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Yes, there are many discussions about this on poker forums, as a player I have definitely struggled with it over the years myself, my friends and family all know what I do but when meeting someone new I always consider if they can handle the truth. The toughest part is that I know most people don't have the patience or capacity to understand what I do, even if they can get past their entrenched misconceptions, when I start explaining EV, hand ranges, pot odds, etc.. I inevitably get the deer in the headlights look. The funny thing is I was looking forward to telling people that I'm a trader , I guess it's just a matter of perspective.
When I 1st started learning how to trade, a seasoned trader told me, never tell anyone that you are a day trader.
Most people don't understand it, take a negative view of it, have had bad experiences with the markets etc.
I am at a point now, I just tell people I am retired and don't go into it.
The friends that I have, aren't interested in it and find it very boring.
So, I just don't get into it.
Seems like the only place that can relate to day trading is here on futures.io (formerly BMT).
Good advice you were told Rachel. I'm still too young to say I'm retired to be believable.
I do my trading part-time now hopefully eventually full-time.
But when I come across anyone who wonders what else takes so much of my time,
it's hard to come up with something if I don't want to say "trading". If I say it's an "online work
at home business", well everyone knows those "work at home ads" are all frauds yet the local
media still plays all those "goherenext" ads etc., even nationally known scam trading vendors we know about
still have their ads running on local radio early morning, or late nite. In fact most I've come across consider "trading" good-for
-nothing "gambling" and not contributing to the state "economy". When in fact most every other
"middle-class" neighbor has some kind of investment or trading going on behind closed doors in their home
whether it be mutual funds, or some invested stock etc.
Well, which is worse, being on the gov't dole being part of the California system
of voting yourself raises maintaining pensions every state election and/or being
on food stamps, SSI without a real mental or physical health disability problem
, and a lot of systems had been abused by fraud for literally years. With state compensation now being literally
double on average the average private sector wage rate in CA.
Example, I know of IRS workers in CA who work some months seasonally and
collected unemployment , even encouraged by their section bosses to do so for decades.
or trading and still paying taxes for it.
And so many still buy the mega-millions CA lottery or the other kinds voluntarily
donating to the taxes to shore up the state employment system without thinking about it
etc. anyways..
Since I saw this on here, I have used this twice ...works like a charm. I got the same type of response in both cases. They smile and say something along the lines of, "wow, that's really awesome". Then the smiling silence as I'm sure they don't want me to know they have no clue what the heck that is. So that is about the time I take a drink of my coffee and leave the awkward silence hanging.
We have the tendency to shape our answers due to the reactions due to the stereotypes either positive or negative which are an inevitable response in society. For me, I've come to realize perception of occupations and is highly subjective and relative utility is highly variable.
The value of a soldier in peace time will be less than a soldier in wartime, or a dentist when your teeth are fine or when you have a screaming toothache. Perception totally changes when a struggling athlete or actor becomes the next star although they are technically the same person. There is a place for all professions to exist and we never know the time or place where we need the skill sets of others.
Whilst meeting others (even those of the same profession), there will always be times where we get flattery or criticisms. These exchanges can lead to hubris or low self esteem. Both of which do totally nothing but distract us from our true purpose of trading whether it is to achieve a better sharpe ratio, be the breadwinner for the family etc etc. We all have to be very clear on the purpose of our profession. Whilst the objective for all is to make money, the purpose would be something which has strong enough deeper meaning only relevant to YOU.
However, if one is consistently late for appointments, makes exaggerated claims, lazy etc., no matter how high the utility/standing the profession is in that particular society, there will not be any way to change the negative perception which one portrays.
We should never attempt to change our purpose of our profession to fit the 'labels' given by others, but perception ... that is something we all must strive to continually change.
It depends on whom the person was asking. Usually I just say that I'm self-employed and leave it at that. Most people think it's gambling or have rigid and negative opinions.
Trading is part time for me, but if someone inquires I tell them the truth and deal with the consequences whatever those may be.
I've found that people who are opposed to finance or trading are people I don't generally want to associate with. They're either very shallow thinkers/stupid, or they've got some political agenda I want no part of. More frequently the problem I have is that they want hot stock picks, to invest, to learn how to trade, to tell me about their brother in law who's a broker and could really help me out, or otherwise involve themselves in something that's really none of their business.
, I guess it's just a matter of perspective.
