Would you rather trade on your own making 100k yr or trade for a firm making 500k yr

Agree, it is a good experience to work as a trader in a big firm.

Quote from madmunny:

side stepping all the person bashing on this thread...of which i am happy not be part of.....i will toss in my 2 cents...which usually isnt worth half of that but.....

if i was sittin at home makin 100k a year as a trader and had the chance to go to a large firm to make 500k.....i leave in a heartbeat......not for the money.....but for the experience....if i can 100k at home by myself...just think how much i could make after a year or two workin at a large firm and actually seeing how market makers make markets. A person can always go back to trading at home...how often you gonna have the chance to trade for a huge firm???

take it and learn from it...then go back to tradin in your 2 day-old gotch, unshavin face starin at the picture of pamela anderson that you use for inspiration every morning and make 250k a year! :)
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i've become pragmatic

if i could have a guaranteed 500k (a salart) for one year - i'd take it.

i can always go back to trading my own money, which of course, always involves risk - no matter how good i get :)

500k would be worth it for me to take a year or two off of (at least on a fulltime basis) trading my own money

i'd concentrate more on my investing and swing trading, and make 500k (or 1 mill for two years), and be happy to go back to my own trading forever.

i love trading, but i also love financial security

an extra mill would do wonders for financial security.
 
There seem to be two groups (lol u say, only 2) of people here:

1. I want to earn huge amounts of money.
2. I want to earn more than enough money and have a great time and lifestyle.

There is no need for either group to be wrong, for themselves (for crying oiut loud guys ... you can only ever be right for yourself and then only until your plan has developed and you find that the years were either satisfying or sterile and leave you a burnt out husk). LOL. Just kidding :)


Also two groups:

1. You will learn amazingly valuable things in a high powered bank/trading firm that you can't learn alone.
2. You can learn enough by studying books and the market and yourself to become a very effective sole trader who earns more than enough. What you learn at the bank may be largely irrelevant to sole trading (look how many fail when they move from trading OPM to their own money).

Neither have to be right or wrong. But it certainly raises an entertaining abuse session --- even abuse by repeatedly asking attacking questions.

For the record: I sit on 2 and 2. And I'm happy with the outcomes I have seen so far (and in my prior post http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1262673#post1262673 I forgot to mention the pleasure of not having any bosses). :)

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The things people believe in are usually just what they instinctively feel is right; the justifications and arguments are the least important part of the belief.
That's why you can win the argument, prove them wrong, and still they believe what they did in the first place. You've attacked the wrong thing.
So what do you do? Agree to disagree. Or fight. - C. Zakalwe.
 
Whistsers post also raises a third group. Those who are really a little lightly capitalized and not so skilful in trading that it doesn't matter at all. So they may benefit by some more time in building capital.
 
"Those who are really a little lightly capitalized and not so skilful in trading that it doesn't matter at all"

um...

i am lightly capitalized (by some metrics ) because i have only been trading for a little over a year.

it has nothing to do with skill. im a winning futures trader, so that already puts me in a small (skilled) minority

the tradeoff of losing the fun of trading for year, with the benefit of a guaranteed 500k is a no brainer cost/benefit analysis.

500k for a years work with a firm would be fine by me.

and that 500k would give me (after taxes) a nice 300k to INVEST, and 100k to add to my trading account.

that's worth it, regardless of skill.

it's called "peace of mind" and a bedrock base built
 
An an ex Salomon trader,and current fund manager,I would strongly reccomend anyone to go to an investment bank and sacrifice ones "freedom" before tradings one capital...

If you are in this game,or in life to excel at ones craft,you are sacrificing your freedom in either position.You simply do not be come good at something without putting in the time,whether working for Goldman or on your own..

At a major brokerage house,you will be exposed to things you would never be exposed to trading for yourself,and you will make contacts on both the buy and sell side should you ever decide to raise real capital...Sure you can learn from books,but that doesnt compare to working with the sharpest quants and researchers in the world..

And if freedom is really what you are after,making $100,000 per is not going to get you to the promised land in this lifetime...On the other hand,if you are making $500,000 at Goldman and getting stock at a 25% discount(mandatory),you would be suprised just how much money one can accumulate in a very short period of time..of course this assumes the stock stays flat or appreciates and you are clever enough to leave the firm and not lose your unvestd portion of the stock!!!!!
 
What a wonderful thread to start.

I would rather make $100K a year trading in my shorts and robe working 4 hours a day than even $2M a year working for ANYONE else.

The free time to spend with family and friends is and always will be priceless.
 
Quote from ProfLogic:

What a wonderful thread to start.

I would rather make $100K a year trading in my shorts and robe working 4 hours a day than even $2M a year working for ANYONE else.

The free time to spend with family and friends is and always will be priceless.
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I think age may have a strong influence on ones view...

Phrased another way,if you were 20 y.o,and you could make 100,000 per for yourself,or $500,000 per at Goldman which would you choose??

There is a strong chance that by the age of 30 if you chose the Goldman route,you would be a FREE man.And i do mean free...

What i dont understand is your reluctance to work one year for 20x the amount that you would would earn for yourself??
 
Because life is short. Excuse the interupption Professor.


Quote from taowave:

I think age may have a strong influence on ones view...

Phrased another way,if you were 20 y.o,and you could make 100,000 per for yourself,or $500,000 per at Goldman which would you choose??

There is a strong chance that by the age of 30 if you chose the Goldman route,you would be a FREE man.And i do mean free...

What i dont understand is your reluctance to work one year for 20x the amount that you would would earn for yourself??
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