Unique situation to give full time trading a shot

Follow her and make sure you document that you helped support her in medical school and when the sh*t hits the fan (meets an older understanding doc who rails her while in residency and just seems so sophisticated LOL)you'll never be sorry as you collect half her earnings. That is the best trade you can make. Its the same trade women have made so well.
 
I think you are painting an idealistic scenario for yourself. Things in life, and especially in trading, usually don't turn out that way.

Being smart <not equal> successful in trading
Working hard <not equal> successful in trading

You start off with $100,000. That's decent. But have you lost half of it yet? If you haven't, you probably still have a long way to go to become successful in trading (enough to make a living off it).

You start off small, then you bet more as you become better at it. That's the thought. But most traders will get into MOM (Moment of Madness) and lose all self-control at some points - driven by our own bias and chaotic market conditions. That's when we blow up.

If you are in Michigan and you blow up your account. Your saving goes to 0. Then what? I think by then it would be hard-pressed to say "this is expected to be one of the possibilities, it's okay". Most likely in practice it would tear the relationship apart. You should contemplate and prepare for that possible outcome.

Sounds like you have a wonderful opportunity. To quote William Eng from his book: Life, as in trading: Trade the probabilities. Guard the possibilities.
 
Quote from clacy:

I would say that this is a good chance for you to give trading a shot, and you can always explain why you left your career later, if need be.

Following your fiance to Michigan for med school is a legit reason, IMO.
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+1. You can always say you were looking for work and the economy was bad, etc. No one needs to know about your trading if it doesn't work out. At least you would know you gave it a shot.

Great feedback for the OP. A bunch of good threads lately.
 
Quote from lpchad:

I have contemplated an MBA and determined it is not a good fit for me. I am not interested in working for someone else or in a corporate environment.

There are too many MBAs, the degree is a commodity now except for maybe the best students in the very top schools. I don't see any sense in going into $100,000+ in debt to be a corporate drone.

I am a smart guy and have realized that I don't need more education to be successful. Too many people revert back to more education thinking it will solve their problem. I love school, don't get me wrong. I could knock out an MBA or MS fairly easily, but it isn't what I need.

I need a plan, and time to execute it. Whether it be trading or starting my own business. Self-sufficiency is where things are going IMO and the only path I am interested in.

Trading is where I have put much of my efforts of becoming independent and makes the most sense to fully explore at this point since it is where my interest lies and where I have already invested a lot of time.
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While I agree with your assessment of the MBA paradigm, I don't think you're in a position to invalidate what more education has to offer. Simply put, because you don't have the education, you don't know what you don't know. Lets leave that discussion to another thread and talk about what it takes to succeed at something without the proper education.

Personally, I've found my education to be quite beneficial, and IMO, anything that teaches you hard analytical skills will serve you well. If I were you I'd look into MSc in Finance or anything quantitative and start there.

Right now, you don't seem to have a strategy/edge, or the proper foundation to develop one. You need either a good education to develop one of these, or you need to go through the school of hard knocks, i.e. trading and losing real money for a few years before you figure it out. So, in any case you either blow the money on an education to figure it out, or you blow the money in the market with a *chance* of figuring out. Take the sure bet and take the education.

If you really want to do it on your own then you got about 5 years before you get some consistent income. You also have a lot to learn. A good place to start is stochiastic calculus, volatility, Black Scholes, RAPM, CAPM and GARCH. Those are the basics. Read the reserach, code up some quantitative ideas and see where it goes. The real question is how good are you at staying self motivated and truly commiting to the process for the next 5 years.

Mike
 
Quote from Mike805:

While I agree with your assessment of the MBA paradigm, I don't think you're in a position to invalidate what more education has to offer. Simply put, because you don't have the education, you don't know what you don't know. Lets leave that discussion to another thread and talk about what it takes to succeed at something without the proper education.

Personally, I've found my education to be quite beneficial, and IMO, anything that teaches you hard analytical skills will serve you well. If I were you I'd look into MSc in Finance or anything quantitative and start there.

Right now, you don't seem to have a strategy/edge, or the proper foundation to develop one. You need either a good education to develop one of these, or you need to go through the school of hard knocks, i.e. trading and losing real money for a few years before you figure it out. So, in any case you either blow the money on an education to figure it out, or you blow the money in the market with a *chance* of figuring out. Take the sure bet and take the education.

If you really want to do it on your own then you got about 5 years before you get some consistent income. You also have a lot to learn. A good place to start is stochiastic calculus, volatility, Black Scholes, RAPM, CAPM and GARCH. Those are the basics. Read the reserach, code up some quantitative ideas and see where it goes. The real question is how good are you at staying self motivated and truly commiting to the process for the next 5 years.

Mike
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Along with the above, also beware of your self-worth if you don’t make it in trading, with no prospect of a good job, being married to a Doctor and all. Your future wife might think differently about the long term relationship then. My 2 cents.
 
Quote from lpchad:

Hi all,

I have a unique situation I would like some unbiased advice on. I know that is in short supply around here.

I'm 26 and engaged to a girl that will be attending a top rated D.O. program medical school. She is going to become an oncologist. In doing so, it will require us to move from Chicago to Michigan - not exactly a great place to live nor are there any job prospects for me.

The one positive is that while she is in school for 4 years, she will have her housing paid by her student loans so we don't have to worry about housing, food, etc. If she were single, she would have the same costs. The other good thing is since Michigan is so depressed it is extremely cheap to live there.

I really want to stay in Chicago and continue working and trading on the side however she has made the following offer to me. Since I would be sacrificing to leave the city for a few years while she becomes a doctor she wants me to spend at least 1 year working on trading full time since we don't have to worry about living costs.

A little more about us. We have zero debt, (no car, mortgage, CC, anything) and about $100,000 in savings.

I am cautious about this. On one hand I have a chance to give this a shot without worrying about bringing in a ton of money. This is a huge advantage.

On the other, if it doesn't work out we are lighter in savings and no prospects for me to get a decent job in MI.

In the end, she will be a doctor and we'll do alright.

I would be starting out continuing to trade small size until I gain confidence in my strategy, but will be able to devote full time to it, rather than evenings/weekends mostly now.

What would you do in this situation?
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The decision to trade will be the worst decision you ever made in your life......mark my words if you go ahead. You will lose BOTH your MONEY and more importantly your TIME.

99.9% of the traders on this site are losing.

My advice would be to think very carefully about some type of "real" business or franchise that maybe requires a minimum investment to start up.

If you ignore this advice, I at least want you to remember the advice I gave you because in a few years you'll be saying I should've listened to that anonymous guy on elitetrader a few years back......
 
I think when the stars line up like this and you need still need an outside opinion...of anonymous nobodies at that, then maybe trading as a career is not for you. Just another worthless opinion.
 
Quote from Billybob543:

The decision to trade will be the worst decision you ever made in your life......mark my words if you go ahead. You will lose BOTH your MONEY and more importantly your TIME.

99.9% of the traders on this site are losing.

My advice would be to think very carefully about some type of "real" business or franchise that maybe requires a minimum investment to start up.

If you ignore this advice, I at least want you to remember the advice I gave you because in a few years you'll be saying I should've listened to that anonymous guy on elitetrader a few years back......
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and worse he may lose his sugar mama. I am not saying you can't make it, but i'd take the above advise very seriously. You are way ahead of the game and have time on your side ( for now). Use it wisely amigo.....peace
 
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