Anthony, I agree, it can be a humbling experience. It appears so easy. I mean, anyone can buy or sell a stock with just the click of a mouse button or hot key. But knowing what stock to buy and sell and when and how many shares, that's where it starts to get a bit more complicated. Also, once you really get into it, you start to see that there is so much more to it than meets the eye at first. Level 2, Volume Price Analysis (VPA), etc...I feel like for me right now, I just want to focus on learning the basics, coming up with a workable business plan and focus on the long-term. I mean, anybody could get lucky and hit a big trade and make a ton of money at once, but you could also loose a ton of money gambling this way. I want to learn a skill set that I will be able to use long-term (i.e. trade management, risking the right amount, trading a strategy/setup not just willy nilly taking trades on gut or my "instincts"-at least not at this point).
If you just make a 1% return on your money each day on average, that is huge! For a $25K account that would only be $250 on average a day, but similar to compounding interest, it would become $1 million in fairly short order at that rate. That is my hope and dream, yes just a dream at this point, but I have hope. I am taking action to hopefully turn that dream into reality.
What draws me to the idea of trading for a living is the freedom to not have to answer to a boss (other than the market, right lol?!), having more free time to spend with my family, having cash to do good in the world (i.e. serve and help others), and being able to be completly financially independent. If I can accomplish those goals through trading, then all the time and effort it takes to learn to trade successfully will have been worth it, even it if takes me many years.
I mean think about it, imagine it takes 10 years then I finally learn to be a profitable trader. I say it would still be worth it! To me being a profitable trader means essentially the sky is the limit. If you can read the markets, you can see what direction it is going to take before it goes there, and you learn good trading habits like risk management, well, you will become a millionaire, it's just that simple. Not many people make it to millionare in their lifetimes, so even if I am 53 years old (10 years from now) before it finally all clicks and starts to come together for me, it will still be worth every cent and every bit of effort because I will then be a millionaire by the time I am 55 or 60, or whenever. The point is, if I even make it there at any age, then I am going to be doing much better than most people ever do in their entire life. Then I will be able to retire comfortably and leave my kids an inheritence, that is my vision and dream. That is what drives me to become a sucessful trader.
All that being said, I am expecting and hoping to become profitable much sooner than 10 years. I am just simply saying worst case scenario, heck, even if it took my 10 freaking years, it would still be worth it lol! Anyway, enough rambling for now. This morning I am working on developing my Business Plan. I just got done wathcing the webinar by Mike B. called "Creating a Trading Business Plan" and I am now going to work on my personal Business Plan, set S.M.A.R.T. goals, etc...