Just put your money in the S&P 500 every month. A lot less stress and you'll most likely make more money.
That's a very good idea for most with limited funds, and not a bad idea for those with more money who don't have the time, temperament, or aptitude to pick their own investments. Index funds are very cheap and good for novices to get broad market exposure without much in the way of longterm investment risk. Better managed mutual funds and ETFs are pricier but also very good tools for novices as well. Stocks and other individual investments will require the most research and emotional stability.
And for one to quit working and try to make a career out of trading full time, it's almost never a good idea.
You'll need a source of stable income to live on such as rental properties or a separate income fund, since you definitely don't want to use your trading account for withdrawals for living expenses. And you'd need enough money in the trading account to justify spending 50-60 hours a week in front of the tv and computer trading, doing research, etc. I wouldn't recommend someone quit their 6 figure job as a lawyer, CPA, engineer, or whatever - you'd basically want to be at a point where you could retire from work. Millions in assets at least.
And you’d ideally want to keep the majority of your investment dollars invested more traditionally – I’d say 90-95%. Because it’s common knowledge that the failure rate of traders is 95%, and those who succeed generally have the most money, the best technology, and other “edges”.
I’ve had more than one client over the years come see me after they retired from Exxon or Shell or their own business or whatever and brought me a nice nestegg of upper six figures or several million or whatever who wanted to do some high-risk stuff. I’d convince them to let me invest 90% my way for them, and tell them to have fun trading the other 10% with a discount broker on their own, as I had neither the time nor the inclination to be on the phone with them all day nor watch their $ get eaten up in an account with me.
They’d always come back in a month or 2, maybe 3-6 months max with whatever was left of that 10% for me to invest for them my way. They’d usually have less than half that 10% left, sometimes almost nothing left.
