MD or Trader

S

Slide

I'm a medical student in Europe and have traded part time for a few years. I'll be finished with school this year and can't decide if I should go for clinical medicine (with absolutely no chance of trading part time for at least 5 years) or if I should go full-time trading. This is a very difficult decision for me. Did any of you give up a career (medicine or other) for trading? Did you regret doing so?
I am only semi-successful with trading (but I do make a profit), if I had to do it full-time with the pressure to make a living, it would be a different situation and I don't know if I could cope/or at least, if that would negatively affect my trading.On the other hand, if I commit all my time to trading, I might be more successful.
I love the freedom of the trader, and I hate the lack of freedom in working in a hospital (I actually think that only other doctors can truely understand what I mean, it really is bad).
I don't know if you can help, I hope some of you went through the same decision process as I am in now, and it would be great to know if you have been successful or not. A role model would be worth a lot.

Thanks for your time!
 
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...(I actually think that only other doctors can truely understand what I mean, it really is bad)...
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LLLLOOOOLLLLL
I'm sure there are much worst jobs some people are slaving at to gamble their mini accounts in hope of a better life. Most jobs are boring in the long run.
Understand that there is a huge gap between having a paycheck and having only hope and expectations of profits.
As a MD you may make 100k euros (I have no clue how much it is in Europe). Than if you want to make the same amount of money in trading I guess that as a student your going to need to be hundreds of % up per year, not a small order.
I believe in following our dreams but there is a huge risk here. Only a selected few make it.
 
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... it would be a different situation and I don't know if I could cope/or at least, if that would negatively affect my trading.
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It did for me, big time. When the paycheck is gone your balls may soften.
On the other hand, if I commit all my time to trading, I might be more successful.
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Should help, when your focus is on one thing there is more chances that it's going to work.
 
"A hand in the bush is worth 2 birds"... take the MD route and secure the income.

Trade around that as best you can... you don't have to be a "day trader" to succeed. You can learn to be a swing trader where positions are held for days/weeks.

Regardless, you're going to want/need to learn about financial matters and investing.

My wife is an MD... admits to knowing almost nothing about money and finances.. said to me just this weekend, "Good thing I have you... otherwise I probably wouldn't have any money"... (like most women, she likes to SPEND..)
 
Working as an MD is a privelege that no amount of money can buy. You owe it to yourself to experience the fruits of your academic labours, even if only for a year or two.

If you're working in Europe, there's no reason you can't work and study/trade the markets. Depending on your location, the ES closes anywhere from 9.15pm to 12.15am.

Good luck.
 
Be MD, save money to be trader. If doesn't work go back to MD.
Should take about 20 years to go through the process.Will be lots of highs, lots of lows.
Kind of criptic isn't it, why sugar coated?
 
seems to me you got into the md field for the wrong reasons.

to me that it's not what you truly wanted to do and it was all because of the money.

now trading, is that wut you really want to do? or is it because of the money too.

for me personally. i trade full time cause i truly love it. it's like a big poker game to me. when im trading even though i make money it is not "work" to me it's one of passsions in my life.

i miss the market on holidays and weekends. i look forward to that monday to start the trading week.

life is truly short, u never know when it'll end. why not do the thing you love and get paid for it?
 
I'm a retired MD. I retired from practicing medicine about nine years ago, when I was 43. I how have a 40 hour a week job in the clinical trials world. I am able to trade for a couple of hours in the morning, which suits my trading style well.

There are many doctors who love medicine. They are addicted to being needed. I was never one of them. In a way, I never really fit the doctor mold psychologically, though I was competent and successful at it.

Medicine is very interesting and stimulating to learn about. That is why I like clinical trials. I keep learning and studying new things.

But practicing medicine is different. No matter what specialty you are in, at some point you realize that you are doing the same things over and over. Sure, there are new developments to learn about all the time. But there is not so much of learning new things once you have completed your training. Mostly you are just repeating the same old procedures. It became very boring for me. Even emergencies were boring. People think those must be the exciting parts of medicine. But believe me, once you know exactly how to handle whatever it is you need to do, it's not really scary, because it's even the same emergencies over and over. So it's just repetitive and boring.

The best part of medicine is shooting the shit with your patients. I love people and they are all unique. But these interactions were only maybe 5% of my job. There was also a lot of paperwork, writing letters to insurance companies, dictating, dealing with business matters, reading, keeping up with chart work, etc.

Did I make some good money? Sure did. Would I do it all again? Probably not. The amount of time that I gave up from enjoying myself and my friends and family was really not worth the money I earned. That is why I quit early. I don't make quite as much money now, but I have interesting and varied work to do, go home at a reasonable hour every night, have every weekend and holiday off, and even call in sick when I'm sick. And I can trade!

Had I known back then what I now know about trading, I would not have gone to school. However, one needs to fund one's trading account, and medicine allowed me to do that. I'm not sure how much I could ever have scraped together if I had not taken the route I did.

It's a tough decision that you have to make, and obviously all that anyone on this board can give you is some food for thought.

Is it possible for you to delay starting your residency for a year? You could spend that time trading, and perhaps this would help you decide.
 
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