Hi all,
I'm 54 with 2 teenagers. My skills in the stock market are abysmal, unfortunately, or I'd be in great shape. (I managed to LOSE money during the 1984 - 2000 mega-bull market, *sigh*) Fortunately DW and I were frugal and paid off all our debts. We own two houses (our own and a rental) free and clear. Things were looking pretty good. Or so I thought.
Unfortunately life had other plans -- DW recently informed me she no longer wants to be married to me. So in addition to the shock and grief of losing a 20-year marriage, there went half of my/our income & net worth, and my dreams of a fun retirement together. Fortunately I don't have to worry about alimony, since one of her complaints was that I didn't earn as much as she did (as much as I "should" have). We're splitting amicably and we'll share expenses of raising the boys.
So I'm planning on my own now. Even after helping our sons with college, I think I'm in moderately good shape. Not able to retire yet, especially with kids still at home, but in 8 years when the boys are out of college (or maybe even sooner) I think I'll be ready.
I also have an ace up my sleeve. Even though I can't pick a good stock to save my life, I'm very good at developing technical trading models for futures and other exotic markets, and some of those concepts can be applied to stocks as well. I did it professionally (and very successfully) for a few years around 2000-2002. If I'd done as well in 2002-2003 as I had for the 4 previous years, I could have retired years ago. Unfortunately the market changes after 9/11 blew a hole in the strategies I'd developed and forced me to close our commodity fund. Meanwhile DW had always despised my trading, considering it nothing more than a gambling addiction, so in an attempt to preserve domestic harmony I haven't been doing any active trading for the last 10 years. I've just been getting back into it recently. I'm confident I can place a portion of my portfolio into aggressive technical strategies that will significantly boost my overall returns. Haven't done much with real money quite yet -- still researching and deciding on the best approach.
I'm looking forward to learning lots and enjoying the community!
Gary
I'm 54 with 2 teenagers. My skills in the stock market are abysmal, unfortunately, or I'd be in great shape. (I managed to LOSE money during the 1984 - 2000 mega-bull market, *sigh*) Fortunately DW and I were frugal and paid off all our debts. We own two houses (our own and a rental) free and clear. Things were looking pretty good. Or so I thought.
Unfortunately life had other plans -- DW recently informed me she no longer wants to be married to me. So in addition to the shock and grief of losing a 20-year marriage, there went half of my/our income & net worth, and my dreams of a fun retirement together. Fortunately I don't have to worry about alimony, since one of her complaints was that I didn't earn as much as she did (as much as I "should" have). We're splitting amicably and we'll share expenses of raising the boys.
So I'm planning on my own now. Even after helping our sons with college, I think I'm in moderately good shape. Not able to retire yet, especially with kids still at home, but in 8 years when the boys are out of college (or maybe even sooner) I think I'll be ready.
I also have an ace up my sleeve. Even though I can't pick a good stock to save my life, I'm very good at developing technical trading models for futures and other exotic markets, and some of those concepts can be applied to stocks as well. I did it professionally (and very successfully) for a few years around 2000-2002. If I'd done as well in 2002-2003 as I had for the 4 previous years, I could have retired years ago. Unfortunately the market changes after 9/11 blew a hole in the strategies I'd developed and forced me to close our commodity fund. Meanwhile DW had always despised my trading, considering it nothing more than a gambling addiction, so in an attempt to preserve domestic harmony I haven't been doing any active trading for the last 10 years. I've just been getting back into it recently. I'm confident I can place a portion of my portfolio into aggressive technical strategies that will significantly boost my overall returns. Haven't done much with real money quite yet -- still researching and deciding on the best approach.
I'm looking forward to learning lots and enjoying the community!
Gary