Quote from hftvol:
How ironic is that?
Most of those who believe the numbers in the link that OP provided are wrong appear to be the bottom feeders of the system, so bottom that even the snake oil sales men selling books and trading courses look like high income generators in comparison. Funny how the numbers "must of course" be discounted for the higher cost of education, longer work hours so in order to come to the final conclusion that a Wall Street trader must of course not be any better off than the postal office worker or teacher next door. What a bollocks.
The truth is, there are people with different intellects, educational levels, network connections, passions, and drive as well as attitudes and willingness to work hard. To make it to a trading role at a tier 1 or 2 investment bank in NYC (or anywhere else for that matter) requires a certain aptitude, intelligence, education, and street smartness. Most people do not even meet those basic criteria, including most on this website. The opposite does not hold true: Not everyone who does not work in banking/trading automatically disqualifies for a banking job. Others of equally high intelligence or intellect happily pass up a career in finance because they feel a different calling, passion, drive.
But what I find funny is that most on this board justify their miserable day trader life (mostly unprofitable or very close to breaking even) categorize themselves as belonging to the last group above, as those who happily pass up a chance as bank trader. Well, the truth is that most would not even qualify for a job interview alone. The truth is that other jobs and industries are equally prestigious in their own rights, a job as investment bank or hedge fund trader is one of the most competitive jobs. Not just to get in, not just to be qualified as a candidate to deserve grooming and mentorship, but as someone who ultimately proves to be highly profitable over a long period of time. Those individuals generally do not care about the commute, do not care about the work hours, do not care how their personal lives suffer, they are so passionate about their chosen path and careers that it is all that matters to them.
Why can't many of those who discount the hard work, intelligence, and educational efforts that goes into the ground work of attaining a career as professional bank or hedge fund trader not accept reality: That they themselves could not make it and that there are others who made it. Why do those same individuals do not belittle astronauts and start architects? Because they benefit human kind while the trader's only goal is profit maximization for his own pockets?
The irony lies in the fact that those who generally could not make it, who got fired, who did not stand up to the competition have the biggest ax to grind. Why can't we simply accept the fact that the guys who got in there are way more intelligent, hard working, with more will power, more educated than the average guy on the street, the average guy on this board. Yes there are some assholes sitting on some of those chairs, but so do assholes sit on many other chairs on corporate boards and in other jobs in every other industry. And fact is, hardly any other job has such a favorable risk/reward (given you are given the opportunity) as a bank/hedge fund trader. Period.
