i am self-taught. im 47 yo, but im thinking of going to a prop firm just for the experience. i also run my own business/professional office and i am successful. in 1985, i quit a job that paid like $80,000 to go to work for $6/hour with no overtime premium. i slept on my buddy's couch for 3 months until i was pretty sure i was gonna make it and worked night and day - literally i just worked and slept and went body surfing - the office was in del mar - oh yeah, i went to the race track too. 6 BUCKS an hour and i am grateful to the owner who let me get my foot in the door. today, +/- 17 years later i am pretty much independent and my children's lives are about 100x better than i had when i was growing up. i/we have made a "generational" leap.
that deal sounds fine. you sound younger than i am, so let me give you some general advice. this is the same advice i would give to my son. the money in the first few years of ANYTHING is not important. just plain unimportant, irrelevant, whatever - not even an issue. what is very important is that you get good quality training... see, that is really your pay.... if you get good training from ethical mentors, then in a relatively short amount of time you will be independent for the rest of your life. what a deal!
so i would tell my son to get the best training possible and to work with the best - because as time slips by it gets harder to make and accept change. bad habits are a lot harder to break than learning the right habits from Day 1. i am lucky that i can make a change as i approach the magic "50," but believe me i have worked my ass off, lived below my means and invested, so ive earned the right to make a change. ask around and see how many guys under 50 yo are VOLUNTARILY making a career switch. not many, most have a ton of bills and are in dead-end jobs.
i believe the training is your pay, so get the best training you can find and as you become more skilled as a trader, the money will come to you!
