And below are my comments to what he wrote...
Trading is like a job and one unlikely to build alot of Wealth from trading. At most, you earn S$5,000 to S$15,000 a month from trading, That seems to be alot of money until I tell you that I made over S$200,000 from investing alone, and that excludes the S$130,000 upside I enjoyed on my property purchase in year 2010.Alvin wrote: Trading is a job. Like a job, you need to spend time and energy with the market to make a living out of it. I suppose many people have the idea that trading is an avenue where they can achieve their financial freedom without working hard. This is a wrong perception and a dangerous one. One should really treat trading as a career choice, something that you are willing to do full time and commit your energy to mastering the craft. It does not offer the get rich quick ticket to you. Like any other jobs, you need to have passion, knowledge and years of experience to be good at it.
If you are an intraday trader, your working hours are as good as the market opening hours. You spend your time in front of the computer to trade, just like any office worker; the computer is the best friend. You do not get paid if you do not go to work. Even if you are not an intraday trader, you still have to spend some time and energy to analyse the market and stay plugged in to the market to make trades. After making a trade, you would have to check your position from time to time. It is not as passive as most people would think it is.
Unlike most jobs, you may not need to have meetings or deal with unreasonable people, but trading can be quite lonely at times. I have heard full-time traders complained about the lack of human contact. That is why there is a tendency for traders to keep a community, for support and exchanges of ideas.
As a trader, you are your own boss but which also means you must have the discipline and motivation to go to ‘work’. No one forces you, which is why you have the sense of freedom. But if you just let your days go by and not trade properly, you would soon worry about your expenses.
Another good thing being your own boss is that you do not have employees to make you ‘angry’. Instead, the market takes their place to toy with your feelings. The market will frustrate you by taking your money even when you were so confident with the trade. The market will mislead you by rewarding you with profits even though you have made a wrong trade. In other words, trading will make yourself the greatest enemy. Unlike a job, you can always put the blame to your boss and colleagues, trading does not allow that. You can only blame yourself.
You do not get rich quick with trading.
And the best thing is Investing does NOT take much of my time. i own 3 businesses, and have 12 persons working with me. Employees can make you angry, employees can also make you smile.
Most of the times, it’s an honour and pleasure for me to have the Opportunity to work with my team, which I always thank the Universe for bringing such good people into my life. Through my employees, I manage to serve more people (through them) and therefore provide a higher value add to the society.
My businesses also provide a very good platform for my employees to learn, grow and also make money while at the same time, knowing that whatever they do, our company’s philosophy is putting clients’ interests first. They feel a sense of belonging and get along very well with one another, often helping out one another in their work and giving one another support and encouragement in our family lives.
In fact, nowadays, I do NOT spend much time on my businesses, since all 3 of my businesses are mainly managed and run by my capable team, with my wife being the COO.
How I spend most of my days? Nowadays, most of my time and effort is focused on Public Financial Education. For instance, on Monday 21 Mar, I spent 3 hours researching on Japan Disaster in order to share on News Radio 93,8 FM from 7 pm to 8 pm. Including commuting time, on Monday I spent 5 hours on this Public Financial Education effort.
On Tuesday 22 Mar 2011, I spent 3 hours writing an article for My Paper, which is published today. Nowadays, everyday I also spent 1 to 2 hours to answer questions or share comments in my website (MasterYourFinance.com discussion forum
So on average,I I spend about 4 hours per day on Public Financial Education, with the rest of the time taken up by meetings, phone calls and also, “solving problems” that crop up….CEO basically is CPS (Chief Problem Solver)…and I do enjoy finding solutions to problems…
So I actually live a “Dream Life”. 11 years ago when I resigned from the bank I didn’t imagine this is how I would spend a typical day at work.
And so other than making money from my investments, becos investing does NOT take up much time, I still have time to own 3 businesses, be very active and involved in Public Financial Education….
I don’t think all these is possible for a person who decides to take up Trading full-time. Would you agree?
Cheers!
Dennis Ng
