When to call it quits
- Thread starter saxon22
- Start date
1. Paying myself is not an issue, I got enough capital to be able to take a withdrawal every month which would be substantially more than my salary.
2. it does not, but my professional commitments do get in a way.
As for emotions, I have been stuck in neutral for a while (job wise that is).
Its tough, that's where I am. Yesterday would have been excellent to put money on FAZ in the afternoon, and trading the GAP this morning but I was in meetings ALL day yesterday. What I have done for the mean time is convert my "full time trading" strategy into "part time". What does that mean? For me it means doing a little more swing trading and less intraday trading. I only have a standard margin account anyway so I can't do pattern day trading, so it makes sense to pick for better position, and check in occasionally and get out when the position looks good for an exit. I make a little more profit this way since I am stuck waiting for my funds to settle anyway after trades, so making micro profits from intraday trades makes a lot less sense.
It could work just fine for someone who can't commit to fulltime market watching. Just check in here and there. Only problem is, you might miss giant spikes that happen on occasion, but its better than not being able to trade at all.
It could work just fine for someone who can't commit to fulltime market watching. Just check in here and there. Only problem is, you might miss giant spikes that happen on occasion, but its better than not being able to trade at all.
I hear you but when you get 15K days, the desire to go to work is just .... not there. Doing it part time is fine but I feel like I am trying to be smart Alec and in the end I will lose plenty of $$$ and get fired at the same time. BTW once you get fired from a gov. job, you are pretty much done as far as getting another position with uncle sam (so I have been told).
I also work for uncle sam, so yes I understand. I however don't have $15,000 days yet. If I were there, then I would have already taken flight probably long ago. Probably when I was averaging $3000 a week honestly.
My portfolio isn't big enough yet to support trading as a career, it is only capable of helping me leverage my savings, but when it is big enough is when I'll put in my two weeks.
My portfolio isn't big enough yet to support trading as a career, it is only capable of helping me leverage my savings, but when it is big enough is when I'll put in my two weeks.
I do not have them often either, and it is a bumpy road as opposed to working for uncle sam where chances of getting let go are slim and the salary one draws is decent (not to mention retirement). However, having said that, I do get frustrated when I see the market going my way and I cannot fully take advantage of it.
hah, this is actually funny.
it took me 4 years (since 2004) trading part time while working my day job and when i finally had success with my approach i quit.
the funniest thing happened then, i realised that the approach left me a lot of spare time during the day and that something was missing and i got kinda bored and i started changing my approach to a more alert one, and so i incurred some months of not being profitable, but i adjusted and now it's ok.
however i got a bit frightened at first because here i am without my job and with an approach i couldn't keep up with anymore (got sleepy during the day and so on)
i believe that trading full time and trading part time are different things and you need to plan ahead.
it took me 4 years (since 2004) trading part time while working my day job and when i finally had success with my approach i quit.
the funniest thing happened then, i realised that the approach left me a lot of spare time during the day and that something was missing and i got kinda bored and i started changing my approach to a more alert one, and so i incurred some months of not being profitable, but i adjusted and now it's ok.
however i got a bit frightened at first because here i am without my job and with an approach i couldn't keep up with anymore (got sleepy during the day and so on)
i believe that trading full time and trading part time are different things and you need to plan ahead.
You need to ask yourselves some honest questions.
Does the security of your job allow you to trade in a more carefree manner?
Do the time restraints of your job not just cost you perceived opportunity but perhaps also put a break on taking less than optimal positions?
Has your recent success been predicated by the abnormal volatility?
For those of you working in government or other jobs with SWEET pensions-have you figured out that you might need a million or three in Treasury invested savings to equal the retirement income your employer will provide?
Knowing how mercurial market opportunities can be PLUS knowing how self sabotaging our personalities can become, I'm hesitant to ever recommend someone walk away from a secure job let alone a secure pension.
Does the security of your job allow you to trade in a more carefree manner?
Do the time restraints of your job not just cost you perceived opportunity but perhaps also put a break on taking less than optimal positions?
Has your recent success been predicated by the abnormal volatility?
For those of you working in government or other jobs with SWEET pensions-have you figured out that you might need a million or three in Treasury invested savings to equal the retirement income your employer will provide?
Knowing how mercurial market opportunities can be PLUS knowing how self sabotaging our personalities can become, I'm hesitant to ever recommend someone walk away from a secure job let alone a secure pension.