because I've already missed the best trading periods for Eurex and Euronext.

My point, if your prepared and not willing to be married to one particular trading instrument...

Raising children at home shouldn't be a problem.

Winter tends to have the most distractions (children spends more time in-doors) whereas summer tends to have the least distractions (children spends more time outside).

In addition, don't overlook getting day care because we take our kid to day care two days per week and those are the trading days my spouse takes it easy, gets personal things done and for me to be aggressive in my trading due to the lack of distractions.

Last of all, absolutely critical for any serious trader that's trading from home with kids...

Get a nice laptop with wireless.

Very useful, for example, for days when you go outside and let the kids run wild in the back yard while you sitting comfortable enjoying the sun, trading and can keep a close eye on the kids.

Having the ability to be portable will allow you the ability to better monitor things going on at home.

Good luck.

P.S. I have been a fulltime trader for more than 10 years before starting my family.

Such is a lot different in comparison to a new trader starting a family.

Mark
 
Ummmmmmmm, my 2 cents.

If you aren't going to trade intra-day, you're going to need to go with a good swing-trade system or option trade system. Neither one are going to pay the bills consistently (with little to no stress about cashola) enough for you to have kid(s) for a long time (crunch the numbers, you'll see what I'm talking about), so plan on keeping the day job while you're swing-trading (or doing the options thing) - which if you're looking to be in a family way, is pretty good advice, I think.
***
Trading intra-day is a whole other ball game.

For most guys it take years to put together a decent trading system (you can shorten the learning curve by perusing a lot of posts and doing a lot of study, backtesting, etc., but no one can say when/how it's going to "click" for you).

For that it's going to take knowing a really good system inside-and-out, and being able to pull-the-trigger with autonomic reflexes when you get your signal(s).

But once you get that down and have a good cushion under you, you'll probably never have to "work" again.
***

Best,

Jimmy
 
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