Anyone Tried Day Trading After Retirement?

[RetiredAt49]

After I retired earlier this year, I started to study day trading. I’m a software engineer by trade and have many patents related to techniques similar to those day traders use like exponential moving averages.

Currently just playing with different approaches but might put some money towards it especially as I watch my portfolio drop but only if I consistently trade successfully using paper money (simulators).

 

[brett]

No. But a few years ago during a conversation with our CPA I casually mentioned day trading as a bit of a joke.

Her response was that she had several day traders as clients. Mostly made up of people who had lost their jobs fpr reason or another.

Her comment was that not one of them had done all that well from a tax year income perspective. Sure, they had some great hits and liked to talk them up.

But she audited their statements, did the tax returns. She said she quickly learned about the dog trades they never mentioned.

 

[DrRoy]

In a word - no.

 

[aja8888]

Trading options is fun too!

 

[razztazz]

Sounds like too much work but that's just me. If you have software that tells you when to buy/sell I guess you can kill a few hours and make some money too. If I had something like that to use I might try it with a small percentage of my money.

 

[easysurfer]

Sounds like a good way to lose a lot of money, unretire and then go back to w*rk .

 

[street]

Sounds like too much work but that's just me. If you have software that tells you when to buy/sell I guess you can kill a few hours and make some money too. If I had something like that to use I might try it with a small percentage of my money.

It has always been intriguing to me but would be too much work for me and not sure I would be successful. I believe for me it would more frustration than it would be worth to me.

It is something that needs a lot of time and a desire to do that type of work/hobby etc..

 

[arcyallen]

Here are the four facts that come to mind every time I hear about day trading:
-I never hear about the money losing trades that must exist. If I only hear about the good and none of the inevitable bad from people who actually trade, that's a red flag.
-People say they like doing it, but never seem to do it for very long.
-Short term buying and selling is trying to predict what your fellow man will do (to investment prices). When I look at the people around me in this world, I can't predict practically anything that they'll do. I struggle to think anyone can.
-If you're successful doing anything (like gambling) for a short while, it can be easy to believe it's skill and not luck giving those results. If you can consistently be successful over long periods of time, fantastic! But those stories are rare and always feel questionable at best.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

You cannot beat the computers, they are faster and smarter.

 

[Time2]

I have an retired acquaintance that tried day trading and lost enough money that he quit. Then a few years later, he for some unknown reason, tried again, and lost more money.

 

[Aerides]

No.

Too much else to spend my time on. If I wanted to be chained to a computer looking at numbers all day...well that's why I retired in the first place.

 

[aja8888]

Sounds like a good way to lose a lot of money, unretire and then go back to w*rk .

If one really wants to lose a LOT of money, use a margin loan for your trading equity. Play the short game too!

 

[njhowie]

You cannot beat the computers, they are faster and smarter.

That may be true. However, that does not mean that computers have an advantage in, or are trading in every stock. As an individual "trader", one approach (which I have done significant work on and been successful with) is to focus on those stocks where there is significantly greater potential for market inefficiencies, and where if the computers are trading, you can exploit and take advantage of them ... because you know (as a result of tracking them over time) they are following certain algorithms.

 

[VanWinkle]

Here are the four facts that come to mind every time I hear about day trading:
-I never hear about the money losing trades that must exist. If I only hear about the good and none of the inevitable bad from people who actually trade, that's a red flag.
-People say they like doing it, but never seem to do it for very long.
-Short term buying and selling is trying to predict what your fellow man will do (to investment prices). When I look at the people around me in this world, I can't predict practically anything that they'll do. I struggle to think anyone can.
-If you're successful doing anything (like gambling) for a short while, it can be easy to believe it's skill and not luck giving those results. If you can consistently be successful over long periods of time, fantastic! But those stories are rare and always feel questionable at best.

+100

 

[ERD50]

Anyone Tried Day Trading After Retirement?

I did a bit of it before I retired, which was good so that I'm not tempted to try it after I retired!

Lots of algorithms will work, until they don't.

-ERD50

 

[Sojourner]

I sell puts and calls on various ETFs, monthly, for income. This isn't "day trading", as I only do it one day per month and it doesn't involve buying and selling stocks based on intraday price fluctuations. But the goal is basically the same, since I do it to generate some extra income. I doubt I'd ever be interested in day trading per se, for exactly the same reasons that @Aerides mentioned.

 

[Car-Guy]

In a word, YES.... Sometimes I go to the casinos, sometimes I day trade...(Lot's of similarities.) However, day trading is a little more controllable since if things are going south, I can get out and minimize my losses. Not so much in a casino. When I'm shooting Craps or playing Roulette once the dice are thrown or the ball drops, it's either cheers or tears.

 

[11522914]

Here are the four facts that come to mind every time I hear about day trading:
-I never hear about the money losing trades that must exist. If I only hear about the good and none of the inevitable bad from people who actually trade, that's a red flag.
-People say they like doing it, but never seem to do it for very long.
-Short term buying and selling is trying to predict what your fellow man will do (to investment prices). When I look at the people around me in this world, I can't predict practically anything that they'll do. I struggle to think anyone can.
-If you're successful doing anything (like gambling) for a short while, it can be easy to believe it's skill and not luck giving those results. If you can consistently be successful over long periods of time, fantastic! But those stories are rare and always feel questionable at best.

