I’ve been lurking on here a while and thought I’d ask for advice.
1st of all thank you to all who give advice and help out newbies ; Peter, videos by Mugs and insight from Jollygreen amongst others, has been fantastic
I went on Peters course last August and have been wrestling with things ever since. The Mrs went away in November and I committed 4 days to trading the horses, looking for swing opportunities and the markets were pretty static handicappers. When the few opportunities did present I was like a Deer in the headlights.
I have a ten month old baby and a 3 and a half year old. I probably only get an afternoon a week to practice and often not a peaceful one even then. I work lates and nights, as well, so that reduces half those days.
So has anyone been in the same position and how did you get into profitability with a young family?
I am currently reading all the books I can to get my head around horses (currently Betting for a living, nick mordin). Long term I want to achieve experienced punter knowledge -ability to read form - in the hope that this will gain an edge, especially in play, where I think there are good opportunities. I think exchanges are here to stay and as long as horses are unreliable and un predicatable beasts I think there will be opportunities.
Thanks
John
advice for a family man
Hi John,
I dont know about others, but I need total peace and quite when i trade. (i even take the cat out of the room)
I work from home and often work out of hours (i.e. early morns/late nights) to do the day job.
Even so, I sometimes find it hard to concentrate if I have my job on my mind and I know there is something that needs doing, So id rather miss a race or two to clear the decks so can concentrate 100%.
My advice given your situation, would be to look at the auto route.
If you can crack that, you can leave it running in the background and work on your strategy when you get five mins.
regards
Peter
I dont know about others, but I need total peace and quite when i trade. (i even take the cat out of the room)
I work from home and often work out of hours (i.e. early morns/late nights) to do the day job.
Even so, I sometimes find it hard to concentrate if I have my job on my mind and I know there is something that needs doing, So id rather miss a race or two to clear the decks so can concentrate 100%.
My advice given your situation, would be to look at the auto route.
If you can crack that, you can leave it running in the background and work on your strategy when you get five mins.
regards
Peter
I agree totally.PeterLe wrote:Hi John,
I dont know about others, but I need total peace and quite when i trade. (i even take the cat out of the room)
It sounds like you don't have much time to practice either which is a massive sticking point I think. At least if you're talking about something like horse racing where the markets are always evolving and you really need experience and to be 'battle ready'. I've been doing this nearly 8 years full time, and having took just a month off in January I struggled quite a bit to get back into the groove. I often think it's a lot harder for people to learn part time. Most people I know who have made it have done so by trading full time almost every day to practice for at least 6 months or so.
Maybe another sport might be the way to go? Something you can spend time on analysing data etc to try to gain an edge and then once you've got one you can try to automate. I'm thinking something like football.
Have you had any concrete success so far?
(i even take the cat out of the room)
I work from home and often work out of hours (i.e. early morns/late nights) to do the day job.
Yeah I got my fingers burnt already when the fu*king labradore puppy pulled out the power cable on the 2nd monitor I was trading on. Only 3 quid lost so no great shakes
My advice given your situation, would be to look at the auto route.
I'm not that hot on automation and excel to be honest and prefer manual approach.
I don't have a spare area I can trade in so it's snatched odd hours to myself.
Thanks for the advice
I work from home and often work out of hours (i.e. early morns/late nights) to do the day job.
Yeah I got my fingers burnt already when the fu*king labradore puppy pulled out the power cable on the 2nd monitor I was trading on. Only 3 quid lost so no great shakes
My advice given your situation, would be to look at the auto route.
I'm not that hot on automation and excel to be honest and prefer manual approach.
I don't have a spare area I can trade in so it's snatched odd hours to myself.
Thanks for the advice
Hgodden thanks for the hints. No sport is better than others due to shift work. I'm even so far give or take a couple of quid so not bad but not enough to think about FT . The lack of space and time is a frustration. I think a few years reading the books going to race courses and then getting more involved when the little mites are in school but even then that's only a couple of hours and no good if you're patiently waiting for that elusive swing
I'm the same. Total concentration. My wife learned a long time ago not to disturb me.
Door shut - phone off and totally immerse myself in what I am doing. I couldn't do it any other way. Don't know about others, but I tune into the market and am able to watch the whole market and understand what is happening. Do not under estimate how difficult this is, even with no distractions. With any distractions I would fail miserably.
GL John! Perhaps now isn't the time?
Door shut - phone off and totally immerse myself in what I am doing. I couldn't do it any other way. Don't know about others, but I tune into the market and am able to watch the whole market and understand what is happening. Do not under estimate how difficult this is, even with no distractions. With any distractions I would fail miserably.
GL John! Perhaps now isn't the time?
