Quote from lescor:
I hired my 16 y/o nephew for a summer to manually trade a system I had but wasn't worth the effort for me to do it myself. He got to keep 20% of what he could make. Took home almost $2,000 over his summer holidays. I took him on a month long road trip to visit a trading office and work 15 hour days on new ideas. I was looking to groom him for more responsibilities, but on the trip found out that the passion wasn't there. Not a strong enough work ethic. I told him to talk to me in 5 years if he still wants to be a trader and I'll re-evaluate.
I backed my sister-in-law at the start of this year with $10,000 and taught her two of my core strategies. Starting with 100 share trades in January, she's up >$50,000 ytd. I knew she would be successful because she has the right mindset for it. She's willing to put in the work and ask the right questions. The thinks about trading when not at work, mulling over ideas.
Other people have asked me and I can basically tell in about 5 minutes of conversation if there is a real passion there or they just think trading is a cool way to make lots of money. I recommend them some books and tell them to spend hours reading on this site. IF there is genuine desire, they'll do all that and continue to pester me. So far no one's gotten past the reading a book stage.
So the door is ready to be opened to anyone willing to search for the key, but like any endeavor in life, only a small minority will really make an effort.