Hello, I am quite new to the trading world. And like many others, I would be willing to invest a huge amount of time into it with the prospect of eventually making a living from it. Now the question is whether this is even possible if you do not have 100k capital? (Lets say i need 3000$ a month and am getting 3% returns. that would be 100k)
can 1:30 leverage be the solution? But with leverage this high it is just a matter of time until blowing my account as far as i have understood. I am 30 years old and i have absolutely no savings. I can hardly imagine ever saving up 100,000. So should I save myself a lot of time and rather don’t even begin to try? What do you think?
It is very possible mathematically to make 3% a month and you would not even need a very demanding and world-beating strategy. But you must have a profitable strategy in the first place. The profitability of your trading is more dependent on the strategy than it is on either the capital (or the leverage, which is just another way increase the impact of your capital).
If trading is compared to driving, then having more capital / higher leverage, is just like having a bigger engine. But if you’re on the wrong road as soon as you turn the key and drive away from home, having a bigger engine isn’t the answer.
If you have a strategy that reliably makes a profit and continually add to the pot as well as winning, then it won’t take long to substantially build up. 3% a month isn’t a huge win, but most people don’t win at all so it’s not exactly easy.
Hi and welcome to the forum. You represent a frightening number of the population who has been “advised” by those who should know better (politicians, teachers, family members) that it is OK to borrow money and pay it off later. So now we have a huge number of people who do not have a savings culture, because the whole world is encouraged to “get it now, worry about it later”.
So the first piece of advice about how to eat an elephant is “one bite at once”. You are right that it seems an insurmountable task to accumulate a $100K sum, but you can break down that task into manageable bites.
There is nothing wrong with having a goal to have a $100K lump sum. One of my mentees had a ten year plan to achieve that and he over achieved it. What helped him was to move in the first 3 years from a gross income of about $12,000 per year to about $100,000 per year (project coordinator, project manager, Google midline manager, Google executive with share options). And all because he was patient enough to break down his goals into shorter term objectives. No degree - just hard working, and able to break down problems into smaller problems and solve them one at once.
I have found that by far the easiest task in this journey is to work out how much you earn and how much you spend today. That will give you some insight into why you have no savings. I believe very few people in work find it impossible to cut their costs by 10%. Different if you are not employed, but simple if you are employed and are prepared to lower your standard of living. For some, that may just be cutting out six pints per week, or sacrificing going out for one meal per week. For those who can start that process it is really not long until they can save 20% of their after-tax income, then you really can think in six figures.
I’m not sure that’s necessarily the case. I have a well paid job and at the moment my expenditure as sole provider for a family of 4, soon to be 5, gives me virtually zero money by the end of the month. We don’t live a lavish lifestyle, but it is comfortable.
I genuinely don’t know how people manage with low paid jobs, I suppose they have a lot more support available from the government, but making large savings must be impossible and why the government has enforced pension saving now.
I’d say it sounds more like the penny dropping that forex isn’t a get rich quick scheme. If you try that, it’s a lose your money quick scheme.
I’ve posted along these lines before but it sometimes generates new insights in or from new members.
Let’s suppose you’re in the UK and you would like a salary of £30k. This is about the median salary on recent figures - so half the population earn more and half earn less. You won’t be rich but you’re not poor.
How much do you need in your trading account to generate ÂŁ30k in profits a year?
Depends on the strategy. Let’s suppose you have a strategy which isn’t very impressive. The win rate is only 55%, the average r:r is only 1:1.5 and it can only manage to find 20 trades a month. On top of that you don’t have much starting capital, just £1000.
Calculate firstly whether your annual profits ever get above £30k. And secondly, how long it takes to get there. If you can’t do this calculation, leave trading.
With good prior experience ÂŁ5000-ÂŁ10,000 in UK is enough to build a substantial amount.If you look at the daily/weekly candle sticks of the indices over the last 2 years compared to, before the Pandemic it shows you how many pips you could have made due to the volitility.
Hi there,
What I am suggesting here is that there is a tendency to consume beyond our means. Now that may be that we earn far less than is required to live even a very poor life as is the case in many third world countries, or that some have very poor control over their expenses. This is a subject that is rarely taught at school any more (if anyone knows any schools who teach home economics any more I would be pleased to know).
