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I started this poll a few days ago on the forum home page:
The results so far are very interesting to me. 110 people have voted as of the time I created this thread, and 63% are saying they would not encourage their friend to trade.
I'd like to discuss
Is it because he has only 25k in savings, that took him 3 years?
Is it because it seems like the friend might quit his job, and try to trade full time?
Is it because you are afraid he will lose his 25k of savings and be even more unhappy?
This poll was hypothetical - "the friend" does not exist (for me) but I do get asked these types of questions pretty often via private messages.
So what was your motive behind voting the way you did on the poll?
When I voted, I actually imagined my real friends trading, and I came to the conclusion that most of them lack the specific skills to survive in the jungle of psychology, mathematics and finance and that they would be better off not to try.
However, I also have two friends to whom I would recommend to trade, if they were dissatisfied with their jobs.
So the truth lies between yes and no, and my answer just reflects that I would not recommend it to everybody.
for starters, this would have been a concern for me... it took him 3 years, avg of $695 per month, to raise that cash... they were his only savings... he had not traded before... no fall back plan .. trading would have been suicide.. IMO...
I took it to mean that he was going full time trading. In which case that is not a large enough capital base with no other income.
If he was thinking about doing it part time, while maintaining his other means of cash flow, then I would recommend it if he was the type of person that I thought had the mental capacity for trading.
My personal experience is that you should have a minimum of one years expenses in cash in the bank before you do anything... be it taking that expensive holiday, buying the <insert material item here> you always wanted, "investing" in a balanced mutual fund, or trading.
The road to ruin can be a very short path indeed, even without trading, if you have limited savings and life throws you a curve ball.
I didn't vote. My answer would be get that 1 years worth of expenses tucked away first, and don't touch it.
@MXASJ, do you mean 1-year expenses + funding for an account? So lets say your monthly expenses are $4,000, you'd recommend $48k in savings on top of say a minimum 25k trading account?
I've found a very wide audience on futures.io (formerly BMT) when it comes to how wealthy a person is. There are some here on futures.io (formerly BMT) who want to open a trading account with only 5k, and it took them a year to save that money. There are others who open 250k accounts and blow it all in a month, then they open a new account and pay a bit more attention.
Plus everyone in between.
So when I created the poll I tried to put numbers out there that would "speak" to a large audience. It seems a lot of people turn to trading after being unhappy with their current job or career. They want to work for themselves. A figure of say 70k a year salary with savings of 10% seems about right as a good average number.
And BTW, I completely agree with your post and I voted no personally on the poll. I think the traders that are successful are the ones that have the determination and desire to trade, even if their friends and family think it is foolish. The trick of course is to balance these things. Trading with rent money is stupid and selfish. But if you are putting food on the table and have some extra money to learn how to trade, and a deep desire to do this for a living even though it is likely the hardest thing you've ever attempted in your entire life, then I think you should pursue those dreams.