A short YouTube conversation (Adrian Reid and another speaker) answering whether one can be a trader without fixed income. The speakers advise only trading with money you can afford to lose, using risk capital, learning/backtesting a system, trading small positions without leverage, and being cautious with retirement or sole-source savings.
Trading should only ever be done with.
Money that you can afford to lose.
So if you have a retirement sum.
And no future income apart from that.
Money, then you want to think really.
Carefully about how much of that you.
Can afford to lose in the learning process and in the general fluctuations of the market. You should absolutely not trade all of.
Your retirement money if that's the situation you're in.
If you've always been a trader. I mean, I trade all of my.
Retirement money and I don't have a.
Job, I'm essentially retired, so I'm in that boat.
But I've been trading for 20 years. I'm pretty comfortable with the way it.
All works if you're just starting out. What I'd suggest if you want to be a trader is spend the time and the investment learning, you know, understand how to trade with a system, understand.
How to back test it, understand how the drawdown will work in that system.
And then take an amount of your capital.
That if you have a drawdown in their account, it's not going to.
Hurt you and it's not going to stress you out. And trade with that amount of capital.
Leave the rest in whatever other investments you've got.
Just trade with pure risk capital that if you lose it, it doesn't matter.
Until you find your feet, until you're.
Consistently profitable, you've proven that you can.
Grow it, then you can make your.
Own decision about how much of your capital you trade.
I think, you know, in that situation you could still be a trader, but.
You just want to be really cautious and not aggressive.
You know, ultra defensive trading, small positions, small exposure, don't take leverage and learn really carefully with a small account. And I think it's possible, but you.
Know, if you decided that, hey, you know what, I don't want to take.
The risk, I just want to put.
My money in property or I just want an annuity stream or whatever.
If that fits your profile, if that fits your objectives, great.
But if you want to actually build.
That wealth and grow it in the stock market, then learn to trade in.
A way that still fits within your objectives, your drawdown, tolerance. So I think it's possible. Hope that helps. Don't give up on the idea, but certainly tread carefully and investigate yourself first.
