Are you hoping your children will be traders?

[pkfryer]

... maybe they will have to get a job (just over broke) face redundancy and suffer office politics before they find out how good trading can be.

Hit that on the head juanbyte. I took ages before starting a career as a programmer because I was dreaming of being an artist, musician etc. Then after working in a few crappy jobs as an office admin... I had to get out!!! Earn big money doing very little.. so I learned programming to get into the IT sector and loved it. I was so excited when I got my first programming job, but after 7 years of office politics, the dull monotony of work routine, irritating colleagues, debt and constant threats of redundancies (been made redundant twice already, and threatened several times)! My motivation was sky high again to do anything to get out of the monotony of work full stop!

Thats what really pricked my ears to alternative means of making a living. The pain of everyday work and the dreadful depression of thinking this is all there is until I retire! When I realised that trading could set me free, my motivation reached a frenzy that has overcome every set back. Without that level of desire, I dont think someone will stick at it! A kid will think its boring, they dont realise what all those squiggles and numbers mean. They dont realise the true value of money and what money can do! Lots of numbers and complicated looking formulas will not make them interested. But link those numbers to pocket money and they'll soon get an interest I think. Let them have a paper account and if they make a profit each week, reward them with more pocket money! Got to build the desire and motivation or else there will be nothing!

I remember reading the biography of Jesse Livermore. None of his children traded even though he taught them all he knew. With a father worth hundreds of millions and having whatever they wanted, whats the point?

My ideal situation is that if I have kids, they wont need to trade, but will have the financial support to do whatever makes them happy directly. I only trade so I can be free to do the things that really matter to me: art, music, travel, education and contemplation.

 

[FTSE Beater]

Hi All

I know I'm coming in late here...but better late than never
I've often thought about teaching my nephew to trade (not my own children because I don't plan to have any), but reading the above has made me think twice.

The main thing is that I enjoy the freedom of trading because I know how restricting the conventional life is and how life should be for living. A child won't understand that until it's too late.
I can see how the "not knowing the value of money" could hinder a young trader, but surely that's a good thing? Isn't it better for a young trader to just see the numbers rather than knowing what that means? I think back to my early trading and how placing larger trades made me freeze because I understood the value of money - this wouldn't happen without prior life knowledge.

My current feeling is that I need to be there, if they want to know an alternative lifestyle, but not force them into anything. I would also introduce an index linked pocket money scheme if they wanted to learn young, that would soon remove the boredom :cheesy:

 

[Captain Haddock]

Dragging an old thread up here but:

That's a valid point ftse beater and one I'm inclined to agree with.

"Real Money" is the main obstacle many traders struggle to overcome. Whether it be increasing your position size, grabbing profits too early etc. How many times have you equated trading position size, profit or loss to its value in real life. "that's my mortagage paid for this month if I take that"
"Argh If I hadn't lost that money I could have bought a plasma" etc etc.

I know it's something I had to overcome before I became consistent.

Someone with no real concept of the monetry value he's trading with is likely to see the same returns with a £100 account as with a £10m account.

Give a child a set of rules to trade by and reward him for sticking to the rules rather than making winning trades and I think the results would be interesting.

I can just see it now, prop shops full of 8 year olds munching sweets after bonus day

 

[JumpOff]

Captain Haddock, that reminds me of an interesting parallel. Have you read a book called "Ender's game" ?
JO

 

[c6ackp]

nice one JO, this thread is a gem

I agree with everything that has been said - what I've realised is that to be happy it's necessary to find "your passion" (preferably more than one) and keep learning. I know someone who is a counsellor and life coach who tells me that he sees a lot of *very* (rich) successful middle aged+ people who feel very dis-satisfied.

I don't have any kids, but my approach would be "try everything" (within the law) - it's all about new experiences... find your passion - trading is a wonderful challenge for some and meaningless to others...

 

[Captain Haddock]

Captain Haddock, that reminds me of an interesting parallel. Have you read a book called "Ender's game" ?
JO

Enders's game, no I haven't. Whats the parallel?

