by BitcoinIsFemale
Yes, this is sort of a cope post but I hope it helps someone out there.
I’m 36 years old and quit my full time job in 2016 to day trade with $180k that I had made from trading 6 months prior. Between then and now, I have becoming a multi-millionaire three times, my ATH was 3.8MM, went back down to 800k, back up to 2.4MM, back down to 1.4MM, etc.
Over and over again, people online told me to take profits, to move into safer investments, etc. When you believe you can make millions in half a year, you don’t listen to any of that. I honestly thought I was wolf of Wall Street, and there ARE immense benefits to making that kind of money. I paid off my condo, bought a new car, travelled the world for a year (while trading), and have done luxurious things I NEVER imagined I’d experience before.
All and all I took home probably about 1.6MM, but in reality only took in maybe 1.1MM after taxes (would be even less if I earned it all within one tax year, but was split into 3).
Besides my assets, I have 90k left in cash, and I just can’t trade anymore. It completely fried me and to boot it taught me no life skills. You don’t learn anything from trading in this manner except how to fool yourself into think you aren’t gambling and wasting your life.
More importantly, it wasted so much of the prime years of my life that I actually want to cry right now. Your 20s and 30s are when you should be making your way in the world, growing and learning, not hunched over a lap top and being unable to sleep due to sheer avarice and worry. I wasted so much of my life chasing phantoms and with that mindset it will NEVER be enough. You will make a million, then another, then another, maybe lose it all but even if you don’t, you pay a price for the money you make, and I don’t think it’s a good deal.
Nice things won’t make you happy, but financial security will. If you make a million or two, you might want to consider taking a step back and analyzing your life to see if you’re happy. The risk, the stress, and the time you spend in the market will only grow as you make more and it is so fucking dangerous.
I was making 85k at my job, I wish I had stayed and just been a normal person. I made an ok amount of money but it cost me 4 years of my sanity, and held against what I would have earned, plus maybe raises, It really only was about 650k that I traded 4 prime years of my life for. Do something with your life, don’t be like me and be some jobless idiot who fooled himself into think he was a trader, with no direction who clings onto a rigged market for dear life.
Disclaimer: This information is only for educational purposes. Do not make any investment decisions based on the information in this article. Do you own due diligence.