Better to be Rich or Wealthy?

Hi all, time to climb back up on the soapbox,

You will remember I let you all know the reasons why I trade last month in an article you can read here.

I thought it was important I wrote this publicly for two main reasons, one, so you all get an insight into what makes me tick and my true motivations, and two, to remind myself why I got into this caper in the first place.

If you haven’t thought about this for yourself, I really recommend you do it, it will ensure you do not become too reckless.

In that article I wrote three main motivators for my trading, to escape the rat race, for my young son, and to realize a lifelong dream of helping the disabled.

All these are very genuine and truly are real motivators for me, but let’s not kid ourselves either, most of us are also in it for the copious amounts of money that can be made.

After all, none of the motivating factors I list can be achieved without a substantial sum of money, and despite the purity of everyone's intentions, no one would say no to a million dollars would they?

To many being rich, and being wealthy are one and the same things, to me they are two different entities altogether.

To be rich is to have many zeros at the end of your bank balance, an overly expensive house, two boats, a car, a wife named Fifi, and very little direction.

To be wealthy is to have enough money to live the way you wish to (yes even a wife named Fifi if you desire), while having enough money to branch out and achieve your life goals.

The difference? not the money, the bank balances may well be identical, the difference is life direction.

… is a million dollars enough for your goals? or is it too much and you are just putting too much pressure on your trading day …

With this in mind, it is a great idea to plan your trading around those life goals. It is easy to say "how many pips do I need to make a million dollars", but is a million dollars enough for your goals? or is it too much and you are just putting too much pressure on your trading day? Do you get my drift?

Let me give you an example, I have just completed my goal setting for the trading year, my aim by the end of the year is to be working part-time and trading full-time, for my wife not to have to go back to work and for us to be in a position to buy a house.

At first, this sounds daunting, and possibly an unrealistic target (which it still may be).

However, when I broke it down, it equates to around an average of 20 pips every trading day, certainly within the realms of possibility, considering I average around 30 pips a day at the moment.

So when you are planning your trading goals (you are going to right?), think about where you want to be at the end of the year, then work out what that will cost, not the other way around.

If you do this, you could avoid a bunch of pressure that wasn’t needed, why go for 100 pips a day when all you need is 20?

Why put that pressure on yourself when you didn’t even need those extra 80 pips anyway?

Best of luck with the year, if you are comfortable, leave a comment under this post with your goals, it would be great to hear why others to trade.

Happy trading!