Should I go to college before becoming a trader?

i am absolutely sure i learned more about business in middle school selling dope more then i ever did in college.. being good in college just makes you good at going to college.. its like paper trading ... learning discipline has its merits though..
i think the best education is free.. pick up a book... i think the reason alot of entrepreneurs didn't go to college is because they knew that school was training them for employment not making money.. One thing i certainly do know.. none of the math stats etc teachers i've ever had knew anything about how to use there subject to make money..

trading and life is all about risk.. i know that even if i don't kill it trading i'll have learned so much about finance, myself, and speculation that it will help me as an entrepreneur..

no one says to a person that has tried to open up a business that they failed at once before as a degen gambler.. but mention the word financial markets.. and any money lost is from degen gambling.. hard to look at losses in trading as they same thing as direct costs of doing business in regular business like gas for your work truck..
 
Quote from marketsurfer:

Day trading has no transferable skill set to another profession-- that is its main issue---as a hobby its a blast, or if you have other income its a great challenge-- but if you are poor like most of us, its the wrong road for fulltime emersion for almost everyone. Starting a business is the only hope for most young people today. Here's how i saw the light

i was hired out of law school( never completely finished) by an insurance company's legal department. I was happy to move away from home to the "big city". I enjoyed the work, atmosphere and people. Then one day, the VP of our division had a party at his house-- man, i was psyched to see how large the guy was living, after all i would likely have his position in 10 years or so. We went to a typical toll brothers type track home in a non descript neighborhood ikea and pottery barn type losers--- boy, was i let down. I knew several high school drop outs in Miami who lived large with mansions, art and boats--- right then and there, i lost all respect for the "corporate man" and quit immediately. surf
More...

So how did it work out for you after quitting? Do you now live large in Miami with mansions, art, and boats?
 
Quote from cdcaveman:

i think the best education is free.. pick up a book...
More...

I agree, but since we do live in the 21st century, there is this thingy called the internet:


http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/index.htm

Hell, you can watch classes or read material on subjects like:

Introduction to Aerospace Engineering and Design

“The idea is simple: to publish all of our course materials online and make them widely available to everyone.”
Dick K.P. Yue, Professor, MIT School of Engineering

"MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity."

By the way here are some trading related ones:

Game theory for Managers:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-040-game-theory-for-managers-spring-2004/

" The course is structured around three "themes for acquiring advantage in games": commitment / strategic moves, exploiting hidden information, and limited rationality."

Fundamentals of Probability:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electric...6-436j-fundamentals-of-probability-fall-2008/

Statistical thinking and Data Analysis:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-sc...istical-thinking-and-data-analysis-fall-2011/

Advanced Stochastic Processes:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-sc...-070-advanced-stochastic-processes-fall-2005/

Financial Management:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-414-financial-management-summer-2003/
 
I think he's trying to peddle $200 satellite scam in classifieds. I think I can answer your question. No he is not.

Quote from ssrrkk:

So how did it work out for you after quitting? Do you now live large in Miami with mansions, art, and boats?
More...
 
nope. you go to college to be affiliated have some sort of legitimacy if at a top tier school, and to network with other rich kids and future successes. sitting at home on a grimy computer watching that crap is likely to be an exercise in futility.

Quote from Pekelo:

I agree, but since we do live in the 21st century, there is this thingy called the internet:


http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/index.htm

Hell, you can watch classes or read material on subjects like:

Introduction to Aerospace Engineering and Design

“The idea is simple: to publish all of our course materials online and make them widely available to everyone.”
Dick K.P. Yue, Professor, MIT School of Engineering

"MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity."

By the way here are some trading related ones:

Game theory for Managers:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-040-game-theory-for-managers-spring-2004/

" The course is structured around three "themes for acquiring advantage in games": commitment / strategic moves, exploiting hidden information, and limited rationality."

Fundamentals of Probability:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electric...6-436j-fundamentals-of-probability-fall-2008/

Statistical thinking and Data Analysis:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-sc...istical-thinking-and-data-analysis-fall-2011/

Advanced Stochastic Processes:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-sc...-070-advanced-stochastic-processes-fall-2005/

Financial Management:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-414-financial-management-summer-2003/
More...
 
Quote from SeventhCereal:

nope. you go to college to be affiliated have some sort of legitimacy if at a top tier school,
More...

Sort of. But if you can afford to go to a top tier school, money is usually not a problem... :)

But I would still reader study that "crap" online for free, then pay $400 for a text book.
 
True.

Quote from Pekelo:

Sort of. But if you can afford to go to a top tier school, money is usually not a problem... :)

But I would still reader study that "crap" online for free, then pay $400 for a text book.
More...
 
Traders who don't go to college have a HUGE head start on traders who go to college:

A) 5 extra years to build a stake (average # of years it takes kids to graduate right now)

B) you don't get $200k in debt

C) you can actually spend the time studying trading (they don't teach it in college)

D) you don't learn how to fail in college. You can learn that on your own without paying the expensive tuition

E) you can work. Working is the best way to learn how companies operate. Stocks are companies.

F) you don't have to unlearn anything. After 5 years of higher education I then had to go to remedial classes when I got a job in order to unlearn all of the bad habits I got.

G) going to a "top tier" school, as someone suggested, is even worse. You get a false feeling of success that is deadly for traders.

H) you can start a small business during that time. Again, learning business is the best way to learn how to trade real companies, even if you are a TA trader.

I) you can travel. Learning what the rest of the world is like (as opposed to reading about it in a book) is the best way to learn macro analysis. Is India booming? Ride down the streets of Bangalore in a rickshaw and find out. And yes, it costs money to travel but not as much as tuition. I bought my entire wardrobe last year in India for $150. And yes, I look like shit.

J) you can start trading earlier. Don't think you can trade while you are taking classes. That's called "stupid". And the earlier you start trading, the less painful your "tution" will be when you first take that big loss.

There's more but that's a start. Actually, NOBODY should go to college. But there's really zero reason for traders to go to college.

-James Altucher
trader, hedge fund manager, and author of "40 Alternatives to College"
 
"Should I go to college before becoming a trader"


What kind of "trader" do you want to be?


You want to trade in a bucket shop?
You want to trade independently?
Trade your own money or OPM?
Be a broker ?
MM?
You want to trade salaried at a firm with possible bonus?
You want to trade at Cargill or a major Investment bank?
Build algos?
Discretionary ?
BUy side?
Sell side?

Options,stocks,bonds,fx,futures?

Would you trade a 2 dollar role of nickels for 2 Dollar bills?

Would you trade 2 federal reserve notes for a monster energy drink?

How about 11 bucks for a pack of cigs?


Are you a good trader already or do you make bad trades ?

College can be a value or it can be a waste depending on how you plan to trade it.

I went for about two semesters and learned quickly that it wasn't going to benefit me in a way that justified the price I was paying to be there.
 
Quote from Daal:

A college degree is a good insurance policy against your trading career. You never know if you will blow-up or become unprofitable. But you won't learn much there that will help, with the exception perhaps of probability and accounting.
More...

if only there were a derivative i could trade betting against traders who opt out of going to school... The expectancy is pretty obvious.

(and btw, going to school is much more fun/easier than trading [in the long run]...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top