Saw this and thought it could easily relate to a trader’s life as well..

“I like to write, for one thing. And I live in fear…writing is how I pay the bills and if I am not writing, I start worrying about ending up boiling hamburgers at McDonalds while my wife sells her body on Sunset.” (Lee Goldberg)

This was in response to a question on how he can write so much.  While writing constantly does not have many consequences, trading constantly does.

I can not tell you how important it is not to over trade while learning how you trade.  I used to day-trade up to ten times a day, my commission structure was golden so I just went at it.  Then my family and I moved our accounts to Schwab and my account got decimated by the $20 round trip commissions.  Yeah, it’s not that expensive until you realize I was trading on a $20,000 account and trading up to tens times a day ate away at my profits and just added to my losses.

So,  I stopped trading and I am still adjusting to swing trading and barely day trading (at the moment).

Anyway, always remember that in one really screwed up trade, you could be one step away from flipping burgers at McD’s.