I truly couldn't have said it any better. Here is my story.

I have been day trading for decades. The late 90's were very profitable. Crazy times those were. I usually did it on my lunch break when I was working. It was fun and I made very good money. Since then it was profitable but not like the 90s. I would say the biggest change that made it much harder was when stocks moved from trading 1/8 of a point to pennies. The whipsaws were incredible. And today computers do all the trading.

Once I retired 3 1/2 years ago I started day trading much more than in the past. I made a nice chuck of change over about a 6 month period. I had a great strategy that was working well.

Until it didn't.

Over the next 3 years I tried everything. With a bull market you think it would be easy. It started to not be fun towards the end and I ultimately gave back everything I made over that 6 month period. 6 months to make it, 3 years to give it all back.

Since I track everything, over my years of day trading I made money but in hindsight I would have made more with less stress just investing in the SPY. Who would have thought the run we've had since 2009.

My suggestion after decades of doing this. Avoid it at all costs.

Now I stick with my allocation and finally am done with it.

 

[youbet]

I allow up to 5% of my investible assets to be involved in my short term "schemes and crazy ideas." But I'm not sure I'd call it "day trading" which generally involves holding some asset for less than a day. I've been doing it as a hobby for many years.

The bulk of my equity investments are in broad based index funds like VTSMX or SPY. But I get in and out of some micro-caps from time to time and do OK. And I have a few stocks I'll wind up holding for some months. Also, a close family member works for start-ups and other small companies and changes jobs frequently. I like to get ideas from her and have made some money with stocks based on her specific industry knowledge.

I like learning new things as a geezer and getting into some short term trading, covered calls, preferred stocks (really interesting!) and bonds is very entertaining. Lots of information here on the board to be harvested and I tip my hat to the folks I've been learning from. And having a bit of "skin in the game" keeps my geezer mind into it.

It would not change our lifestyle if I completely lost the 5%. But, so far, I've done a bit better than my index funds and enjoyed the activity. The biggest downside is getting everything set up so when I'm away from my home desk for weeks at a time, nothing/little needs attention I'm not comfortable handling from my phone or tablet in short order.

Much of the practicality of doing this as a hobby is your personality. I've never, not once, not ever, never, been tempted to violate my 5% rule. Right now, I'm well below 5%. In fact, I'm usually well below 5%. I've never bet at a race track, purchased a lottery ticket, been to a casino or done online betting. None. But I do like to learn about investing and having some modest skin in the game keeps me interested.

 

[audreyh1]

Day trading was very very popular in 1999 and 2000 around when I retired. You heard about it all the time.

No thanks, it’s basically a job.

 

[aja8888]

Day trading was very very popular in 1999 and 2000.

No thanks, it’s basically a job.

And generally, a lousy one at that.

 

[11522914]

I allow up to 5% of my investible assets to be involved in my short term "schemes and crazy ideas." But I'm not sure I'd call it "day trading" which generally involves holding some asset for less than a day. I've been doing it as a hobby for many years.

The bulk of my equity investments are in broad based index funds like VTSMX or SPY. But I get in and out of some micro-caps from time to time and do OK. And I have a few stocks I'll wind up holding for some months. Also, a close family member works for start-ups and other small companies and changes jobs frequently. I like to get ideas from her and have made some money with stocks based on her specific industry knowledge.

I like learning new things as a geezer and getting into some short term trading, covered calls, preferred stocks (really interesting!) and bonds is very entertaining. Lots of information here on the board to be harvested and I tip my hat to the folks I've been learning from. And having a bit of "skin in the game" keeps my geezer mind into it.

It would not change our lifestyle if I completely lost the 5%. But, so far, I've done a bit better than my index funds and enjoyed the activity. The biggest downside is getting everything set up so when I'm away from my home desk for weeks at a time, nothing/little needs attention I'm not comfortable handling from my phone or tablet in short order.

Much of the practicality of doing this as a hobby is your personality. I've never, not once, not ever, never, been tempted to violate my 5% rule. Right now, I'm well below 5%. In fact, I'm usually well below 5%. I've never bet at a race track, purchased a lottery ticket, been to a casino or done online betting. None. But I do like to learn about investing and having some modest skin in the game keeps me interested.

When I retired my rule was not to lose more than 10k. As I mentioned previously I made much more than 10k in 6 months and then gave it all back over 3 years. I literally made about $100 over that 3 1/2 year period. Stopped when I was close to losing some of my non-day trading assets.

Do I wish I applied my 10k loss rule when I made all that money in the 6 month period. Hell yeah!!!!

Oh well life goes on with much less stress now.

 

[38Chevy454]

Too much like work for me. Buy and hold for majority of my equity. I do have a small stocks play account where I try to beat the indexes. It's been a rough year stocks in general.

 

[audreyh1]

Sounds like a good way to lose a lot of money, unretire and then go back to w*rk .

I think quite a few people did exactly that, late 90s and early 2000s.

I deliberately chose a low volatility investing plan that required minimal effort so could it be mostly left alone. Pretty much just once a year withdrawal and housekeeping most years.

 

[brett]

I made money and retired early by working hard and working smart at what I knew best.

I am not a stock market guru, financial guru nor do I have a 'system'.

I do not want to risk any of the equity I have on a day trading career learning curve.

Besides....I am not looking for work.