 

[JumpOff]

It''s a science fiction book by Orson Scott Card. Like all good novels, the science fiction part is just the setting, the meat of the story is about the characters. In this book Earth's brightest and best children are recruited/ drafted to a special "school." They think are just doing class exercises and taking tests.......meanwhile they are being completely manipulated by the adults for another purpose. Card does a great job of developing the internal conflict within the adults - they have no choice but to exploit these kids, but it's against their nature to do so..

Actually it's not just a book, but a whole series. "Ender's shadow" is my favorite. The bulk of the book has little science fiction in it. It's about a little brainiac named Bean, a homeless kid who becomes Ender's friend. The portrayal of life on the streets is searing.
JO

 

[OpenMind]

I definitely want my daughter (we think it's a daughter, will find out next month) to become a trader, after I become a successful one that is . I also want her to dabble in property.

 

[SOCRATES]

You cannot choose for a child. The child has to choose itself. The child has to be interested in a natural way. This cannot be chosen for anyone, however well intentioned. The chlild must find inside itself a drive that causes it to be interested.

In my case, my interest was already kindled by the age of nine. I used to visit my uncle only as an excuse to rootle about in his rolltop desk and to pepper him with endless questions, and not satisfied with that, I would go on to interrogate in detail anyone I felt had some knowledge of the topic that interested me.

As an aside, I will tell you that many years ago a gentleman sent me his son, for the lad to be mentored.

It was a pointless excercise. He was not interested at all. I tried and tried. In the end I gave up.
He himself did not have his heart in it, he only succumbed in order to please his father.

If you want to risk a disaster, try to make a child or youngster do something that does not interest him or her, but only interests you and because it interests you, you arrive at the false assumption it must interest the youngster as well, by default.

As this atttitude does not work, it is best to be neutral and see if there is a natural drive in place and if not, it is best not to force, as none of this can be forced on anyone.

 

[Anonymous]

A "trader" as a job or profession doesn't seem like anything to aspire to, there are even negative impressions of the word "trader" mentioned in some books, perhaps as degrading(?) as "banker".

As for trading skill, that is something that should be passed down from generation to generation, assuming one generation has already mastered it that is. So that the following generations will be self-sufficient, so that they don't have sleep in any street, so that they will be financially independent, and have time to pursue other endeavours in life, so that they have time to smell the roses, to enjoy the finer things, to appreciate the social graces.

 

[Tomerep]

I agree with SOCARTES, a child should make his own mind and when he is old enough, he should choose what he want to do in life.

 

[SOCRATES]

Ata lo hamor, ata haham. Hazak u baruj !...haham gadol !

 

[Anonymous]

Those who eat honey are smart. More honey one eats more smart one becomes, the bigger the honey the smarter he becomes. Eat more honey.

 

[fxmarkets]

hmm isnt it too common for parents to push their children to lead the lives that they themselves wish they had lived? Then starts the disapproval, the expectations, the pressures which will lead to harboured unhappiness,quiet discontent in adulthood until they reach a form of (to borrow a phrase from Douglas) Forced Awareness. Maybe its to know that what you are offering as guidance support and mild encouragement of their own life pursuits is one thing yet I Think its not the norm for parents at the moment as most perhaps are still dealing with their own issues.

 

[SOCRATES]

hmm isnt it too common for parents to push their children to lead the lives that they themselves wish they had lived? Then starts the disapproval, the expectations, the pressures which will lead to harboured unhappiness,quiet discontent in adulthood until they reach a form of (to borrow a phrase from Douglas) Forced Awareness. Maybe its to know that what you are offering as guidance support and mild encouragement of their own life pursuits is one thing yet I Think its not the norm for parents at the moment as most perhaps are still dealing with their own issues.

I quite agree with you not only because this cannot be forced on anyone, but also because even if the offspring is channelled along, this does not mean in the end result an absolute guarantee of aptitude. For this second reason alone it has to be self motivated.