All the stories you read about money being taken from you one way or another are based in fact. In my experience the only way to succeed is to treat your trading like a job and develop the knowledge and skills that you would in any new venture.
You should also figure out what kind of salary makes it worthwhile for you and work to that as an annual target for net trading profits.
If you believe any of the tall tales about unachievable monthly or annual returns then you are doomed from the start so don't do it.
It is hard work and a long haul but well worth it for some. Hopefully you will be one of them!
Make sure you do what Tim says and read all the stuff on here that will help you.
Sorry Steve, but I disagree with aspects of your advice. Somewhat surprisingly, the very reasons people stay net losers in this business
is because they treat trading like a job, and they
aim to make a certain amount per year.
The sooner one can lose the "job" mentality, the quicker their bottom line will benefit. You are not paid for your desk time in this business, and if you think in terms of pay per hour, week, month or year, your chances of succeeding will be greatly diminished.
From my experience, the harsh truth is that it's incredibly unlikely you'll make a penny of profit for the first 3 years minimum, and even once you've acquired the necessary skills and expertise, you can still be losing net for weeks, months and perhaps even a whole year (you should expect this too). Profits usually arrive during a very limited and irregular window space, and it's up to the trader to sufficiently exploit this period. So, could you trade for 45 weeks without making any money, and still persist with your confidence unwavered, in order to capitalise on 3 weeks of opportunity?? If you treat trading like a job and you aim to make a certain amount per year, then I doubt it.
Trading is difficult enough on it's own, but when you add in social pressures and ego, it becomes that much harder "losing" for long periods while your acquaintances are whooping it up. If social standing, possessions and peer salaries are important to you, which when people are honest; they are (it's a question of how important), trading is just about the worst career you can possibly choose....
.....at least for the first 3-10 years anyway.