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andyfuller
- Posts: 4619
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm
When I used to be on BF I was like the others, I needed total peace. But due to the fact that I had 'gambled' and given up my job I moved back in with my parents so as to not have to worry about paying for the rent etc.
Removing that burden was a big help as I could concentrate on getting the trade right and not about winning money. These are very different things.
But due to moving back I had to accept that I would have to put up with noise, mainly at the weekend as my parents were out working during the day. So I bought and used noise cancelling headphones, another cheaper option would be some good ear defenders: http://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-Peltor-Optim ... +defenders
But in your case John, ask yourself now is it worth it? Spend some time thinking about it. You are going to put a lot of hours in and miss a lot of your young kids early years. The markets are as hard as ever and if you do crack it you will be paying the PC. So really think about how best to use your time, would you be better just doing more hours at work, setting up an online business etc etc.
Also bear in mind that there is only so much you can learn reading, you will learn 10 times more by having some skin in the game, just keep it to minimum stakes. You can read the theory until the cows come home but you need to have money and emotions on the line to really learn imo.
I think you are likely to really struggle given your current arrangement but I wish you the best of luck!
Removing that burden was a big help as I could concentrate on getting the trade right and not about winning money. These are very different things.
But due to moving back I had to accept that I would have to put up with noise, mainly at the weekend as my parents were out working during the day. So I bought and used noise cancelling headphones, another cheaper option would be some good ear defenders: http://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-Peltor-Optim ... +defenders
But in your case John, ask yourself now is it worth it? Spend some time thinking about it. You are going to put a lot of hours in and miss a lot of your young kids early years. The markets are as hard as ever and if you do crack it you will be paying the PC. So really think about how best to use your time, would you be better just doing more hours at work, setting up an online business etc etc.
Also bear in mind that there is only so much you can learn reading, you will learn 10 times more by having some skin in the game, just keep it to minimum stakes. You can read the theory until the cows come home but you need to have money and emotions on the line to really learn imo.
I think you are likely to really struggle given your current arrangement but I wish you the best of luck!
the biggest downside to trading is the time it takes - thats the real price you pay to trade, you will pay in time; you can never ever get that back.
you have 2 small children, do you really think the price you will have to pay is worth it?
every weekend, no going down the park etc, every evening in the summer no playing games, reading books to them etc, just starring at a couple of screens.
time really flys past, quicker than you realise, you will possibly regret it.
you have 2 small children, do you really think the price you will have to pay is worth it?
every weekend, no going down the park etc, every evening in the summer no playing games, reading books to them etc, just starring at a couple of screens.
time really flys past, quicker than you realise, you will possibly regret it.
If was profitable then the financial benefit of being FT would outweigh other things . As i work shifts i rarely get full weekends off anyway, which suits as you can do things when it's not rammed everywhere . If i was as adaptable to losses are children are to anything I'd be well in the green. !! Practise makes perfect and 'little and often' (weekly) is the best it gets.
Thanks for the help
Thanks for the help
I have two small toddlers, in the first two years I practiced where I could, have a very supportive Mrs, lost money at the start but became profitable. I have a day job which is shift work, not to long hours, I got myself a small office unit in town and I trade from there around my shifts so if a shift is 5 hours I make it 8 hours by adding three at the office, but don’t miss out on your kids, the markets will be there when they are a bit older, good luckEuler wrote:I went full time just after my wife had twins. We had a four year old as well. I think that's about as bad as it gets. I converted half the garage into a study and worked from there.
Musojohn
You sound like me with regard to your knowledge of sports except I havent got the young kids. I have 3 supposedly adult lads that still live at home. Living in a small village with a crap internet connection and sharing it with the rest of the family, a business to run and a wife that requires attention means also there are a lot of distractions for me also. I am two years down the line and a few thousand out of pocket but still learning and still hooked. I am convinced that without the distractions, more time to practice and more knowledge of sports I would be doing better.
My advice? Pure peace and quiet so its you and your pc and thats it, you simply cant be flippant with the markets in horse racing they change so quickly at random times that can flip a winning streak to a big loss. Peters course is good though aint it!
You sound like me with regard to your knowledge of sports except I havent got the young kids. I have 3 supposedly adult lads that still live at home. Living in a small village with a crap internet connection and sharing it with the rest of the family, a business to run and a wife that requires attention means also there are a lot of distractions for me also. I am two years down the line and a few thousand out of pocket but still learning and still hooked. I am convinced that without the distractions, more time to practice and more knowledge of sports I would be doing better.
My advice? Pure peace and quiet so its you and your pc and thats it, you simply cant be flippant with the markets in horse racing they change so quickly at random times that can flip a winning streak to a big loss. Peters course is good though aint it!