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Well, I´m really happy for you. Save the money you make, because trading is not a linear business. Trading success comes in waves and if you have a setup/system that works today, that may not work tomorrow. So enjoy the money but also save for hard times. ;-)
I started trading in my 30s and have had some big successes with interspersed losses. I feel like for my whole trading career I am down about 2k, but I have income and 2k is cheaper than other pursuits that I have indulged. Only recently have I written a system that I can consistently make money with acceptable draw downs. I consider that a whole different subject than what to do with my new found money. What I do know about this topic is, you will almost certainly use your money the way you have always used your money unless you recognize the need for changes and make a sustained effort to do so. While there are definitely better trading strategies out there, I don't believe there is any room for debate about account management. You must make a management strategy and stick to it unless you are satisfied with the odds of getting rich by pure luck. No one can be over leveraged because losses will occur. When I feel like I need my trading account to make more than 5 percent this month I turn off my computer and go work an extra shift. We may not like it but I guarantee that we will eventually accept it.
I am not a successful trader but I am an engaged, learning one. While making my share of mistakes and false starts, I have been successful in business and in life. I am a happy great grandfather.
Your initial approach of saving while you contemplate your new life options is very sound. I would only add that you might be extra cautious about assessing your level of consistency. How many investment firms have flown high for five years or less before disappearing overnight? Many, maybe even most.
I bring this up not to rain on your parade or discourage you. On the contrary, go forward with your plans with energy and excitement. Family life can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life for those who want it. Just recognize the possibility that the world can change quickly and have at least a rudimentary Plan B formulated and be serious about it. Change is certain. The nature of the change is not. Plans will require modification, guaranteed.
Should your good fortune continue, and I hope it does, you may want to consider allocating a portion of your earnings to longer term investments under somebody else’s management or even an index fund. At your age, a portion for long term investments makes sense for retirement and having a professional involved represents another form of diversification for you, not just in terms of investment vehicles but also in terms of management. I would focus on risk levels and liquidity in case of emergencies. I have no specific recommendations, just a general direction.
So, you have arrived at enough financial success to ask “What now?”, which is a very good question. You have said you aspire to family life. While I cannot directly help in that search, I can offer you what I think I have learned and hope that it will increase your odds of success in this new area of life.
Family life starts of course, with finding/choosing a mate. I am not a psychologist or relationship expert but I do have considerable mileage on me and will share what I have learned on my journey.
I think the most important attribute for a mate is that you have many values in common. While you may not agree on which value is number one and which value is number five, you want to have as many overlaps in of your ideas of what is important in life as possible. Values are like guiderails. They keep two lives generally on the same track. Joint decisions are far easier with common values and while you may not always agree with the decisions your mate will make in any given circumstance, if you have similar values, their decisions will at least make some sort of sense to you and vice versa. Also, personal goals will make more sense and are more likely to be compatible. Key areas to explore are attitudes about money, education, child rearing and pass times. Religion and general philosophy are important for those who are inclined.
You may find someone who shares some key values but not others. This doesn’t necessarily put that person out of contention but do expect it to require more work and you must both be willing and able to work together.
Second, find a mate who is also a good friend. Hearts and flowers are wonderful but none of us have the emotional energy to be continuously under their influence. Those feelings ebb and flow over the years. Having a good friend goes a long, long way toward spanning the times when the world is tough and romance doesn’t come easily.
Third, find someone you genuinely respect and admire. Mutual respect and admiration will help preserve each of you as individual people. They help you to allow each other to grow within a relationship and to allow each to be a person within a relationship rather than a just role in a relationship.
Lastly, before making the big commitment, take a trip together. Go some place neither of you have been before, a place where neither of you knows anyone. Try to take at least a week and better two weeks. You will each be away from your support systems and will have to deal jointly with all of the issues that arise in travel, some pleasant and some not so much. I can 99% guarantee that you will know before this is over, whether or not you are suited to live a life together.
I’m sure I have given you more advice than you bargained for, but know that it comes with sincere wishes for your continued success in all areas.
I'm not successful futures trader, so take this for what it's worth. I trade futures as a way to screw around....
I am, however, good at trading stocks and usually add nicely to my annual paycheck.
I'm in a different category than you. I'm married with 3 kids, and have a job that I like, aka even if I won the lottery I most likely would not quit my job.
I'm not saying you don't like your job.
