I woke up with my heart pounding. My palms were sweaty and I wasn’t sure if it was real or not.
Looking around my small bedroom, I saw a pile of clothes, laundry that I hadn’t finished from yesterday.
Whew. Just a dream.
In my dream I was down $10,000 on a $30,000 bet I had placed on a currency overnight.
It’s not a good feeling to be down $10,000.
It’s a great feeling to wake up and know you don’t have any “bets placed”.
I sleep much better now than I did 3 years ago. 3 years ago I would have been up every other hour checking the latest news from the federal reserve and checking my charts. Not a healthy lifestyle.
Fast forward three years to today and I still have the occasional day trading dream. Last night’s was actual different than my normal day trading dreams. My usual dream actually goes like this:
I have some highly leveraged play going. Usually in the forex market. I’m chatting with a friend, when suddenly some news breaks and my position starts to be profitable….like hundreds of thousands of dollars profitable.
And then it happens. The trade starts to turn. I desperately try to sell, still saving a huge profit. Something doesn’t work. The trade won’t go through. My “profit” is going down the tank and I can’t get out.
I panic.
It’s nice not being a day trader anymore. It was mostly just gambling for me anyway.
It’s nice for me at least not even being a traditional investor. Maybe at some point I will buy stocks again, but I think it’s unlikely. Why play with fire?
I don’t care what the market did yesterday. I could care less what it did today.
I like my sleep.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
The stock market was bloated by cheap credit which artificially drove up the prices of stocks just like it did for houses. Stick with Lending Club, in the end you will get a better and more stable return on investment.
That sounds so stressful!! So sorry that you’re still struggling with it. Hang in there and enjoy your sleep!
I felt similarly when I gave up politics (I used to be very involved in politics and worked as a lobbyist). Now I’ve just started reading the newspaper again after a two and a half year hiatus. I literally had to ban myself from reading the papers becuase it was too stressful. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a nightmare about it too.
It’s good to feel like a person again. Keep up the recovery! You’ve got a team cheering you on now!
Thanks Jessica!
So what advice would you give to people who know little to nothing about stocks and would rather avoid the spinning headache caused by attempting to figure out what any of it means, stock lingo is all so scary & confusing lol. We know Bank CD’s and IRA’s are options but what else is out there? Maybe some ideas for other non “traditional investor” types who have a pile of money just sitting in a savings account because they don’t know where else to put it?
I’ve been thinking about this same thing. There is always real estate, but that’s not something I know a ton about, plus you need lots of money there. There is Lending Club for sure, and I feel confident about that. But even then you are only talking 9% returns…I may have some posts on “alternative investing” options in the future, it interests me as well.
I can speak from experience when it comes to real estate. I rent out a house that was purchased when I was in college. Currently the rent brings in $400 more a month than the mortgage, which is a very good return. On the other hand though, owning and renting real estate is a constant source of worry. I rent to college kids, which carries a different set of issues than most people get renting to a single family, however either way you will end up purchasing your earnings through worry.
I don’t think with credit as tight as it is at the moment that flipping houses is as viable an opportunity as it once was.