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Aug 28

How Do I Loathe Thy Career? Let Me Count The Ways…

Categories:

General Trading

by Rogue Traderette

Some days it feels like you have a sign pinned to your back that says “Kick Me!”

And then under that, another sign that says “I Ran Over Your Puppy (and it was fun!)”

I had that yesterday.

Clean out of nowhere, I was happily chatting to this cunning chap who ended up subjecting me to quite the Number 12 – style ambush.

Get Used to Random Acts Of Kickedness.

If you want to trade, you need to be prepared for people – even people very close to you -  to a) not understand what you do or why you do it, b) have zero desire to find out, and c) despise it anyway.

Peoples ideas and feelings about money run deep.

Often, their feelings are the product of not having enough when they were growing up, thinking money is the root of all evil (to be accurate, the love of money is the root of all evil, but somehow that seems to be conveniently left out), having seen money be the cause of family arguments, having been envious of other people’s wealth, and hearing people being referred to as ‘filthy rich’.

There’s also the ethical story.  Money evokes greed which in turn gives birth to squirming brokers selling CDO’s.

If you work with your money, other people’s default perception is that you’re greedy.  You must be – if you use money to make more money, to make more money until you can bathe in its glorious crispness…well that’s just pure greed.  Actually, in reality it’s pure paper-cut.  Don’t ask me how I know, I just do.

You can’t really blame people for their misconceptions, because the industry does have a lot to answer for.  Greed is prevalent; and let’s be honest – greed is probably what initially got us to the markets in the first place.

But whether greed is still an accurate representation of your motivation for trading is not a given by any means.

In my experience the lure of fast and easy money does not take long to dissipate and for the hard reality of trading the markets to set in.  But onlookers rarely see that side of things.

All they see is a shrivelled little person hunched in front of their computer, rubbing their hands together gleefully as they stealthily glean their profits from the pockets of poor, unsuspecting market participants.

Or maybe this is more accurate.

 Common Perceptions of The Pre-Kick Variety

If you are a trader, you are undoubtably -

  • Unethical
  • Morally bankrupt
  • Exploitative
  • Materialistic
  • A gambler
  • Irresponsible
  • Lazy
  • Not ‘earning’ your money through real work
  • And not adding value to society

Unfortunately, that’s just the way it is for us and possibly with good reason.  There are people who trade or are involved in the markets that do embody those traits.

If being called any of those things is offensive to you – and they should be, it’s a bit of a worry if they aren’t – you need to make sure that you’re confident you don’t have those attributes, and more than that, that your trading and life practices don’t reflect those things either.

Sometimes those things can sneak into our trading very quietly, and before we know it, we’ve stopped volunteering for things and we’ve stopped giving to charity like we used to.

Sometimes an ambush can be a timely reminder to actually re-assess and find out if you are, in fact showing the signs of everything that’s grimy about our industry.

***

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  • Bubble

    Trading is a journey of self reflection, and for a few to self-improve. It tears everything out of you, and then smashes all your pre-conceived assumptions — especially money. Yes, you’re right to call me a gambler, as I once was, but now I am less impulsive. You’re right to call me greedy, as I once was, but now I am about giving and sharing. You’re right to call me a pariah, as I once was, but now I about truth and honesty. That is what trading has given me, a development in humility – by losing money I have gained insight and deep respect about the enemy within, and now that I make money, I share the wealth and knowledge because now I know its not about money its about freedom — freedom from the enemy within that hold us to false idols. Thank you trading for the hard lessons .

    Glad to see you doing well:)
    It’s been a long time!

    • http://www.roguetraderette.com/ Jessica Peletier

      That’s perfect. I love it :)

  • http://twitter.com/jasonbgordon Jason Gordon

    to the last bullet about not adding value to society:

    I think the way traders add value to society stems from their constant efforts to better themselves. Trading is one of the most difficult professions in the world (not the deadliest catch, but that’s a different story). As traders we have to work so hard to maintain or physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health that we strive to do well in all aspects of our lives. This means that most of us are working to make our relationships with society and individuals better on a daily basis. We are trying to stay physically healthy. We build networks of other strong people around us; we strive to support and build up our counterparts so they too can be strong and successful.

    I could ramble on, but I think everyone gets my point. To get better at trading, we have to get better at life. And to get better at living will have a positive impact on our environment and society in general.

    • http://www.roguetraderette.com/ Jessica Peletier

      Gold – love it :) I have definitely noticed this in my own life.

  • Andrew Ramponi

    Thought provoking post.

    The value of trading to society surely comes from transparent price discovery and liquidity, basically the interaction between hedgers and speculators. Independent traders are like the corner shops of the grocery market. Who wants nothing but giant hyper markets?

    As for real work, what are we trying to measure? Surely not blood, sweat, tears or calories? It is patently obvious that the work of business (private and state) is not to provide goods and services; we are not waving but drowning in a sea of bads and nuisanaces. Never mind real work, or hard work, it is ultimately about good work.

    Onto greed. I don’t see any more sign of greed in the 1%, than the 99%. Wealth is and always has been relative.

    It ain’t what you have but what you do with what you’ve got.

  • http://www.andrewcaldwell.org/blog Andrew Caldwell

    I’m just going to describe myself at parties as a drug dealer, it seems that’d be much more widely accepted?

    On the adding value part, I doubt anyone is adding any value to society who works in the private sector. Sure, nurses, doctors etc. are adding value, but the majority of over-paid saps are just pushing paper around.

