Do any of you make a full time living at this? if so what advice can you give.

Fulltime living?
- Yes. For several years now.

Advice?

- If this is to be your career, treat it as such; draw up a serious business plan. Organization and discipline are vital. Don't be casual.

- Keep records that show your adherence to that plan. Records transparent enough to make sense to an outsider (and to the taxman). Never fall more than a week behind with your filing. Take an hour or so each weekend to analyse progress, so you know what you need to be doing each Monday morning.

- On preset dates (say, quarterly), hold a meeting with yourself and someone else to review the situation. Don't let those dates slip just because you think things will look better a little later.

- Ideally you should have already set aside elsewhere enough cash to support you and your dependents for at least a year - in case you fail and need time to find work again. If you find yourself raiding that cashpile to trade, you have already failed - go get a job instead and do this part-time for a year or two.

- Don't get distracted from whatever is your core competence. Build on that. Analysis of progress is impossible if you keep introducing additional variables; so always keep variables to a minimum. Finding your rhythm, your groove, can take 2/3 years. (If that sounds longer than you were expecting, bear in mind that market conditions vary over time, and you need to have worked through good markets and bad ones before you can be sure that any success is down to your method rather than just a lucky run). If you keep changing your approach you will never know which bit of what you are doing is wrong. If from the outset you decide you want some freedom to test other practices along the way, do so with a predetermined small ring-fenced proportion of your capital. Otherwise you will not be able to maintain proper analysis of progress in your mainstream activity. Don't be easily swayed by self-appointed experts telling you to do what they do, especially if it involves exotic areas or methods. This is all about what works for you not them. Focus on the basics - the fancy stuff can wait. Many people who fail don't know why. If they don't know why, they will likely fail next time too.

Juzzle

Spot on Juzzle.

Yes.

Crawl before walking.

juzzle,

An excellent post IMHO.

Yes
And you have to be an addict and willing to work very long hours!

Some days you have to spend hours doing nothing, so a good comfortable chair is important... oh and some sort of exercise machine as well... if you really don't want to leave the screens (cos the markets always do things just as you leave the room)

"Me and my partner make a good living out of this so keep trading".

Signed:- Oliver Hargreaves and Stanley Lansdown

"That's another fine mess you got us into Stanley!

Because you told the blabbering trees............"

"I'm sorry Ollie"

"Don't listen to them Stanley".

Matty1.
Just like the old saying 'you don't have to be mad to work here........................'
Good luck and on days like today you will need it :-))

I forgot to add the extra requirements for the chair...
but I will leave that to your imagination ;)

Exit Matty1 to upgrade his CV..... no Matty don't give in yet, this is a sensible thread. Call in GD's cafe :-))

I make me livin` out of a few good horses a year and use the market as a tax loss. didn`t intend to but the manipulators always seem to downtrend my hopefulls. Have a fiver on Marching Song at Folkestone tomorrow evening and see how easy it can be ??? NO GUARANTEES mind you. Again, you have to do your own research !!!

Funny that you should say that Snakey. As a bit of fun, I began to subscribe to a horse tipster. I am amazed how successful it has been. I have upped the size of my bets now and though it's still early days I actually think I can make a decent income from it.

I've always been wary of gambling on horses but it proves that with the right selection and good money management you can make a success of it.

Now where have I heard that before?

Harlosh

Who is your tipster please??

Sorry SW. That would telling. The more that back the horse the smaller price I get. You understand.
But they are out there. Just don't throw them in the bin. Give them a try and see if it works for you, but find one that you can try before you buy.

Regards

Good Short on the dow so far. 81pts in hand and locked in profit. I think may bounce up after 7pm.

well well this is a funny old thread intresting.

sorry guys - i had posted on the wrong thread as the post no.21 was for the dow thread.
rgds
zarif