The Great AdapterSo I called a couple of buddies and they said come on up. I figured
I’d give it a try, and they offered to let me live free for six months
on the couch.
Q: Great deal.
A: I cashed out everything. I had a house in college that I bought
as a repossession from a bank, fixed it up, cashed it out. And that,
along with my savings, was my day-trading ticket.
Q: How much was your seed capital when you started trading?
A: I had around$75K liquid at that point, and I think I put$40K
or$50K in my first trading account.
Q: You left the other$25K for monthly expenses. You had no
rent, so basically you were just paying food?
A: I helped out with bills and chipped in some, I could have
funded more in the account, but I like not having my back against
the wall, psychologically.
Q: So how was your girlfriend feeling about this little venture at
the time?
A: She was probably skeptical, but she had seen the Houston
offices as well. I was really interested. I thought if it works, great,
if not, I can sleep at night knowing I tried it and just go back to
being a broker. That was the game plan. Okay maybe it was a small
setback financially if I lost some money, but no family, no kids and
no mortgage; it was an ideal time in my life to try it.