The best advice for a Prospective Trader
- Thread starter 2manywhiners
- Start date
My dad did (and still does) give me money to trade. but he give me little tidbits...30k here and there. but dad has over $1mm in his 401k with over 100k per year coming to him for pension retirement.
and i do this for a living....I run an international desk for a brker dealer, have 2 funds...etc. etc.
I advise my dad to keep all but his most sepculative money away from me. In case i am wrong...i dont want to cause problems.
In this example...the dad is about 95% sure to lose a bunch with maybe a 3% chance of breaking even and a 2% chance of making anything at all.
I wouldnt trust a dime to anyone that didnt have at least a 5 year verifiable track record.
and i do this for a living....I run an international desk for a brker dealer, have 2 funds...etc. etc.
I advise my dad to keep all but his most sepculative money away from me. In case i am wrong...i dont want to cause problems.
In this example...the dad is about 95% sure to lose a bunch with maybe a 3% chance of breaking even and a 2% chance of making anything at all.
I wouldnt trust a dime to anyone that didnt have at least a 5 year verifiable track record.
Hey, what's it really matter what their reaction was as long as you can live with your advice to them. Personally I think it was the wrong way to go about it, if indeed you said "don't walk away, run", but hey to each his own.
More importantly what did you learn from this experience? What I've come to learn from situations similar to these is that nobody really wants to hear any "advice", their looking for validation and encouragement. Negativity is always met with negativity. After all, that's what your reaction was to the same nay sayers, "I'll show them!".
I have come across many people and friends that wish they could do what I do on a daily basis, but hey, their not observing me the whole day. Remember successful trading for a living is very rare, but is VERY POSSIBLE! If you're a successful trader (I know we all are, it's the Internet for God's sake) in real life, you're like the large fish that dominates that little lake. Everyone hears about your existence, can't believe it's true until they actually witness it, then, after all that, the reality becomes fiction.
Nobody want's to really hear what it takes to make it in this game, that shit's boring. Everyone wants to hear how you spin straw into gold. They want to hear about that one killer trade, not the hundred or so that led up to it and put you in the position to make that one. Nobody wants to hear that something like 40-60% of your trades are small losers, with the majority of winners only being moderate and 10% (or less) accounting for the majority of your gains for the year. Remember, it's a fast food society out there and nobody wants to work for it anymore.
Let the fools rush in, we'll always be there waiting to part them from their money.
More importantly what did you learn from this experience? What I've come to learn from situations similar to these is that nobody really wants to hear any "advice", their looking for validation and encouragement. Negativity is always met with negativity. After all, that's what your reaction was to the same nay sayers, "I'll show them!".
I have come across many people and friends that wish they could do what I do on a daily basis, but hey, their not observing me the whole day. Remember successful trading for a living is very rare, but is VERY POSSIBLE! If you're a successful trader (I know we all are, it's the Internet for God's sake) in real life, you're like the large fish that dominates that little lake. Everyone hears about your existence, can't believe it's true until they actually witness it, then, after all that, the reality becomes fiction.
Nobody want's to really hear what it takes to make it in this game, that shit's boring. Everyone wants to hear how you spin straw into gold. They want to hear about that one killer trade, not the hundred or so that led up to it and put you in the position to make that one. Nobody wants to hear that something like 40-60% of your trades are small losers, with the majority of winners only being moderate and 10% (or less) accounting for the majority of your gains for the year. Remember, it's a fast food society out there and nobody wants to work for it anymore.
Let the fools rush in, we'll always be there waiting to part them from their money.
You said it all when you talked about the attitude, they know better than you. Arrogance and stupidity are a recipe for disaster, it's that simple. They will be humbled.
On the other hand a little humility and knowledge usually prevails over time. I have seen and lived it first hand,from both sides of the coin, as I am confident most of us have as well.
On the other hand a little humility and knowledge usually prevails over time. I have seen and lived it first hand,from both sides of the coin, as I am confident most of us have as well.
Great post.
I spent the majority of dinner trying to ask questions that should have had an easy or fairly straight forward answer, but I was getting responses that were often unrelated to the questions I posed (I made the assumption that the answers were unknown, hence the rambling about something unrelated or already discussed). That and the growing attitudes led me to my decision to tell them exactly what I thought... Right, wrong, or indifferent. I still think I did the right thing.
100% agree.
Thanks. I felt that their situation was a setup for failure and I felt obligated to inform them of the honest opinion they asked me to give. Had they been well prepared and knowledgeable, my advice would have been different.
that would be pretty pessimistic to tell someone to run away from what they wanted to do.
So what if they fail, you shouldn't tell them to run away before they even started.
A better approach would be to tell them to start small, and tell them they will be losing money for awhile 1-2 years. even Before they make a single dime or recoup their losses.
If they ran from anything worth doing ,(which all has a 5% success ratio) , olympics, professional sports, actors.
They'd be sitting at home doing jerking off all day, but they will be safe I guess?
Lots of risks in life, just take it and see how shit goes.
Why would a successful trader tell someone to run away from trading just because its hard??
Of course its hard. Thats a given.
So what if they fail, you shouldn't tell them to run away before they even started.
A better approach would be to tell them to start small, and tell them they will be losing money for awhile 1-2 years. even Before they make a single dime or recoup their losses.
If they ran from anything worth doing ,(which all has a 5% success ratio) , olympics, professional sports, actors.
They'd be sitting at home doing jerking off all day, but they will be safe I guess?
Lots of risks in life, just take it and see how shit goes.
Why would a successful trader tell someone to run away from trading just because its hard??
Of course its hard. Thats a given.
They were inept, and asked me for my honest opinion. Advising them to start very small and doing much more research before jumping into the lion's den was suggested, but they shrugged it off and got overly defensive and immediately switched into attack mode... much the way a 3 year old does when you ask them to put their toys away and brush their teeth.
However justified I feel I am, I can't honestly deny the fact that your opinion has merit. It's just that the discussion started out very civilized and escalated quickly at my simple suggestion that they should go in more prepared than they currently were. A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place...