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My kids are not old enough to consider but at some point I have thought I would like to pass on my knowledge about trading to my kids. We all know the pitfalls of trading and the hard lessons that must be learned. The hope would be you could teach it to someone and they not have to learn the hard lessons. But we all know human nature and if you have never been burned by the fire your teacher can tell you the fire is hot but until you experience it you will most likely touch it. That being said we also all know the huge benefits to trading or we would not be doing it so I would not want to withhold hard earned knowledge that could benefit my kids.
Would like to hear others thoughts on this subject.
I have time to think about this as I think I want my kids to pursue other things and gain to other skills in life first before I even consider introducing them to this world. That way if they do try it they have other viable career options if it does not work out.
"The day I became a winning trader was the day it became boring. Daily losses no longer bother me and daily wins no longer excited me. Took years of pain and busting a few accounts before finally got my mind right. I survived the darkness within and now just chillax and let my black box do the work."
I believe day trading is gambling so I will discourage it with my kids. This is just my personal opinion of course and you guessed it... I came to this conclusion over many years of failing at it. What I will encourage(if there interested) is swing trading and longer term trades. I believe there is actually an viable edge in this type of trading. (just my humble opinion again)
Think about it, even Big Mike has switched to swing trading and longer term trades(from what I can see). Its not that hard to figure out why.
Its a beautiful thing to have a successful career at something you enjoy doing and also pulling in a second income swing trading.
BTW, Im 37 years old and still have never personally met a full time day trader. Maybe I jsut dont get out much, or?????
I started trading 17 years ago or so as a swing trader, and did that for about 10 years for side income and was very successful at it. Then when I went full-time, I for some reason started trading futures and got pulled into scalping. I did this for a couple of years and lost a lot of money during that period. Then I slowly found my footing and turned it profitable.
However, in recent years I have abandoned scalping not because it isn't profitable but because it is far more profitable, in my opinion, to just be a day trader or a swing trader.
So I do still day trade, although I am also putting on more and more swing trades, and I do agree with you that they are easier. I started doing it mainly because it was easier and less time consuming, but then I was reminded how much better they were overall and began to question why I was scalping to begin with. Without a good answer, I decided that was answer enough. I do believe scalping is the wrong way to go.
That said, there are others who obviously disagree. It will largely depend on personality traits, not skill as a trader. You have to align yourself with the market and not force one method vs the other.
Ok dont want to over complicate this question, assume trader is profitable and manages Risk to Reward etc, we all know a scalper is usually 1to1 or 2to1, guys trading bigger time frames are 1to3 or 1to4. Only referring to day traders not holding for days, …
Personally I am thinking that trading is a very personal thing!
Not one to leave to your kids...
Taking risk and taking profits on success means a lot to your
children... being positive or not!
Of course I would love to teach my children my methods... BUT
to have the guts to get positive gains through means having
a lot of experience to stay calm to push the buttons
In other words - it is easier to make the trades personally
than to "teach some family followers"
To sum it up: Take the most OUT of the MARKET
RIGHT NOW
I agree that trading is a personal thing. Just as some of us will like to day trade over swing trading. But if the personality and interest seem to be there, I would try to teach my kids. They wonder what I'm doing and I share concepts and overview information already. They are a little young now to consider trading, but I would still try to help them to learn some of the common market lessons but try to accelerate the learning curve over all.
If they don't get my methods or like a different style, then I can't teach it if I don't trade that way.
But if I did, I would only teach them at a young age - say less than 15 or so. I feel like the perfect time is probably between age 10 to 15 or so. If they are much older than that I wouldn't "teach them" unless they specifically asked and showed a lot of interest, mainly because it can be a painful experience once you are an adult and have established some bad habits. Trading will bring all that out.
For younger kids though I think I would absolutely sit them down and open an account for them (sim at first, then small micro account) and have them put on their own trades and we could talk about them. I think it would be a good learning experience for them and regardless of whether or not they want to continue it when they are older, I think the experience itself as a life lesson would be very valuable.
I'd like to talk about the psychology of having/not having support from your wife (and kids) in your trading business.
First, notice I used the word business. Trading is a business! If you run it any other way, it's just gambling.
From students …
You'll find varying opinions on this, mainly in the form of spouse/wife/girlfriend trading along side the guys. While I think it would be "cool" the biggest issue is that they would really have to want it, really be interested, because otherwise it is just going to be a nightmare. Trading is not something you do unless you really want to do it.
I have a different opinion. I will always encourage my kids to try things for themselves and not to avoid doing something just because someone else is telling them that it can't be done and especially not because I failed doing it. I will give them my support and encouragement for anything they want to try and will teach them everything I know, whatever little it is. Even if I failed at something, there are many lessons to learn about what not to do and to learn from my mistakes.
I would have hoped someone had taught me to look at key stuff early on & practice / practice n study for years without even real trades. I have had to learn the hard way & losing the shirt No one becomes good at anything in any vocation without application/dedication n sweat....so goes with the markets which is the most complex game in the world.
I however would pass this info on if shown the slightest interest .... as there are some very basic fundamentals which exist from time when markets started....which many ignore or dont look at. This i believe passing on can help the next gen if they aim for this.