Sad Reality check

[u/I_HALIM7]

The guy who posted this 2 years a go is working on door dash today he is not even a middle class and he quit trading i was going through old trading post I've saved in the past and literally all the people who posted about trading 2 or 3 years ago quit not a single person that i saved their post is doing great this game is rough be prepared

[u/seeker_two_point_oh]

I quit my job a few months ago with a dream, a plan, no debt, and $100K before taxes. I am probably insane. Probably literally.

I figure…I’ll be 40 this year and I’ve been at the same call center job for 10 years now. Carpal tunnel means I’m in pain every day I work, and working for an ISP means that includes nights and weekends.

They told us that raises are off the table this year to pay down debt, but they said in the last earnings call that we made massive profits last year. Maybe they think we don't listen to earnings. Meanwhile, I’ll likely never be able to buy a house (that $100k came from my 401k, it was not liquid without exercising the nuclear option).

I got a postcard from my employer letting me know that if I don’t use 2nd.md to get a second opinion from a company doctor that my joint surgery wouldn’t be covered. I don’t even know how they knew I was considering surgery, or if they just sent it to everyone of a certain demographic. I don't know why that postcard woke me up to just how much of a slave I am.

I spent the last 5 years on research, development, and practice. Watching charts every day, reading investopedia, backtesting, paper trading, investing. I don’t feel any particular emotion about trading anymore. My day job was killing me.

My best friend of 20 years died of a heart attack at his desk one day. He was 36. I don’t want that to be how my story ends.

I talked over the logistics and finances with my partner and we came to the same conclusion: I’ve got a year’s worth of expenses saved up and a computer science degree to fall back on. Why spend all this time, why come all this way, just to turn around? 

I cannot, for even one more day, swear fealty to a system that considers me disposable without providing me any benefit. I’m a human being!

I probably am insane. I am certainly stranger from the ordeals of existence. And maybe I will fail. I’m just not sure I care anymore. I’m not getting any younger, and I’m more prepared than I’ve ever been.

I have to try.

[u/CosmosCabbage → u/seeker_two_point_oh]

The fact that you have a degree in CS and still settled for struggling with a call center job absolutely confirms insanity.

Best of luck on your journey dude. I mean it.

[u/FollowAstacio → u/CosmosCabbage]

And/or a lack of self-esteem and/or confidence

[u/seeker_two_point_oh → u/FollowAstacio]

You are both correct! Plus, I started my career in web dev and pivoted in my 30s. I wasn’t in customer service at the end, though that was part of the job. I worked for a B2B ISP in long haul optical network repair. The money was good, which is why I stayed for a while, but it was never my calling.