A few years ago, I traded currencies and stock indices for my personal benefit. Everyday, on my spare time, I studied the markets and tried to code effective strategies for my trading robots. This was really addictive and very time consuming. Even with robots to manage my orders, I stayed for hours (at night, and sometimes at work) in front of the charts to see where the market was going and how much I was earning or losing. I was successful and it was even more addictive because of my growing bank account. After 2 years 1/2, one of my brokers offered me a job in a hedge fund (and explained me by the way how a broker earns money by betting on the loss of its customers). My wife was very reluctant to this idea because my main job is a stable source of income while this new job was a deep dive into uncertainty (since a significant part of my wage would have been based on the yearly result). I tried to convince her that it could be an excellent opportunity to make a lot of money quickly and stop working after a few years, but she did not accept the idea. I'm really glad of that today because she was right: this was not a job for me and it would have probably ruined our family life. We had a baby the same year and I realized that I was a social ghost. Not enough time for my wife, not enough time for my baby, not enough time for my friends (except the one who traded too). At a given time, I even wondered if I was really there for me too, because I was not happy. Too much tiredness. Too much stress. I was probably on the verge of losing more than money. And I'm glad that my wife and my baby opened my eyes.
Of course, my life took a turn there. After 3 lucrative years, I've decided to stop trading, definitely, and admitted that it was a destructive addiction. (Then I met B4A and this forum but it's another story.
) I never had a complaint of my wife about all the money we never earned because of this decision. I never had a complaint of my son about all the toys he never had. I'm less rich today that I could have been, but so happy.
Since a few years, I also reduced my programming activity at home to an ordinary activity like painting or playing piano (in fact, even less, because I prefer running than programming these times). It's probably the easiest way to make your hobby acceptable: "when you paint, I program, when you stop, I stop, and then we do something together."
Of course, my life took a turn there. After 3 lucrative years, I've decided to stop trading, definitely, and admitted that it was a destructive addiction. (Then I met B4A and this forum but it's another story.
) I never had a complaint of my wife about all the money we never earned because of this decision. I never had a complaint of my son about all the toys he never had. I'm less rich today that I could have been, but so happy.Since a few years, I also reduced my programming activity at home to an ordinary activity like painting or playing piano (in fact, even less, because I prefer running than programming these times). It's probably the easiest way to make your hobby acceptable: "when you paint, I program, when you stop, I stop, and then we do something together."
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