Lost my fortune trading PA. How to make it back?
I invested in some shitty stocks and I lost all my savings. I am down about half a mil. I feel completely broke. Is there a way to make it back by working in finance?
This is why day trading is a bad idea... if I were you I'd put at least 80% of that in something like SPY and do not touch it. If you really love trading give yourself 20%, or whatever amount you don't mind losing, to trade for fun
What is your current job? People won't hire you just on a personal investments track record.
Believe it or not... i have a decent job right now in the buy side with OK pay. Sadly this did not help me with my PA misadventure... but I feel more desperate than ever to somehow make it all back...
Well you're never gonna make half a million dollars overnight as you know, but you just need to be more responsible with your personal trading. Take the loss as a lesson to invest responsibly. Good news is you have a great source of income and it's not like you'll starve.
Put the rest of your nest egg somewhere you can't touch it and put it in something set and forget - change the password to gibberish and write it down and file it away. Or get a financial advisor who will manage it all for you.
Thanks dude. This advice really helps.
First off - this is absolutely gutting to hear. I got caught heavily short, and couldn't get out of my own way, and gave back all of a 40% YTD gain during the recent 'rally' (short in size across the board). Too much leverage, too much arrogance, too much risk. Not on an absolute basis what you are dealing with, but ugly none the less. Good news is you have earnings power and learned an early lesson - and importantly you don't owe.
Don't chase - the high water mark doesn't matter anymore. You aren't trying to 'get back' to whatever you lost. What you are trying to do is setup some type of risk management process around your finances. At a minimum you need to earmark accounts for specific things - retirement has a strategy, liquidity has a strategy, etc. If you have friends or connections to get started with a money manager - I would do it. Contribute X amount to them a month. Dial back and double your focus on your career. Find something that matches the 'excitement' of trading - if that's an issue for you. Just don't do it again.
Another stark lesson I've learned - just because you work in finance does not mean you need to be a trading god. We've gamified stock trading and made it a national past time. Cramer, Portnoy, Wall Street Bets (who had that on their bingo card 10 years ago) and easy access has created a lot of financial pain for people. Pick your financial goals, define what you care about and set yourself up for that. In my view you are the best asymmetric investment you can make - not bitcoin, meme stocks or whatever options play is out there.
Great advice. I am not trying to make anything back. That's my take home message. Start from square one. Thanks.
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