Trading Life: A Group of Posts About the Lifestyle Related To Trading

All good traders eventually arrive at the realization that active trading is a LIFESTYLE.  How you live your life has a direct effect on the success (or failure) of your trading.  There are few good resources that I’ve seen that covers the non-trading aspects of a traders lifestyle.  Thus, this blog will attempt to shed some light in that area mostly by using my own experiences but also periodically covering my discussions with other traders (mostly successful ones you’ve never heard of…)

Ok, so, first things first.  If you’ve never read the Market Wizards books by Jack Schwager, stop reading this blog now and go read them.  If you’ve read them before but haven’t read them in the last two or three years, its time to re-read them with a fresh perspective.  The first two books are all you need to read – paying attention to those nuggets where the trader drops a line or two about their lifestyle.  You’ll be surprised at what you pick up and how that will influence the way you view your own life outside of the trading world.  You can pick up the first two books in used format on Amazon – Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards.

The psychological factor for investing has 5 areas. These include a well-rounded personal life, a positive attitude, the motivation to make money, lack of conflict [such as psychological hang ups about success], and responsibility for results.
-Dr. Van K. Tharp (a psychologist specializing in working with traders)