krniethamer, I was doing a little scanning over the chat topics and noticed this site. I have been trading as a sole source of income for the last 8 years after spending 10 years as a naval aviator and I can honestly say that you can make a living trading. However, your income targets will have to be adjusted for numerous factors. Account size, risk, lifestyle expenses, etc. One also needs to realize that cash is your business foundation so you can't go out and buy a big house or new cars because you'll be eating away at your earning potential not to mention adding stress to your trading by having large expenses you must cover every month. You should expect to have at least 10 times the amount in your trading account to the income you desire. 60k yearly income means 600k in your account. Sorry if this seems high to everyone but to do this for a living and not be taking large risks you'll need that amount. Remember you may not make any money or lose money in any given year so you have to feel confident you can pay the bills. If not you'll experience what every broke gambler experiences in Vegas. Total failure and then you'll have to go get a job. Which, if by the way, you've been trading for 3-4 years won't be easy. Expect to spend 8-10 hours a day between trading and research. I have found that flat and down years I have had the most success. You must be able to consistently short the market as well as go long and have a keen understanding on how the economy affects each stock sector. There is always a bull and bear market going on so watching the indexes really gets you nowhere. It took me 4 years to finally figure that out.

I have had one down year in the last eight and luckily it was in my second year of trading. I don't mean to sound cocky but that's my record so far so I know anyone here can do this with hard work. Since that year I spend the last day in each month reviewing all trades made in that month to see if I am developing any bad habits, or overtrading my account. Better to fix the problem at the end of the month rather than at the end of the year. I have also had some lean years where peanut butter sandwiches are the norm. Having an understanding wife that works helps to get you through the lean years when your gaining confidence and learning the realities of trading.

Another issue I have learned over the years is that there are no black boxes to help you trade. You must be able to use a combination of fundemental and technical analysis. However, the big money will come from good old gut instinks with a little luck mixed in. Experience will prove this out. Charts help but at major turning points in the market you have to go against the crowd. Every time I feel overly confident about a trade I make little to no money or even worse start losing money. If your one to not like being stressed or unsure trading may not be your thing. I have found that landing a jet aboard an aircraft carrier at night is less stressful than going long on full margin with my account after the market has fallen 20 percent and I'm trying to start buying when everyone is selling.

I find this to at times be very humbling and frustrating but nailing a good trade keeps me in the game. Don't make the mistake of doing this for the big money but instead succeeding in hitting single and doubles day after day. Once you can consistently make good trades and limit the risk in bad trades you'll have the confidence to do it for a living. I'm no big wall street hedgie making millions of dollars but I can say trading your own money is a lot harder than trading someone elses. Hope some of this helps everyone, good luck to all. <img src="/training/images/emoticons/smile006.gif"/>

Hi Doug H:

Superior video and response to my RS questions.

Thanx
Dr. Glazer