Then of course the lifestyle of a trader sometimes is not for everyone.
Drugs do play a role with some traders and the drug of choice for most was cocaine. No, I have not used it ever before and will never. I know my personality and it is an addictive one. I can very easily become addicted to anything. At least my only poison at the moment is smoking.
I have had some weird experience. One I can tell about was when I and 3 other traders went to a casino "just for the afternoon". It turned out to be for the whole night into the next morning and by seven I phoned the office to tell them we will be a bit late and ohh by the way...wheres the market. We continued gambling on the blackjack tables right into the evening and when most of us couldn't stay awake anymore we left. Those hours of gambling was a nightmare but strangely enjoyable, but I was still a junior guy and had to stay or lose face (yeah I know peer pressure). I didn't lose any money (probably because I didn't bet a lot) but I saw money flowing out of accounts like crazy. It really was a crazy 2 days and that was when I first met with drugs in the workplace. Dont think everybody use it but there is some just like in any other job. The only difference is in this job they could really afford it.
Money also becomes meaningless to a large degree. If you make or lose $100,000 a day without blinking its really hard to complain about paying $2000 a night for a weekend getaway. Now looking back that was crazy spending. I remember the one time there was a guy who wanted to sell his old vintage merc...The one guy interested was a collector and really interested in buying the car and they agreed on price etc. Then another trader (who had a fight with the collector, because the collector apparantly had an affair with his girlfriend) came to hear of it and offered the seller more money so they bid each other up until the collector gave up and left very angry. So what did the buyer do? The next morning he parked the merc in the collectors parking space and banged it up with a cricket bat in several places. The look on the other guys face when he saw the banged up merc was priceless.
I asked the buyer why he had done something so stupid and senseless? His answer was: "Because I can". So again money makes one lose perspective on many things more important than just being able to do it.
That brings me to another philosophical question. I postulate that if 100 random people win $1mil then within 2 years 90% of the winners will again be dirt poor. Why? Simply because wealth is not meant for all. Some people will simply kill themselves if they are given that amount of money (drinking, drugs, fast cars, dangerous holidays, aids etc). They are not trained from birth how to handle money and we think differently about it.
So if you were to win $1mil what would you do?
Drugs do play a role with some traders and the drug of choice for most was cocaine. No, I have not used it ever before and will never. I know my personality and it is an addictive one. I can very easily become addicted to anything. At least my only poison at the moment is smoking.
I have had some weird experience. One I can tell about was when I and 3 other traders went to a casino "just for the afternoon". It turned out to be for the whole night into the next morning and by seven I phoned the office to tell them we will be a bit late and ohh by the way...wheres the market. We continued gambling on the blackjack tables right into the evening and when most of us couldn't stay awake anymore we left. Those hours of gambling was a nightmare but strangely enjoyable, but I was still a junior guy and had to stay or lose face (yeah I know peer pressure). I didn't lose any money (probably because I didn't bet a lot) but I saw money flowing out of accounts like crazy. It really was a crazy 2 days and that was when I first met with drugs in the workplace. Dont think everybody use it but there is some just like in any other job. The only difference is in this job they could really afford it.
Money also becomes meaningless to a large degree. If you make or lose $100,000 a day without blinking its really hard to complain about paying $2000 a night for a weekend getaway. Now looking back that was crazy spending. I remember the one time there was a guy who wanted to sell his old vintage merc...The one guy interested was a collector and really interested in buying the car and they agreed on price etc. Then another trader (who had a fight with the collector, because the collector apparantly had an affair with his girlfriend) came to hear of it and offered the seller more money so they bid each other up until the collector gave up and left very angry. So what did the buyer do? The next morning he parked the merc in the collectors parking space and banged it up with a cricket bat in several places. The look on the other guys face when he saw the banged up merc was priceless.
I asked the buyer why he had done something so stupid and senseless? His answer was: "Because I can". So again money makes one lose perspective on many things more important than just being able to do it.
That brings me to another philosophical question. I postulate that if 100 random people win $1mil then within 2 years 90% of the winners will again be dirt poor. Why? Simply because wealth is not meant for all. Some people will simply kill themselves if they are given that amount of money (drinking, drugs, fast cars, dangerous holidays, aids etc). They are not trained from birth how to handle money and we think differently about it.
So if you were to win $1mil what would you do?
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