Whenever I spend more than 2 weeks in a country, I make it a point to befriend the locals and assimilate as much as possible into the culture.
I do this not just because I find people to be mostly good and kind, but also because I like to understand how people in different cultures think.
What Does Your Culture Value?
One thing I’ve learned, is that what people value depends largely on the culture they grew up in.
In many parts of China for example, wealth and social status is a big deal. For many urban Chinese, there is no such thing as having enough money. Kids are taught from a young age to study hard (and I mean, really hard), get good grades, get a respectable job, and make lots of money. The more cars and houses one owns, the better.
In Thailand however, things are a little different. The Thais generally prefer a more relaxed and peaceful way of life. They like to joke around and don’t take life too seriously. That’s probably why I like spending so much time in the Land of Smiles.
This said, despite the many cultural differences, I find that most people around the world have one major thing in common…
Most People Have One Major Thing In Common
In my travels, I’ve made friends with teachers, DJ’s, cooks, engineers, doctors, lawyers, business owners, bankers, programmers, and more.
And the one thing most of them have in common, is a dissatisfaction with their day job.
They’re typically frustrated with their boss or colleagues, the salary, long working hours, or the lack of career progression.
In our conversations, many have privately confessed that they are just waiting for the last straw to finally get the guts to quit.
The Purpose Of Your Job
Now here’s something to consider: Why should anyone be happy with their day job?
It may seem obvious, but people tend to forget that a job exists primarily for the benefit of the company’s owners, not the worker.
Being unsatisfied with your job is thus like being unsatisfied with an apple tree for not producing oranges… you are expecting something out of a system that it’s not designed to provide.
If you have a regular job, it is you who are expected to make the business owner happy, by producing good work and accepting a salary lower than your worth to the company.
How satisfied you are with your job is not nearly as important as how satisfied your company is with you.
Is The World Fair?
As a young adult, I quickly came to learn that the world is an inherently unfair place.
For example, if you were born into a low income family, the career opportunities you’ll get will be dramatically inferior than that of someone born to wealthy parents.
Likewise, in many countries, your ethnicity and education level will dictate how far you can go in your career, regardless of your actual capability.
Even if you produce better results at work, a more outspoken but less capable colleague might get picked over you for a promotion.
That’s just “the way things are”, isn’t it?
As much as we want to believe in fairness, the reality is that wealth and success in the corporate world is often not bestowed upon those who deserve it.
A Career In Which Capability Is All That Matters
So why do I love Forex trading?
Because trading doesn’t care about my age, where I was born, or the color of my skin.
It doesn’t care what language I speak, who my parents are, or which school I went to.
I can be a straight-A student or a high school dropout, and it wouldn’t matter.
All trading cares about, is whether I can make the right decisions.
The better my decisions, the better my performance and the more money I make.
And if I lose money… well, there’s only one person to blame. There’s only one factor that determines my success: me.
For some people, this might be an intimidating idea. But for me, it’s incredibly liberating.
As a trader, I don’t have to worry about office politics, unreasonable clients, or a fickle-tempered boss. My time and energy can be better invested in improving my trading operation and education.
How well I do in this business is entirely dependent on me, not anyone else… and that’s just the way I like it.
Hi Chris, I think it all depends on your outlook in life. If what you are doing is your passion and that is what you have desired all your life, you will be a success whether you are doing Forex, Engineering, Medical etc. and will not view it as a job as such. Can you imagine everybody doing Forex, where will you go to if you are sick if there is nobody that is passionate about being a doctor? To them it is not a burden and therefor not really a job.
Hi Frank,
I see where you’re coming from. However, this post isn’t about interest and passion.
It’s about the characteristics of regular day jobs. One might love engineering for example, but not love working at an engineering job, for reasons mentioned in the post.
Frank is correct, you must be passionate about what you do, but most passions don’t pay any money right off the bat and most if not ALL people are deterred from their passions at a young age by their parents. “Go study hard and get good grades.”
The banker never ask you did you get high marks in school, do you have an MBA, CPA, CFA, or some other high falutent degree from some prestigious school. The banker only cares about your net worth, liquid assets and hard assets and your debt. You can only have grade 6 education, but if you can tell the banker I’m worth $12 million with $6 million in current assets, cash, bonds, t-bills etc. the banker eyes will light up….”How much money you want to borrow.” and YOu say %1,000,000. The banker then says “ONLY.” And then you tell the banker…”Well I dropped out of school at grade 6 .” And the banker then replies…”Many more people should have dropped out….I could be making many more loans. But, alas they went to study in school like I did. I can even borrow 1/10 of the money you grade 6 dropout wants…but see my wall….full of titles.!!!
The quicker you learn a skill on “making money” be if Forex, Futures, stocks, ETF, options, online selling, bloggin, copywriting whatever you do where YOU are in control and NO employees…the better of you will be. And the younger you start…like 9/10/11/12 the better off you are because you will need to spend 10,000 hours minimum to become and expert and you will only be 16. By the time you are 21/22/23 latest 24 you will be able to print money at will, YES print money at will ( like every day making 100-500 pips 1 standard lot or 6 standard lots, or on futures on TF ( mini Russell 2000 or ES mini S&P500) making 9-12 pts and 12-18 pts respectively nearly every day.
This is where you want to be…the ‘Ability to print money everyday..and great money, so you can have that lifestyle.’
My own story on Futures trading TF and ES is I lost over $333,000 in 5 years….broke..had to get a job…did for 4 years to survive….sold the house, wife mad and left…EVERYBODY MAD AND LEFT…FAMILY DON’T talk to me….but now I CAN PRINT MONEY EVERYDAY ON THE TF AND ES. Rarely a losing day and I go for HI to LO. 2-3 contracts on TF and 1-2 on ES. Oct 1 I made over $10,000 on TF trading primarily 2 contracts and 3 on one trade. 3 trades in the day…one from overnight. ES was over $3,000 for Oct 1.
