Forex and Making a Living

Everybody seems to want to know how to trade these days. Everywhere I go folks want to talk about it, whether I am there in an official capacity or not. While very few understand the concept of foreign currencies, all of them seem to have this same vague idea of people who never work, sit by a computer all day and make it into a money machine laptop ATM.

They associate it with freedom, an easy lifestyle, and unlimited wealth.

But the real truth is, for the 95% of traders who lose their stake in this market, it is hard, frustrating, and impoverishing to whatever extent they fund their accounts. Trading for a living is great, if you like trading. If you like wood working, and think you can augment your wood income with trading money, you're probably on the wrong track. Trading isn't for everyone, and certainly daytrading is for very few. Now the trading we do here at www.thefxtradingmasters.com can be done by almost anyone. But it does mean you have to set aside the time to learn, to read, to execute your trades. Also, making money at forex is a fairly different creature from making a living at it. I have for a long time been a strong advocate of making money and having a source of income besides your trading. Personally, I am a clergyman, and that was my calling in life long before I was a trader. I serve a wonderfully warm, family oriented parish in Baltimore, MD. Will I ever get rich there? Not monetary terms. But I have riches there which will far outlast this life. Nevertheless, I can simply live off of the salary they kindly give me for serving them. That also frees me up for other pursuits. Many of you know I also run a construction business. And I run the mentorship program. And I have my own personal trading. All of these, funnel together to create multiple income streams into a nice living. But I can't be a Rector at Faith Church forever. Nor do I want to run a construction company forever. I can do mentoring for a long time, and look forward to that, and even after my voice has given way and I can no longer preach the Gospel, I can still type and teach by way of the Internet. Only when I am finished with all of these other things will I truly be trading for a living. Only then will it be my sole source of income.

Having another income stream, whether it is a regular 9-5 job, or an Internet business of some sort, also takes the pressure off your trading game. Although I rarely have losing months anymore, when I do, it is not a big deal. I don't want to be trading with scared money. "Scared money always loses". So when you calculate what you need to make a living, another source of income is always helpful.

If however, you are ready to go it alone, and trade only for living, then you must set some realistic goals, and begin with a realistic lump sum.

Starting with your budget, let's assume that you need $5,000 monthly in order to achieve or to maintain your current lifestyle. In order to create that amount out of the forex market, you would need a lump sum of $100,000. It is true that aggressive trading could make more (easily more), but you're retired now. You don't want to spend your whole life at a computer. So a steady process of 5% is fairly reliable if you have practiced for a number of years, and are comfortable around the forex. If you need or want more or less, simply increase or reduce your trading stake.

Also, that should not be the only 100,000 that you have! At that point in your life, you'd like it to make up a portion of your portfolio only. Depending on how much you love trading, and how much you want to do it, will depend on what amount of your resources you want to allocate. But by no means would I put every penny into active trading.

Now if you are a good trader, and an active one, there is nothing more to be done to make 10% over 5% except for a bit more watching and strategizing. At The FX Trading Masters, that's what we shoot for. Some months we don't get it. Other months we get more. But you want a good even keeled approach to this, otherwise you will become the "scared money". A longer term perspective, and lower leverage, will get you much richer, than the other way around.

Trading for a living? It can be done, and it really is possible. But first, ask yourself if that is what you really want.

Happy Trading!

Bill
bill@thefxtradingmasters.com
www.thefxtradingmasters.com