What I've done with my stock earnings are:
1. Paid down debt so that my monthly bills are minimal.
2. Put a crap ton into a monthly dividend paying ETF. I'm now using the ETF to pay some of my bills (I will grow it to pay all my bills eventually) and still trade stocks.
so bottom line. My recommendation is to use your money to make even more money. Put your money to work for you!
Let me share with you an analogy shared to me by my ex father-in-law. He built a successful industry from scratch. He asked whether I would like to grow vegetables or grow a tree.
You see, by growing vegetables, you take a short time to plant, harvest quickly but once they are eaten, you need to plant again the following year and repeat the process. On the other hand, it takes a long time to grow a tree but once it is grown, it needs little maintenance and its fruits will feed you for a very long time. I spent years developing a system that is performing well. It is not based on any indicators but proprietary orderflow calculations and automated risk/trade management. Despite its success, I still view it as growing vegetables because it is active income. Based on what I know from other successful futures traders, we limit our trading capital to a certain amount. Yes, some of them have done so well that they hit a size issue. Whatever excess is transferred to other investment accounts. You can either invest in real estate or ETF, etc. The magic of compound interest takes time but is the secret to true wealth.
I like this very much. I day trade, but I also enjoy what I think of as investing. Most of the actually really rich people, like billionaires, make most of their money by investing in assets. Many actually invest all of their money in assets. Some only invest in actual physical real estate. Most diversify over many different kinds of assets. Then, believe it or not, they actually have no money or cash on hand. They then actually borrow from their investments in order to pay their everyday living expenses. I think that good investing is about buying good assets at low prices. Most of the hype out there these days is always trying to get traders to buy into hype, and invest in what everyone else wants to buy. When good assets are cheap, they become hated by the people trying to buy into the most popular thing. Anyway, being a successful day trader with a certain percentage of your total net worth, (since you know it is really higher risk, you may keep it a low percentage), and then, taking that money and investing in safe assets that can grow over time is a great strategy from my perspective.
Great to read about someone who is actually making a go of it. I continue to struggle. Massively. I spend nearly 20 hours a day looking at charts, trading videos, reading books, doing price action replays, journal keeping, basically everything. I cannot seem to find a good way to see the price action to trade it consistently well.
Would not take the jab, got fired. Trading (attempting to anyway) to try to replace the lost income. It has been freaking brutal. By far the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. Super reassuring to read that someone else has managed to pull it off.
IF I was able to trade well consistently, I would move money out of the fiat system and buy hard assets like gold, silver, real estate etc. I have stacked metals for the last 30 years so at least did that part right.
Congratulations on the stellar performance. Keep up the good work.
Day trading is about the hardest thing that anyone tries to do. Doing it to try to replace income puts a lot of pressure on you to produce enough income to get by. With day trading, its important to be able to follow a system that you create that you follow consistently. When you have to replace income, it is an enormous drag on you that you must produce. What if you don't get any trades today? Do you starve? Most likely, that might make it almost impossible to be successful as a day trader because your subconscious mind will be working for your own survival. You may trade too much or trade outside of your system, because of the pressure. Its much easier to become a successful trader if you don't need the money, if you already have all money you need. That is just plain a weird statement since most of the people out there trying to do are trying to get rich quick. Other than day trading, I spent a lot of time also learning everything there is know about options. I was fascinated by them. Most people try to trade them by buying calls and puts trying to call a direction in the market and time the market. Buying options is very difficult, and the odds are usually working against you. However, selling options if you have some capital to work with can be a much lower risk endeavor to produce income. You can write cash secured puts, covered calls, out of the money cash secured puts where you have a built in 80 percent probability of just keeping the money on that option, and lots of other ways to make income. If you have a good system to very roughly call direction, that can add to it. The key to being successful in whatever kind of thing you want to do is to put in the time and work, like you're doing, and learn everything for yourself, really understanding the risk, and thinking about risk first, rather than just how much money you can make. High risk usually ends up causing people to lose money. Unfortunately, it also took me about 10 years to make any real money day trading or trading options. But, its probably different for everyone.
I was profitable after about a year and a half, I know that isn't long but I just studied pretty much all day every day...Not much of a life outside of trading for a couple years. I spent a lot of that time finding something that made money and then the strategy would basically die. Now I have a small handful of setups I like based on where the market/trend is on any given day which has led to the consistency...I would say I was mostly consistently profitable but with some struggles and psychological problems I really had a tough time nailing down for a couple years or so. Over the past half year or so I've felt my consistency is easier and that I have a better system...Just more focused and aware of how my system works.