Oct 2 night…ES short at 1921 tgt 1897.25 ( 5 pt stop ) 1 contract. May move to 1900. TF short 1099.0 tgt 1085 ( 1 at 3 pt stop 4 pt stop ) 2 contracts. I rarely do overnight trades..but I knew yesterday was going to be good. Tonight…feel…continuation of trend down. Anyway, tommorrow will print some more money if I do get stopped out tonight.
I am now looking into Forex. Seems Mt4 a good platform.
Any advice on Forex will be appreciated.
I spent over 10,000 on daytrading TF ( ER2 back in 2005 ) and ES from 2005-2010 and lost all, went broke. Called a bum, loser, etc. you name it.
Losers…never try. Winners try, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail and then win. Quitters ( losers ) never win and WINNERS NEVER QUIT.!!!
Don’t you EVER QUIT.!!! Nobody will believe in you..for even if you doing Forex…you will fail many times…so many gurus..just selling shit…never trading etc.
Do whatever it takes to win…lose family, friends etc. And you will win…10,000 hours +, go broke, come back….STRONG.!!!
Money….Ka-Ching.
Hey Socrates,
Love your story.
MT4 is the best platform I’ve used so far, mainly because it’s lightweight (loads fast) and easy to use.
If you have any questions with it feel free to write in.
Hello Chris,
And all. Did anyone see my call last night late Oct 1/early morn Oct 2. See above. I got stopped out on my ES trade but put on 3 carats at 1928 on ES and had the 3 on TF. I made a killing on the down move.
On TF got in at 1076.4/1073.5 was my downside targets. Got in at 1076.4 x 2 and 1 more at 1076.9 ( fill ). My upside target was 1114.4. I did get out at 1111.0. The 1114 came after mkt. You need emotional coolness to hang on. I was itching at 1096.7/1101, I guessed they were going to close at the high. My targets are hit 99% of the time. What I don’t know is how its going to get there. Sometimes I am up $2,000 and then only $400 and then it goes to my target and I get mucho dinero.
ES got in at 1884.5 x 2 ( ususally go 1, but so low ) and target was 1938.75. Trust me I was itching at 1919/1920, but kept my cool.
The way I figure, if I do mess up the $1/2,000 on 1 or 2 days, I will get it back the next 1/2/3 days 3 to 5 times fold.
Finally, Chris you way ahead of me. You got it going on…Look at your lifestyle. You started way before me…especially winning. I have only recently started winning last 3 months and especially the last 18 days.
I do not have a website…but the idea is to do what you are doing, lifestyle, making money and seeing the beautiful areas of the world. Yes “Land of the smiles” is great.
Oh yes, I will be asking you a few questions on Forex and Mt4. I plan to trade the weekly chart for longer term and just buy a put or call on the futures market as protection.
Your posts are excellent.
Best
Socrates ( Brazil captain in Heaven 1982)
Cheers 🙂
Hi Chris – I have to agree with you in regard to Forex being a great “job”. As I am in my seventies and unemployable ( at least employers seem to think I am too old) I have found forex trading just the thing for me to make extra money and be able to enjoy life without overly worrying about running out of money. Funny, but I am able to be a successful trader even if I am too old for standard jobs. I really get a kick out of trading, keeps the mind sharp. Thank you for your ebook and blog.
Exactly! Trading is something you can do as long as you have a lucid mind.
Hi Chris,
I always enjoy your provocative and insightful emails.
I have often thought about these things of job status and opportunity , it’s hard not to.
Some people are blessed with a vision and a career goal early on and some find it later. Others dont find a ‘normal’career path at all and for them it can leave them feeling hollow and unfortunate as a career is such a big part of your mojo.
I too feel blessed at 55 to find something that both challenges and allows me to dream big and work hard toward the very challenging status of a ‘successful’ trader.
The Dylan songline ‘you gotta serve somebody’ is still true but a whole lot harder to grasp I would think if success and its real freedom as a trader can be realised. Harvey O
🙂
Hi Chris.
Thought for the day any job that you can do without employees or premises is a big plus, and if it provides a deal of satisfaction and remuneration, then much smiles, if in dought read “Rich Dad Poor dad” by Robert Kiyosaki good read for small money.
Regards Henry
Yes that’s one of the things I love about trading. No employees or fixed office required.
Forex trading is like a BOSS of your company,all you need is a lucid mind & fastest fingers to buy & sell no age bar biggest advantage.
Chris Lee thanks for your blog ,highly informative & motivational for FOREX traders/learners.
S.Srinivas Rao Chavan
Thanks for leaving a comment Srinivas. Glad to be of service.
In keeping with your interest in The 4 Hour Work Week, there is no better job than trading – if you can do it well! It affords the greatest of all luxuries- time freedom – if you need an extra car payment, make it 4 1/2 hours!
Hi Chris
Do your candlestick strategies work equally well in Forex as well as the Stock Market?
I don’t know. I’ve only really been an active Forex trader.
Also, how effective is it to enter the Stock Market or Forex Market after retirement at the age of 61??????????????
I would say that it depends on each individual. It wouldn’t be reasonable to make a blanket statement either way.
Hi Chris,
It’s reassuring to read the reasons why some of us trade forex – no employees to pay salaries, no office rents to worry about, make money on the go, etc. Check out Kayc at 70 and Socrates having fun trading forex. Please find away to help those of us still struggling to gain traction in Forex trading for we are already passionate for it. Thank you for writing great articles on trading.
Edmund​.