Thinking about becoming a trader...

[Hiiiiiiii]

Hi everyone. I am currently enrolled in grad school for an MFA and I am sure that the degree will not be life changing for me. I just started classes last week and still have not paid for tuition for the semester, and I am not sure I am going to.

I believe the degree will help me get a better job when I graduate compared to the entry level job I could get now. However, I am not impressed with the facilities or the professors at all! I can't stand the students very much either...

I am very interested in design, but I am even more interested in the stock market. I was an economics minor during my undergrad and found these classes much more relevant than my design classes.

So, I really want to start trading. I am not keen on wearing a suit and tie everyday and taking orders from people all day long, but I am sure I could suck it up and do this. What I would love to do is trade from home and eventually start my own fund.

However, I don't have much, if any, experience trading and want to know how hard it would be to do this. I would have about 80k startup capital and would begin by trading my own money. Is this a really bad life decision? Is there more schooling I should do before I begin on this path? What is the smartest way to make this transition?

Thank you for your input.

[APXG]

The key to your plan would be having replinishable startup capital for trading / fund. If poker can provide this for you, you can start and bust your personal 1-man funds into eternity until you either get bored and wanna do something else, or become successful. Poker(or some other zero to 5 figures routine) is crucial though -- without it, I would take the standard route and find a job somewhere.

The amount of $$ you have saved doesn't matter unless you're talking mid-7 fig -- its the ease with which trading losses could be recovered.

[pig4bill]

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However, I don't have much, if any, experience trading and want to know how hard it would be to do this. I would have about 80k startup capital and would begin by trading my own money. Is this a really bad life decision? Is there more schooling I should do before I begin on this path?

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More schooling? You don't have ANY schooling!

The quickest way is to find a school, mentor, or guru that teaches a method you can deal with, and could be successful with. If someone has a plan that requires 200 grand it's obviously not going to work for you. Most high-return methods are going to require you to be involved in the market during trading hours, so you probably can't do it with a fulltime job. Now would be a good time to try it if you can later find a job if you go bust.

BTW, trading your own money for a living is vastly different than working for a fund or a brokerage. So if you're able to do one it doesn't mean you will be able to do the other.

[johndenver]

the general advice I have read is that you need 300K min to trade for a living, and thats if you know what you are doing

[Fishhead24]

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the general advice I have read is that you need 300K min to trade for a living, and thats if you know what you are doing

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Well, if one could churn a 15% return that would be $45,000 profit.

[pig4bill]

If you know what you're doing you don't need anywhere near that much, depending on how high you want to live.

However, it might well take that much (or more) to go from knowing nothing to knowing what you're doing.