Anyway it took me quite a long time to realize that if you break down your costs into categories of mandatory, discretionary, charitable and all taxes, and spend some quality time establishing which spending type fits into which category you will soon see how hard a job it is going to be just to break even, let alone achieve a target of 30% of savings. I never exceeded that until over 10 years into our planning, and then thereafter only in the occasional years. Yes, by all means get another job, but don’t try to work if your income is less than someone will charge you for doing menial work at your home. For example a full time cleaner in Syria in 1995 cost about $150 per month. I doubt you can get a full time cleaner in the UK (not living in) for about $1,500 per month. It is more like $3,000 I suspect. I don’t know because we are not that rich. So to afford a full time cleaner you would have to earn more than $3,000 AFTER tax. Cleaners are not tax-deductible expenses from a none Ltd Co worker
I did my secondary education in Melbourne, Australia. My parents were “ten pound specials” of the 1960s. Education there between the ages of 11 and 15 consisted of economics where they actually covered the types of jobs most teenagers left school to fill. Regardless I remember being told what a bank account was and how to write a cheque, the difference between a personal and a limited company bank account, a savings account. Male and female were both taught how to touch type to a metronome. Me and my best mate both bought 1910 Remington typewriters at a second hand shop for about $5 each and competed with each other typing “a sad lad had a salad flask”. Technical drawing was optional for girls and cooking was optional for boys. Ten years ago, I asked a teacher at a private school if she could find for me (for research reasons) in what part of the education system were students taught about managing their money - you know - you get some wages (or salary) every month. How do you make sure you do not spend more than you earn. In total there were five pages in one book and it was covered in one or two lessons at 15 years old. I was really shocked. On the other side though there were recommendations to talk about gambling along with other addictions such as drinking, taking drugs of all types within the context of dangers of abuse to watch out for.
I was at school in the 70 s and first half of the 80 s ,in them days you had Primary school ,Junior school and senior High .The old TSB use allow kids to put their pence in a little bank book once a week at school,
think I still got it somewhere.Regarding specific crafts there was nt much variety just wood work and very little until you had.more choice at senior high, I remember actually doing home economics at junior l,which was compulsory for both girls and boys I remember making a lovely quiche Lorraine lol. Funnily you was taught to sew at primary school 5-9 years it would good be a good thing to educate youngsters again regarding budgeting and how to eat healthier economically…Don’t want to stereotype everyone ,many of the poorer people in UK spend up to £40-50 a time on take aways for a family ,when you can eat healthy on a fraction of that ,fruit and veg is cheap as chips still at a one of the major super markets ,throw in a packet of lentils and a ham shank too…typing was just about going out of fashion.its interesting drugs was nt really that prevalent just cider drinking ,it was more the middle class. Students in the late 60 s early 70 s smoking weed and dropping acid,until say the 80s when the UK had the heroin problem.Yes remember now there was s compulsory subject sort late compulsory education called Humanities Core errm sex education ,things what you mentioned drugs ,crime ooh and we had to sit through the Relic Nuclear War film War Games
Thank you for letting me know. I returned to the UK in 1972 and went into lower sixth with my platform souls and purple suit with those long rounded collar shirts. What a lovely time it was. It probably was not but a bus fare from school to home was 2p!
Many people who live around us continuously moan. I sometimes do some daft things just to prove a point. There is a charity shop about a kilometer from us. And they don’t just sell to us either. Last time I checked, anyone can make their way there, council estate or millionaire. Here are some of the things I have bought from there in the last two years:
A Dannimac - ÂŁ15. The most extravagant item ever I got from a charity shop. Brand new, with the tags, never worn. Estimated value ÂŁ75. Satisfied my criteria of 80% off list price (just).
A grey medium pin stripe suit - not the ones from the 1980s City boys, a modern suit. Looking like it had not been worn but smelled like one of those old folks home living room… £5. I took it to the dry cleaner next door and paid £15 to have it dry cleaned. £20 in total. £180 in shops. 89% off list price. £1 for a full set of golf clubs. I don’t play golf but put one of these behind furniture in every room. Low cost security solution. In the unlikely event that a burglar breaks in, any adult in the home can just go to the nearest room and have a wedge or a putter to hand to render serious damage. Who knows what you are capable of if you are outraged?
Fortunately both my sons like to cook, and sometimes that comes out at less than £1 per head per meal. If we absolutely had to, we could eke out a living with food and drink at about £30 a week. To do anything well, you have to be extreme. If it’s money you need to do well, you can’t be having a latte caramel whipped thingamajig at Starbucks three times a day. Who are we all kidding? Poor?
Charity and antique. Shops I love ,they always seem to have to a tranquility about them too.You.got a fantastic variety there . Both my parents serve during world war 2 my dad a gentleman was a PO during the D -landing s and met my mother who escaped the valleys when she was 17 to join the army.Im the youngest in a big family so I’m abit old fashioned in ways lol .We was skint as kids because he had a lung removed because of cancer in 72 lived another 30 years and could not work to his full capacity .I would nt have wanted a previlidged upbringing
Yes, it’s possible. But you need to be consistent with your trading first of all - if you can’t manage a $100 account, you won’t be able to manage a $100k. It also depends where you live, cost of living is going up.
Trading for a living is possible if you have the skills required. In trading, there is no free lunch. Focus on skill development first, and setting 3% per month can be achieved not easily if your strategy is not solid. in the traditional world, I think it requires some experience in terms of years to acquire a job that can give you $3000 per month. My advice to you is that trading is a legitimate professional you just need skills first not money. You can join a prop firm with the skills and you get funded.
