Trading in itself is about risk. It is about managing risk, but more importantly before you can manage risk, you have to be psychologically prepared to handle whatever risk that you are taking on. But in another sense beyond the risk invoved in the trading, it could be argued that leaving a comfortable profession to trade for a living is the greatest risk of all.
For me, I knew that I was ready to make this a career on the basis of my life experience and my age at the time. Eleven years ago when I left my profession and started trading for a living, I was 46 years old. My house was paid for, my pension was vested and I could starting drawing the pension and the health benefits when I was 55. I was well capitalized and planned to use less than 20 per cent of my available capital to day trade equities.
Leaving a profession that you spent over 20 years in, and knowing that you can never re-enter that profession at the level of pay, benefits, and job security that you are leaving is quite sobering.
But even though leaving that profession to trade for a living was a big risk, I was absolutely positive that it was the right move. I was prepared to practice what my five years or so of very profitable trading experience had taught me, and I was fully prepared to accept whatever were the consequences of my decision.
I now have my pension and do not really need to trade to get by as I have some other income streams, but I still dearly love to trade.
I rarely take more than a week off, and when I do I really look forward to getting back to the daily rhythms and routine of trading.
My senior year of high school I worked four hours a night 5 days a week and 4 hours on Saturday grinding welds in a small factory. It was physically demanding, dirty, sweaty work. This work experience served as even more motivation for me to get an education and establish myself in a profession.
But it also made me appreciate the opporunities trading have afforded me as well. I have the opportunity to earn in a few minutes what it takes many a week of physical labor to earn. I know that I am fortunate to have taken what I have worked very hard for, what I have earned, the deserved fruits of my labors and be able to put those along with my wits to profitably trade as a way of making a living and accumulating more capital.
I cannot nor I would ever try to tell someone when to make the decision to trade for a living.
I can only offer up my story as you asked.
