Greetings
Do you talk about trading with people that do not trade? What if they ask or oversee something you are doing.
Can you have a mature and objective, grounded and hopefully interesting conversation with someone about trading.
Everyone always seems to be interested in doing it themselves once they find out that someone they know is involved
Nope… Most people do not understand the concept of risking their OWN money to make money…If someone asks I will play 20 questions to see if they are serious and not fixated on profit only… if knowledgeable I will elaborate… If not I change the subject… You (ME) cannot explain FX over dinner…
Buying investment properties is a stressful, highly dangerous risk to most people… Trading FX is practically Black Magic…
I liken trading to giving someone a chainsaw who has never used one… Potentially lots of blood and missing flesh… or worst case scenario…the tree ends up on the house…
Thanks for the post. I think that’s a very good way of filtering them out. Sometimes I get very excited about a something i might be trying to figure out and can’t help sound boarding the idea with them or trying to download what I currently know excitedly in all of five minutes.
Another thing is the general associations that are not helped by films like Wolf of Wall Street etc…people tend immediately as you say to focus on money and lots of it! whilst a good number of people get into the space out of interest or enthusiasm either on an ameteur or professional level.
Investment banking; some folks just like the contact and exposure you get to senior level big business at a very early age rather than just taking in fat bonuses.
You could have the most interesting job in the world and make it sound as exciting as potato skins… I mean that it is up to your social skills to engage others in what you want to tell them, knowing how much or how little to give away in conversation…
Even a music performer can make their dinner friends fall asleep if all he/she does is narrate how many performances he/she had and where… Any job, even the most creative one, is in the end carried out through a technical process, which in itself may or may not be of interest.
If you can talk about trading in a macro way, mixing in fundamental topics involving politics and current affairs, you are certainly more likely to engage people with it than if you launched into a technical analysis conversation.
Finally, the truth about trading is that, like being a musician or an artist, is in the end mixed in the mind of people with all sorts of stereotypes, such as: “Being a trader means you are a gambler”, or " being an artist must be fun all the time", or “playing music is okay but it is not like a real job, is it?”…and so on…
Oh you see, so that’s why all those people…I was wondering why dates always excuse themselves from the table to go to the loo but then never come back.
Either that, or you just have a boring face 
No insult intended - just a friendly joke of course…
Again, they say the same about accountants…
It’s official: scientists prove why accountants are boring - Telegraph
Well, yes, similar conversations have happened to me as well. The variety of the opinions is interesting. Some people think that it’s rocket science and they cannot imagine ever doing it. 
Others think that it’s like gambling (although some traders might contribute to this opinion) or if you trade for a living then you should definitely become a big shot millionaire in a short period of time. Usually they quickly get bored with the details. But generally I’m quite amused by such conversations
“(Although some traders…)” argh you saw those exchanges oops.
Question, if you trade for a living should you eventually be a big shot millionaire or is it ok to be the trading equivalent of a mum-and-pop shop.
Haha I sure did…
Well, I don’t think that there is a certain answer for that. I guess this depends on you. This is the opinion of the majority of non traders but if you’re capable of becoming a millionaire, why not? However this should take a lot if years and will be very hard to achieve, not impossible but really hard. On the other hand, it’s not necessary to strive to this goal. If you’re happy and satisfied with your profits I think it’s absolutely ok be the mum-and-pop shop It’s strictly individual. At least this is my opinion
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Non-traders are just like traders - they have all sorts of different interests. Some of them are interested to hear what I have to say about trading, they ask me questions, even like to watch me trade, which I don’t mind, others I know wouldn’t have any interest.
I find people who aren’t traders only appreciate three types of financial activity - investment, gambling and wheeler-dealing. Anyway, being English, talking about money with anyone except my bank manager brings me out in shingles.
You can get vaccinations against that, these days … but I suppose they might not quite have got as far South/West as Devon, yet … :33:
It’s a funny and strange habit because Britain is obsessed with monetising everything through discussions in news or other information channels that are constantly bringing calculatons in Pounds to most topics; yet when it comes to talking about one’s own money matters, somehow it becomes taboo.
I have always found it easier to tell people what I earn when talking about my job than not, and indeed it is refreshing to know that there a few people like me, who are not embarrassed to briefly discuss their earnings…
That is just a very personal viewpoint…everyone is entitled to not discuss something that they wish to keep a secret: I just do not like to pretend, or to feel that I have to lie about my (rather average) earnings, so I just lay it out there and leave it for people to reciprocate or not. Given that money is an impersonal function and does not define me or my culture, I do not feel protectiive about what I earn: indeed, I have no issues telling people about my time chased by debt collection agencies and standing in the dole office after I lost my job in late 2008.
It is somehow seen as distasteful by some, but again talking about your own earnings in a respectful (rather than arrogant or self-pitying) way is to my eyes a sign of openness and humbleness.
With only one good road in and a railway link that’s sometimes under the sea contact with up-country is a slow process. Its only in the last couple of years we’ve had the road into THE airport made two lanes so now a car and a tractor can pass by without one giving way.
Lol, I admit I did stop for the cream tea when I drove through on my way to/from Cornwall … can’t remember now whether the jam or the clotted cream goes on the scones first … :8:
Jam up your scones first and then clot up your arteries
I was thinking that might be in Cornwall … and in Devon it’s cream first, then jam? :33:
Look, this is really important to get right. Its cream first, then jam. The only exception is if there’s also butter, in which case its butter first, then jam, then cream; but with a good scone butter is not needed. Eat while scone is still warm or before heart attack, whichever is the sooner, as PipMeHappy implies.
PS: There’s no vaccination for being English.