Do you have any side gigs?

I invest, but then I also sell carnivorous plants. It's a random, weird thing I got into. If it's good enough for Charles Darwin, it's good enough for me.

Pays for my Starbucks every month, but I'm basically out of stock right now. Lol

 

I’ve often wondered how a driver can day trade—doesn’t it take more attention than you can give it, since you’re generally reacting to fairly small changes?

 

@TravR1 is doing that from his truck.

 

Yeah, the stock market is very cool thing. Don't listen to people that tell you it's rigged against you. I'm definitely not an expert, but I can start you off with a few pointers if you are interesting in trying your hand at trading. Sorry for writing a novel, but there's a lot to say, and it can be a deep rabbit hole, especially for new folks.

But I don't really day trade, per say. I do some short-term trade sometimes. If I see something happening that looks obvious, I'll get on it and so far it has worked out pretty good. The key there in my case I don't get greedy and I don't think I am smarter than I really am. The market is very good at punishing greed. Just because I win a few times it doesn't mean I'm a genius. Everyone wins, sometimes you just get lucky.

Those Wallstreetbets rookies were kind enough to buy me a new laptop a couple months ago. They paid for a vacation too. My initial investment there was small. The wallstreetbets is a new movement that's getting a lot of publicity, but don't follow them. They are just kids and they don't really know what they are doing. You will definitely hear about them as you learn and read.

For starting out I would read a couple books about the stock market. Not the get rich quick books, read fundamental stuff like "Stock Market for Dummies" That was the first book I ever read on the market. Then choose markets that you understand the best, then start watching companies you like. Spend an hour or two everyday just watching, reading, researching. Try to understand other people that are trading with you. Forums are helpful there. Then fall into a humble strategy that works for you, and your schedule. I think that's a good start. Dont mess with shorts, puts, or calls. That's more advanced stuff that ruins new comers. Don't trade with margins (borrowed money). If you get good a year or more later later, fine. But don't start with that stuff. Just focus on buying and selling with cash you have and see how well you do.

If you want short-term trades it's 100x easier if you already have a position when the crowd shows up, then you can profit off momentum growth. But if you aren't already there, it's harder to chase momentum, so to speak. That will make more sense as you read and learn.

Long term trading is going to be easier, and that's where I've made most of my money so far. But occasionally I see an opportunity to make a few quick bucks, and that's always fun when it happens. I target mostly tech stocks because I spent about 10 years in technology and so that market is second nature to me. You should target a market that makes sense to you.

The 3 things I've been told by folks smarter than me that stuck with me:
-The market goes up more than it goes down, but it does down faster than it goes up.
-Everyone is a winner until they arent, then everything changes.
-If you want to make money in the market, you have to be willing to do things that most people can't do.

The 3rd mean that you buy or hold when everyone else is selling. Then you "leave money on the table" and you sell while the price is still going up. Because you don't know when the price drops again. If you are short-term trading you need to have your plan before you start, and stick to it. When everyone else is being greedy and holding, you take your profit and jump. What happens after that doesn't matter. If the price keeps going up, you don't get mad at yourself. You keep your eye on your strategy.

Don't short-term trade with your entire nest egg, maybe just allocate about 2% for playing with and see how it goes. The rest leave in safer choices. If you end up being very good at it, make sure you understand tax laws. That's a hairy mess. Your gains count as income, and short-term trades are taxed higher than longer-term holds. If you really start getting into it, please talk to a tax advisor. Make sure you report your winnings, don't leave it out, the IRS will see it. Even if you trade crypto, just report it. There's a lot of people that have been trading crypto last year that are in trouble this year because they didn't think about Uncle Sam. There are some weird tax rules about short-term trades.

Good luck. Have fun. Be patient. Don't bet the farm. Don't get greedy.

 

If you really wanted to get into day trading you can set stop losses and sell conditions which will happen while you are driving. My step dad loves stop loses. I have never used them because I don't buy with the intention of selling the same day.

But some of my short-term plays have worked out very well. lol. Two of my latest success are:

Blackberry: I bought at 8 per share. Wallstreetbets pumped that up to 20 for some weird reason. I sold my position at 18.
Dogecoin: Bought at .30 per coin, sold at .60. Kiddos loved that coin because Musk talked it up on one of his podcasts, probably while high.

That's why I mentioned to try to understand the traders you are trading with. These people doing this silliness are my age and younger. Young people with big ideas and big mouths. They want to stick it to "greedy bankers." But what they don't know is they are handing people their playbook. They are more than happy to announce to everyone on the internet what they are about to do. LOL. They aren't sticking it to anyone but themselves. It's like playing against them with loaded dice.

Some of those kids bought my junk at 100%+ markups, and the prices haven't been back to ranges since. *shrug* I don't get what their plan is here.

 

crypto and stocks....

 

Venus Fly Traps? I had one as a kid. It was great. I don't see a lot of money out of that. If you want to run side hustles with your job, unless you sell lizards or are Burt Reynolds, I don't see you will have the time for that. I may be wrong, I mostly am, but still.

 

Lol I'm not looking to make money, necessarily. It's my zen time. But it does pay for coffee.

 

Oh and yeah. Venus fly traps, sundews, pitcher plants...all kinds of cool stuff.