Quote from inandlong:
When I was a broker with a major firm 20+ years ago I was more interested in learning to trade than sell. So I made the cold calls at nite, but picked the brains of their traders during the day. Ultimately I went to the spoo pit as a local, and was LUCKY to be short and carrying from the week before the '87 crash. That was the stake that set me up. By today's standards it wasn't all that much, but I was able to pay for college, med school, and living expenses without loans, and still have a nice nest egg. I lived well within my means while practicing medicine, saved a lot, and went back to trading after about 5 years of practice. But it all started with that LUCKY short. Who knew?