I have finally after so many years of effort gotten to a level of success with trading. It has been a very long journey for sure, over 8 years. Now here is the weird part. I have now been consistently profitable for over 8 months, which is a big deal. I am now making WAY more money swing trading than my sales job. I dreamed forever to quit sales after 30 years and trade. And now I am hesitant to pull the trigger. I have over over 4 years of living expenses saved up. I thought I would be so excited which I am. But... I have had a full time job now since graduating college for now over 33 years. I am 57 and feel that trading is what I want to do, and enjoy life. Any advice is appreciated. I guess this is normal to feel this way.
How much did your annual income change, excluding trading, while working as a salesman or whatever your title was? Not in pure dollars but percentage. Was it very steady over the years. The reason why I asked is it seems maybe you being reticent because you, consciously or not, like having the fallback. And if so if you "pack it in" it will no longer be there. If this is the case only you can decide what to do.
great question.. my income in sales has been at it's current level for many years. The thing is that $$$ is high and hard to walk away from. I do not care about how much I make, I do not even need to make as much from trading as my sales job, but I am making more at trading. It is really more about freedom. I am just sick of having a boss, quotas, etc... and then there is the activity of convincing people every darn day to say yes to purchase the service I sell.. by the way, I am 1099 for my current role so I am not giving up any benefits. I did not expect the hesitation to go full time that I am having...
I would stay at your sales job and just do an early retirement at 62 ish...the last 6 months have not been real markets.... When everything and anything goes up in a straight line and you see people who never talk stocks start talking stocks it's time to start wondering how much more left is in this fomo market place. My Friend who has traded only a year here and there turned 12k to nearly 50k in less than a month most recently in options. Dude never talked or breathed stocks as much as he does now ..... Just keep working and have fun swing trading the markets.
Well then what do you think is behind your hesitation? Any guesses? Such as others to financially support?
It's so easy for others to simply say "follow your dreams/passions" but the reality can be cruel. Plus, you're so close to retirement. Do you really wanna make the transition this late in the game? My suggestion is that you take your time and analyze all the data. Make comparisons between the two income streams and crunch numbers for everything. Just as in trading, you never wanna base your decision on instinct.
if you didn’t have the hesitation you would definitely be missing something. i would explore the hesitation and try to figure out what is scaring you.