Quote from bobnat:
Your opinion is just that. What they do with it is their decision. Did you elaborate to them on why you felt that way?
I made several attempts to explain my reasoning, but they were all countered with the "We'll show you" attitude.
Quote from hustler:
Are you a successful trader or authoritarian in this field? Can you mentor the kid and point him in the right direction? Would he be interested in such an arrangement or "does he know best himself"?
If you are able to you should offer this service, as a friend. If they don't want your help, and think they are better off on their own, then it is not your problem any more. You can always play the "I told you so" card over dinner sometimes in the future...
If you are unsuccessful you can tell them what you have experienced, if they want your advice then great, if not it's not your fault anymore.
In my opinion I've been more successful than even what I thought was realistically possible when I started out, but no, I'm no Buffet or anything. Furthermore, I was very unsuccessful when I started out, so I've seen the abyss of emotion inherent with unsuccessful trading, as well as the bulletproof attitude from trading successfully...
I was in town visiting a friend, when I was asked if I would have dinner with a man I had met only a handful of times and his son. I made the assumption before hand that they were both looking for advice for starting out, but it turned out they were simply more interested in hearing praises and getting pats on the back than they were in constructive criticism. I thought that's what I was there for, but apparently not. I walked away with the impression that they felt they were better off on their own, and that's why I really didn't feel too bad about giving criticism.
Quote from brownsfan019:
If they want to go thru forward with it, I would stress the importance of starting with a small account and build it from there. I would tell them do not jump into the deep end right away, play in the kiddie's pool for awhile.
I told them 30k would be a good starting point for PDT, because they could simply add more money every week or two when the account hits 25k. I also mentioned that taking a day of reflection on what went wrong, and whether or not the rules were followed as they should have been, every time the account was restocked could provide some clarity and minimize early damage to the account. They really weren't too keen on the idea. In fact Jr. got pretty pissed off at that point, which is when he went into his spiel, which was pretty much when I gave them my final piece of advice to run away.
Quote from verbotenlaandia:
Does either one of them have any trading experience? Judging by how you said the kid was at vet school, and all the Cramer stuff, it sounds like he hasn't been interested in the market all that long.
My guess would be that the kid looses money with the initial low six-figures, but then they dig into the deep money to try and "make it back" with progressively larger trades. Make sure they know something about position sizing and how much to risk per trade, etc...
No. None at all. It was briefly mentioned that he had seen Cramer live, but he never elaborated on it any further. I don't know if he met him (unlikely) or saw him in person at one of the campuses or what. After leaving, I came to the conclusion that he probably saw his show for the first time at one of the campus tapings, and having just been denied into Vet school, this is what he decided to jump into. Hence the only trading book he had read was Cramer's, and he had already come to the conclusion that this was for him. Maybe it is, and maybe because he's a bright kid who'll get it all figured out on his (and Daddy's) own. But based on his very limited knowledge of how the markets function, and his unyielding faith in Cramer's book (yuck) and the fact that his trading account is fairly disposable (he didn't earn a dime of it) and the fact that his career focus for four years was getting into Veterinary school and not delving into the financial world, I'd say he's probably doomed to the failure that he and his father have set themselves up for.
Quote from Bearbelly:
People dont want advice. They want confirmation of what theyre going to do anyhow. The father must be an idiot if hes going to let someone with no experience trade his money so one way or another he will probably lose his money.
It's unfortunate, but sometimes reality bites.
Or would it really require its own website?}