During an email exchange with a member of my mailing list and a student of my trading course, I was asked this:
How come you don’t just start trading full time? Wouldn’t it be more lucrative then working the day job?
I have stated on a few occasions that I am not now, nor do I ever plan to be, a full-time trader. I have absolutely no desire to spend my days trading. It’s just not my thing. I need variety in my day and that certainly doesn’t provide it. As well as I know myself, I know I wouldn’t be able to stick with active day (or even short swing) trading for very long. It doesn’t suit me at all. I’m much better off operating in longer-term timeframes – weeks or even months.
As for it being more lucrative, I get paid pretty well to be a stock market analyst. I get very good benefits, mostly paid by my employer. A lot of would-be trading for a living types fail to properly account for all that income and benefits they really need to replace. It’s also a much less risky income flow. For me trading and investing will probably always be primarily about weath creation and preservation, not about generating income.
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About the Author
John Forman, author of this blog, has traded for more than 20 years, is a professional market analyst, and authored The Essentials of Trading. He is an active participant in trading forums, consults for trading related businesses, as published literally dozens of trading articles, and has been quoted in a number of books and in the media.
** See John’s full bio.
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