What will success as a trader bring to my life?

[Joe Ross]

Success has many faces: peace of mind, high levels of health and energy, loving relationships, financial security, meaningful goals and aspirations, and the feeling that you are growing into all that you are capable of becoming. Becoming all that you can be is called "self-actualization." It is important to recognize that success is not only financial, but exists on many levels. A person may find success in any of the above areas of his life without achieving financial success from trading the markets. Successful trading may provide a means to fulfill other areas of success, but may never buy good health or peace of mind. Being a successful father and a good husband is a different kind of success based on human values. The master trader can achieve success in all the important areas of his life when he realizes that financial success with a failed personal home life is no success at all.

Success as a trader can bring you just about anything you will allow. It can bring personal wealth, but how you use that wealth determine the scope of your success. You may decide to use it only on yourself. In that case your success will have a very limited scope. You can use your wealth to help others, in which case you will have broadened the scope of your success.

Success as a trader can bring you free time. Having time to spend with loved ones can bring you a happy family life. Time is money, and so having time to spend with family can be time well-spent. I have known moderately successful traders who value the time they have to spend being with the people they want to be with and doing the things they want to do, more than they value money. Just think of all the things you can accomplish if you don't have to spend 1-2 hours/day commuting to work. I'm not great with math, but I can tell right off the top of my head that 200-400 hours/year adds up to a lot time over the period of an average work life. In fact, in my value system, having time is far more valuable than having money. For me, being able to be home, working sometimes barefoot and in my shorts, is priceless. Having time to help others is also worth more than wealth, at least the way I see it.

 

[donaldduke]

Hopefully trading success will mean I wont have to spend the later years of my life spamming internet forums.

 

[Paulie_5]

Hopefully trading success will mean I wont have to spend the later years of my life spamming internet forums.

I think that's a bit unfair. I'd rather read a thought-provoking article from a vendor like Joe which are often very good than the endless "Does xyz system work?" or "how many pips do you make a week?"

 

[Splitlink]

What Joe says is that to have a happy life one must have money. We only have to look around uas and at our own situation to know that that is true.

 

[Vaco]

But isn't it all relative and about your perspective on life.

The more 'material' things you want then the unhappier you will be if you feel you dont have the funds to buy the things you want.

I think its a bit extreme to say you can only be happy if you consider yourself to have lots of money.
A roof over your head, food in your belly and enough left over to pay all the bills and anything else is a bonus.

Thats not to say that we don't all want to have more, but it should not rule your life or affect your happiness.

 

[Splitlink]

But isn't it all relative and about your perspective on life.

The more 'material' things you want then the unhappier you will be if you feel you dont have the funds to buy the things you want.

I think its a bit extreme to say you can only be happy if you consider yourself to have lots of money.
A roof over your head, food in your belly and enough left over to pay all the bills and anything else is a bonus.

Thats not to say that we don't all want to have more, but it should not rule your life or affect your happiness.

I'll go along with some of that but the things that you have mentioned all cost quite a bit of money. Most marriages that fail have a root cause of financial problems behind them.

Money, in this day and age, is an essential part of one's standard of living. I agree that there is a limit to what one needs in this world and billionaires do not need all that. The way inflation is, though, to keep pace with life one must continually have income or become, like some poor people do, dependent on state aid to keep warm.

My father earned 3.5 GBP before the war and around 7-8 postwar. How much does a busman earn today?

 

[Vaco]

I'll go along with some of that but the things that you have mentioned all cost quite a bit of money. Most marriages that fail have a root cause of financial problems behind them.

If that is the case then ins't it ironic that divorce generally ends in both parties been financially worse off.

I agree that money is required and in some parts of the world there is true poverty but in the uk even those that rely on the state for housing etc still manage to find the money for sky tv and the running of a car. These things are not what makes you happy and yet many of these people would suggest that if they had more money they would be happier.

 

[donaldduke]

Happiness is a skill like any other. Like trading even.

Having a million pounds will not make you any happier in the long run just like it wont make you a better trader.

I think some people are born happier than others, its a gift for those who have naturally developed happy brains!

However you can improve your happiness skills, just like you can develop and improve your trading. But it takes a lot of hard work.

The figure of 10,000 hours is often quoted to become a master in any skill.

One known way to improve happiness skills is via happiness meditation.

MRI scans showed that buddist monks and other long-term meditators, who have completed more than 10,000 hours, experienced a huge level of "positive emotions" in the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which is associated with happiness. The right-hand side, which handles negative thoughts, is suppressed.

Personally I have not done any work in developing this important skill yet.

 

[midita]

you give me a very good point! thanks share this good article with me !

 

[hokid]

successful trader is difficult to defined. I think
1) every year, number of month which is making money >number of month which is losing money
2)Average monthly income >Average monthly loss

 

[AlexLutiera]

Success as a trader, could make a lot of profit in the future. What it helps in life is that, having an experience on buying and selling stocks, etc. Other people might know and praise them for being such a good trader, and they would have customers. I mean, many would patronize them for being a good trader. A trader must be honest and wise, too. What a trader earns could be a great accomplishment in life. :smart:

 

[TheBramble]

Can we ban him anyway?