Don’t Waste Your Youth Dreaming About Getting Rich Trading
Last Updated on April 18, 2023
One of your most precious assets is your time. You only live once. Make sure you make it worthwhile!
Before Christmas, I received an e-mail from someone who has been trading for several years, but with little financial results to speak of. I could feel his frustration as he was writing this mail. Probably his trading is just a pain.
Over my 12 year period of trading, I have seen a lot of people wasting their best years trying to make it as full-time traders. They spend lots of time reading and studying, but year after year passes by with no significant income.
But the dream lingers on and some positive days in between make them continue. After many years, some even more than 10 years, they have nothing to show. Perhaps they have made minimum wage.
In the end, they have no relevant experience when they need a job. And perhaps you are even exhausted or burned out.
My advice is the following (if I’m worthy of giving advice): If you want to trade make sure you make more than you would in a “normal” job. You have to make a risk premium to make this job worthwhile. And if you make no improvement after three years, perhaps it’s time to go on and pursue other things (?).
Luckily I have had some really good years along the way, even though 2011 and the first half of 2012 were kind of wasted. During all my years I have had other sources of income. Even now, when I live in Eastern Europe, I spend at least 25% of the time on non-trading related stuff. I think it’s pretty important to have other incomes when trading. Not only because of money but just as well to show that you can do other stuff if you need a job later.