    You’re pushing numbers & indicators around, in a lot less time? I’m guessing a lot of it stems from people’s lack of understanding and a little bit of jealousy thrown in the mix.

    Here’s to drug dealing.

  • Gary aka Calmtrader

    She volunteers, she gives to charity … and someone questions her workstyle?
    A time or two during my corporate days, I recall being asked what I did. Don’t blame them. I was an executive … what the heck is that really? Introspection is worthwhile …. but so is encouragement from one in the trenches … you go girl.

    • http://www.roguetraderette.com/ Jessica Peletier

      I’m not as good as all that Gary, my ambush made me realise that I probably don’t do enough :) Volunteering isn’t my strong point, I find I’d much rather give money than time. But thankyou for the kind words.

  • Vinny

    Rolling around naked in hundred dollar bills? I figured as much.

  • robertsweetman

    One interview I heard a (hugely successful) trader said he described himself as a ‘risk manager’ at parties. This is certainly a simpler approach rather than attempting to educate someone who is already close minded.

    It’s worth remembering at this point that people see the world through their own beliefs and prejudices or rather ‘don’t argue with idiots, they’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience’.

    All the successful traders I’ve met display honesty, humility, courage and are about as far from being gamblers as it’s possible to imagine.

    However the thing that really, really pisses me right off is the comment about ‘not doing real work’. Sorry to burst your bubble but there’s nothing ‘noble’ about doing manual labour anymore because someone else on the planet will do it for half of what you would in a quarter of the time.

    This liberal minded notion of the ‘nobility of proper work’ needs to be killed off right now alongside other out-dated notions of class driven sacrifice. I’ve done ‘proper’ work (dustman, fast-food, factories, night-shifts) and I’m absolutely certain that all those guys would have killed for a chance to do something else. Proper work just sucks.

    Just as there are unscrupulous traders there are bad lawyers, bad police, bad workers, bad restaurant owners, lying contractors, programmers whose code doesn’t work, lazy engineers etc. etc. etc. Traders however are in the feckin’ arena putting their own money on the line and as a group they shouldn’t have to take this crap.

    The reason I got into this was for freedom, self determination and to avoid having to justify my existence/job/pay-grade to someone else. When I get to where I want to be and someone takes a pop at me being a trader I’ll be asking them what they gave to charity recently. I’ll mention something representative of what I’ve given and wait for their answer.

    The answer I know they’ll give will be the sum total of zero because people who have issues around money never give money to charity. It’s not how they think the world works.

    Then I’ll be happy to tell them to ‘fuck off’ :D

    • Vinny

      Well said. We need to tell them to get on board or get off the tracks ’cause we’re coming through no matter what.

    • http://www.roguetraderette.com/ Jessica Peletier

      That is definitely a perception thing, the ‘work’ aspect. We see it as running our own business, they see it as doing nothing all day. We see it as enabling ourselves to choose what we do with our time and what we contribute to, they see us as adding nothing to society.

      I consider growing up my kids into responsible happy and worthwhile adults a huge contribution to society, way more than working for some (also greedy and of dubious character) profit-driven company.

      The profits of my time go to me, rather than corporations.

      It’s one of those things they can’t really understand (or don’t want to understand) unless they trade themselves.

    • Max

      Just taking a snap shot of the world today, large (profit driven) companies only have a self interest to make larger and larger profits and who for, Share Holders, Board members etc, not for average Joe and Jane slugging it out for a measly few bucks an hour will watching their backs for vultures who would do it for less. The Australian mining industry and banking sector are perfect examples. Mining and Civil has been the strong point of the Australian market for years now and it is the worst sector for people who want more ($) to do less (work). The perceptions are all wrong of work hard and earn an honest days work. Like you Rob, I have no problem asking people what they actually contribute to society. I can name now that I (personally) support over 5 charities on a monthly basis, recently held a fundraiser for Starlight Children’s Foundation and raised money with out any financial return to myself for the time and effort and where I don’t contribute financially I make up for with time ie Coach/umpire kids games.

      It is a short sighted view the world has on traders and the GFC didn’t help in any way to diminish the view, it made it worse. I can’t stand titles and I will usually tell people I do many things for many people, at the end of the day what does it matter. It is like the new kid in a forum hassling a successful trader for their magic formula. You give it too them and they can’t trade it (because it took you years to master) so they blame you, you don’t give it too them and they call you a fraud (unless you can show them financials to prove otherwise and even then your still a fraud). You can’t win because at the end of the day most people are unhappy with their lives but they lack the determination to make the change. It is far easier to try and bring others down to their level.

  • http://www.offroadfinance.com/ W at Off-Road Finance

    I get a little sick of this too. I’m pretty good at explaining what it is I do and why, but every once in a while someone feels compelled to get in a kick.

    There is a certain attitude that seems to help get better responses. It’s hard to describe, but I learned it as a result of gambling for a living for a little while. When you explain to people that you bet sports and play poker for a living, the reactions are real interesting. But something in the way you can carry yourself and smile about it makes it more likely that they respond “Really? That’s cool!” rather than deciding you’re degenerate scum

    • http://www.roguetraderette.com/ Jessica Peletier

      Some people will never/can never have respect for professional gambling as a career choice and I suppose trading falls right into that category. They tend to be morally offended by our profession.

      • robertsweetman

        Ask them if they buy lottery tickets ;) I bet the answer is yes!