Teaching the Wife to Trade

Are you profitable?

Quote from Arthur Deco:

I am well past the age at which death is no longer optional. I wasted ten years of my waning life seeking profitable index futures trading systems. Who knew it would take that long and cost so much? My losses would have fed a family of four in the Third World for a century. Anyway, my wife is younger than me, and no doubt will live until I am a faded memory recallable only through a photograph, perhaps gracing a younger man with her charms. But I am not bitter. I want her to benefit financially from my hard work after I am gone. So last week I sat her down with me and started explaining what I do. I even created a "baby" chart for Baby to use. You know, the essential one square inch on the display otherwise devoted to extraneous shit? Well, after a week she got it: "You mean when you enter a trade you don't even know if you'll WIN? And you lose THREE out of every four trades? And you don't even know how long the system will LAST? And you lose HOW much per contract when you lose? And you trade HOW many contracts? Is THAT what the fuck you have been doing with our money? Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! (runs off screaming and tearing tufts of hair out)." I guess she didn't really want to learn to trade.
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I executed the plan below with SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) and it worked quite well, for the two of us. Whether it will work well for the two of you, needs to be determined by experiment.
  1. Set aside D dollars for SWMBO's trading ventures.
  2. Using (D/2) dollars, open an account in SWMBO's name with a system-assist broker who will execute a system for you. A so-called robobroker.
  3. Give the robobroker your trading system. If you're paranoid, give it in encrypted form. If you're ultraparanoid, put in a time-bomb so the system will stop working after N months, then encrypt it. Supply a new version (time bombed and encrypted) every (N-1) months.
  4. Using (D/2) dollars, open an account in SWMBO's name at IB or another discount broker.
  5. Teach SWMBO how to download price data and run the trading system software.
  6. Teach SWMBO how to place orders, get statements, etc., at the discount broker.
  7. SWMBO and the robobroker both run your system for 24 months.
  8. Compare monthly statements.
  9. After 24 months, decide whether to put all the money with the robobroker, all the money with SWMBO's trading, or continue with the half-and-half arrangement.
disclaimer: our success with this procedure may be partly due to the fact that, eons ago, SWMBO earned an MBA degree. So she may have begun the trading procedure, less fearful and less misinformed than the nationwide average. Or, maybe not?
 
Quote from Palatine:

With all due respect, I believe your wife knew in an instant what you still have not realized after a decade of illusions. Women are very good at judging the merits of a venture. So better not lure her into the market.
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Wait. Don't tell me. I'll guess that you are a discretionary trader. In clear contradistinction to a rigorous system trader.
 
Quote from MGJ:

I executed the plan below with SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) and it worked quite well, for the two of us. Whether it will work well for the two of you, needs to be determined by experiment.
  1. Set aside D dollars for SWMBO's trading ventures.
  2. Using (D/2) dollars, open an account in SWMBO's name with a system-assist broker who will execute a system for you. A so-called robobroker.
  3. Give the robobroker your trading system. If you're paranoid, give it in encrypted form. If you're ultraparanoid, put in a time-bomb so the system will stop working after N months, then encrypt it. Supply a new version (time bombed and encrypted) every (N-1) months.
  4. Using (D/2) dollars, open an account in SWMBO's name at IB or another discount broker.
  5. Teach SWMBO how to download price data and run the trading system software.
  6. Teach SWMBO how to place orders, get statements, etc., at the discount broker.
  7. SWMBO and the robobroker both run your system for 24 months.
  8. Compare monthly statements.
  9. After 24 months, decide whether to put all the money with the robobroker, all the money with SWMBO's trading, or continue with the half-and-half arrangement.
disclaimer: our success with this procedure may be partly due to the fact that, eons ago, SWMBO earned an MBA degree. So she may have begun the trading procedure, less fearful and less misinformed than the nationwide average. Or, maybe not?
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Brilliant! But I can't risk putting my primary system in anyone else's hands. It is transparently simple. So I made it transparently simple for wife-for-life. See the attached. It has a "get ready to go" light and a "go" light backed up by audibles. I could display it on a small cell phone screen. What sticks in her craw is that it has an average loss of $60 per contract. That's a pair of on-sale shoes, doncha know?
 

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Hello ET World,

Personally, I would never even consider giving anyone including wife my trading system. In fact it never crossed my mind and I wonder why that is LOL!!! But seriously, not everyone is meant to be a trader.. That's my advice to you!!! Take it or leave it but do not share your trading system with others no matter what..
 
In all seriousness. I could die in the next 30 years or the next 30 seconds. I want my wife to benefit from what I have achieved. IMO a robust trading system is a family legacy. If you are a rigorous systematic trader, you know the intellectual horsepower that goes into discovering and maintaining a system. How to transmit that legacy via a person without the particular skill set it took to get there? I think it can be done. But it's a WIP. My wife is a nurse, about the polar opposite of me. But so far, she gets it. Can I teach her to maintain EasySignal code? To learn the subleties of optimization? To recognize when there is a sea-change in the market? Fuck! I can hardly do that meself!
 
Quote from bearmountain:

Art Deco, I think the newguy is showing interest in becoming your boyfriend.
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deuce bigalow male gigolo? heh

Quote from Arthur Deco:
Obscenely so.
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Then show your woman the annual p&l and tell her "honey, if you learn this shit, you can buy your own gucci and prada instead of finding some old guy when i am gone"
 
In all seriousness. I could die in the next 30 years or the next 30 seconds. I want my wife to benefit from what I have achieved

Frankly I've thought the same thing. After serious consideration I have reached the conclusion that unless I can put everything she needs to know on an index card, fugehdaboutit, her attention span isn't that good.:D After putting on makeup and jewelry, doesn't leave much time for anything else.
 
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