When people ask you what you do for a living, and you tell them you trade the stock markets they’ll often respond with something along the lines of "Oh, that’s interesting … My uncle’s a dentist and he’s just bought a bunch of gold shares. Have you thought about doing that?" Otherwise it’s, "Oh really? So, what should I be buying now?" Hey, just because I spend my life trying to figure that out, why should you, right? But by far the most irritating are the "professionals" – those who invest other people’s money. No-one is more dismissive. What immediately sets them apart is that, unlike you, they’re "serious". In other words, they’ve got loads more money to play with. Not their own money, mind you, but you’d be surprised how much more difficult it is for them to put other people’s money at risk than it is for you to "play" with your own. Heaven forbid they then find out you’re into penny stocks. If they don’t immediately walk away, there’s the inevitable rebuke: "Why would you want ...
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