It was a national holiday in the UK on Monday so I took my girlfriend out for a long romantic/dirty weekend. It was pretty much a spontaneous thing (not something I really planned to do as I've known her for a relatively short time) but it just felt like the right moment to propose - there was no tennis to trade on Sunday, so the time was perfect. No, just kidding. I mean, there was indeed nothing to trade on Sunday but that's not why I popped the question then! I won't bore you with the ins and outs of the proposal, just to let you know that she said yes and my life is about to change massively! What does this have to do with trading, you ask? Well, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that it could have a big impact on my working life. In a year or two, there is a strong chance I will have children - that's an entire family to look after.
When I was single, I never had to worry about big responsibilities such as this. I could take my time, learn how to trade when I wanted to, earn enough to just get by and pay my bills. In more recent times it meant I could save up for and then go on big trips like the one next year and do pretty much what I wanted with my spare pennies. I now have other people to think about and my future becomes far more important. Of course, I had already decided that I was going to quit trading and move into a new career path but now that is perhaps something I need to think about a bit more. In terms of purely getting married, it doesn't really make any difference. It won't stop me making that career change. But in terms of financing a family - HUGE difference. There's also some unpredictability about it. Who knows exactly when those children could pop into my life - or how many! It wasn't something I'd ever given much thought because to be honest, I wasn't that bothered about having them. Not till recently. Gradually, I've started to have more paternal feelings, that have really caught me by surprise because I'd never felt that before and didn't think I ever would.
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Anyway, the gist of it is, if I'm gonna be a father, I need to think more carefully about what I'm going to do in future. I've written before about how other successful traders I know who have families, have their fingers in other pies besides their own individual trading. I am all geared up towards next year being my final year on the ladders, so whatever I get into, it won't be related to trading. But I suppose I've always got trading to fall back on, if my new career venture doesn't work out. Or maybe there's a way I can fit it around my new chosen career.
This has all happened very quickly - a bit of a whirlwind! So I'm really just getting my thoughts in order by writing this blog post. But thoughts of the future, financial stability etc, have become a much bigger issue all of a sudden and I don't mind admitting it's a bit scary. The pressure that brings with it could have a detrimental effect on my trading, as it's even more important that I try to make the most of my final year. But then, it also gives me greater motivation to do the best that I can and perhaps that is just the challenge I need to keep me focused; something I have written about many times as being the most difficult aspect of trading now that I'm doing well. Anyway, I've gotta go, the fiance is moaning at me for spending too long on the internet............maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all!
When I was single, I never had to worry about big responsibilities such as this. I could take my time, learn how to trade when I wanted to, earn enough to just get by and pay my bills. In more recent times it meant I could save up for and then go on big trips like the one next year and do pretty much what I wanted with my spare pennies. I now have other people to think about and my future becomes far more important. Of course, I had already decided that I was going to quit trading and move into a new career path but now that is perhaps something I need to think about a bit more. In terms of purely getting married, it doesn't really make any difference. It won't stop me making that career change. But in terms of financing a family - HUGE difference. There's also some unpredictability about it. Who knows exactly when those children could pop into my life - or how many! It wasn't something I'd ever given much thought because to be honest, I wasn't that bothered about having them. Not till recently. Gradually, I've started to have more paternal feelings, that have really caught me by surprise because I'd never felt that before and didn't think I ever would.
Alize Lim
Anyway, the gist of it is, if I'm gonna be a father, I need to think more carefully about what I'm going to do in future. I've written before about how other successful traders I know who have families, have their fingers in other pies besides their own individual trading. I am all geared up towards next year being my final year on the ladders, so whatever I get into, it won't be related to trading. But I suppose I've always got trading to fall back on, if my new career venture doesn't work out. Or maybe there's a way I can fit it around my new chosen career.
This has all happened very quickly - a bit of a whirlwind! So I'm really just getting my thoughts in order by writing this blog post. But thoughts of the future, financial stability etc, have become a much bigger issue all of a sudden and I don't mind admitting it's a bit scary. The pressure that brings with it could have a detrimental effect on my trading, as it's even more important that I try to make the most of my final year. But then, it also gives me greater motivation to do the best that I can and perhaps that is just the challenge I need to keep me focused; something I have written about many times as being the most difficult aspect of trading now that I'm doing well. Anyway, I've gotta go, the fiance is moaning at me for spending too long on the internet............maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all!