Self-employed and making good money from equity trading
Posted: August 10th, 2019, 12:34 pm
Question on the MBA Crystal Ball Blog:
Congrats on being able to make more money from your passion than your regular job. Not many are able to do that.
On the point about taking the big step of changing careers from IT to finance, keep in mind that doing something for oneself (out of interest) is very different from offering the same as a service to paying (and highly demanding) clients.
Also, I’m guessing the process you follow for your investments would be significantly different (and less rigorous, scientific and risk-aware) from what asset management funds do. The minute you start doing what the big funds do (fundamental / statistical research with tight deadlines), it can turn into a stressful job like any other.
And despite your decade long experience, you’ll have to start at the bottom (probably as a research analyst) churning out tons of charts and data, without the decision-making power that you currently enjoy with your own funds.
Think about these aspects before you invest in an expensive MBA assuming it’ll pave the way for a fun-filled, lucrative and adventurous job in a hedge fund (with a super-selective hiring process).
The alternate option is to enjoy investing for yourself and probably do it for a few friends and family members who aren’t as savvy as you are with their investments. If you are able to give them the same returns that you’ve enjoyed for years, you can take a call on whether to leave your IT job to do this full-time.
You get to do what you like without the pressures of a post MBA job.
My response:I am earning more from equity trading than from my 10-year IT job. I want to pursue MBA in finance, work for a HF for few years, understand the setup, and then either continue in HF or have my own fund. Though there is no problem with my IT career, I want to follow my dream. Pls advise.
Congrats on being able to make more money from your passion than your regular job. Not many are able to do that.
On the point about taking the big step of changing careers from IT to finance, keep in mind that doing something for oneself (out of interest) is very different from offering the same as a service to paying (and highly demanding) clients.
Also, I’m guessing the process you follow for your investments would be significantly different (and less rigorous, scientific and risk-aware) from what asset management funds do. The minute you start doing what the big funds do (fundamental / statistical research with tight deadlines), it can turn into a stressful job like any other.
And despite your decade long experience, you’ll have to start at the bottom (probably as a research analyst) churning out tons of charts and data, without the decision-making power that you currently enjoy with your own funds.
Think about these aspects before you invest in an expensive MBA assuming it’ll pave the way for a fun-filled, lucrative and adventurous job in a hedge fund (with a super-selective hiring process).
The alternate option is to enjoy investing for yourself and probably do it for a few friends and family members who aren’t as savvy as you are with their investments. If you are able to give them the same returns that you’ve enjoyed for years, you can take a call on whether to leave your IT job to do this full-time.
You get to do what you like without the pressures of a post MBA job.