Man,
Here is an awesome problem. It comes from this thread:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=21630
I will be responding to this thread. What a joy to have to think this through!
EliteTrader at it's best.
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"Handling Skepticism from Loved Ones
My father-in-law, a man I deeply respect and love, stunned me today when he told flat-out told me he didn't believe I could make a living as a daytrader.
His reasoning was:
A) I'm not capitalized enough,
B) Trading is gambling, and
C) I need to find a more secure, "regular" job
The facts as I view them are:
A) Although trading remote, I'm with a prop firm that offers substantial leverage should I ever decide to tap into it,
B) Although trading does bear similarities to gambling, having a strategy that works more than it doesn't puts the odds in one's favor, and if I concentrate on cutting my losses and letting my winners run the edge is then with me,
C) I have had many "regular" jobs; as a matter of fact I work a "regular" job in addition to trading every day, and I could go back to another regular job and not trade if I had to, but I feel Ineed at least 10 more months to see if I can trade for a living as my sole source of income (I'm only trading 1 lot and hope to increase my trade sizes each month by another 100 shares if I'm making money. My goal is to make it to 1000 shares per trade.)
I traded before and did well enough, but gave it up for one of those more secure, "regular" jobs. Then I got laid off from that secure, regular job despite having terrific job performance ratings.
Down-sizing, they call it....It's one of the reasons I want to really give trading a shot.
After hearing me out, he still insisted that I couldn't do it and had to think about my "long-term plans." Ouch. I felt like a kid being lectured to - I'm in my mid-30's for chrissake!
Anyway, I could care less what people I hardly know think about daytrading, but hearing the skepticism and blanket "you can't do it" from a man I care about really has shaken me up - despite the fact that he doesn't know the details of daytrading, just what he hears and reads in the media.
Another thing, I have a baby on the way, our first, and his first grandchild, so I'm sure that's weighing heavily on his mind. I don't begrudge him his being worried and being concerned about his daughter and grandchilds' welfare, but again, his blanket condemnation and inability to at least give me a chance to prove myself has shaken my confidence.
Anyone else gone through this? How did you deal with it?"
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