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Fed up with my own lack of discipline, putting down a plan to reach FI

I started trading and learning trading options in 2010… I think it was 2010. I made money, lost money, made money, lost them again.
 

In 2012 I thought I knew everything. I didn’t.
 

In 2014 I started my own trading business. I though I knew everything. I didn’t.
 

Then I made money again. And almost lost them. This time actually I didn’t lose them. But, I locked my accounts in a deadlock of bad trades and they tie almost all money. Instead of trading for a living, I am dragging a few big, bad trades around.
 

And you know why?

 

Because I was constantly breaking my own rules!

 

I was constantly over trading and usually excused it with “it will expire and if not I will roll it and deal with it later.”
 

And this time, I got fed up of myself! This is not what I was taught, was I learned! This is not a strategy I wanted to do! I always told myself that even small amount of money could compound into big returns. Yes, if you f**king follow the rules!
 

dream
 

I laid out a 5 year plan to raise my account to a level which will allow me to retire early, in 4 years. The 5th year should be a retirement year. The cumulative numbers I will be trading in retirement are very scary as of now. It seems like I will never be able to trade such a big account and be comfortable. But, I planned it so I can start teaching my mind to it.

In January 2023 I should be on my own if my plan works.

 
All it needs is discipline and do, what I said I would do. A hard thing if you are undisciplined like I am/was! How I am planning restraining myself? I lay down how much money I will start to trade at the beginning of a month, how much money I can risk per trade, how many contracts to trade, how much money I want to make every month, and how much the account should end up with at the end of each month.
 

So, here is my year 1:
 

plan 1
 

Granted, the plan may not be accomplished if something goes wrong, but all it can take is that it may take longer to achieve my goal. But, I hope not!

But, I learned that it was not enough for me to just say what I would do next. I learned I needed a check mechanism, something what will make me self-aware of what i said I wanted to do and that I am really doing it.
 

And thus I decided to put this plan down which will state:
 

1) My account monthly starting point.
2) Number of contracts I am allowing myself to trade.
3) Monthly premiums I plan on making for each particular month.
4) Monthly deposits I plan on adding to my account to grow it.
5) And… end value for each particular month.
 

And, every month, or every week, or as often as possible, I will write down a report on fulfilling and following the plan. For example, if the plan says, that I will take 1 contract per week, then I will be required myself to trade only 1 contract! I need to act like a proprietary firm. Here are the rules and if you break them, you are out!

I once made a decision that I would limit amount of money to be made (in other words how much I can trade and how much it will make per month) and once I reach that goal I would stop trading. And then another member of the FB group told me why to limit my ability to make more money if I could make more money. So I broke my rule. And now I am in deep (well not that bad) shit. Don’t listen to others who have no idea and one day will learn the lesson the hard way.

So, below, I am posting my monthly reports. I will also be posting the plan for the upcoming years and monthly reports on my Facebook page.
 


April 2019 report (continued)
04/17/2019
 

1) We started trading with the beginning value as projected. ✅

2) We exceeded the number of contracts traded, but we did that to catch up with “mo premiums” plan as the plan expected all 4 weeks in April to be traded and we could trade 2 weeks only; thus this temporary exception was approved. However, if the “mo premiums” will be reached (for example this week) then we will go back to trading only the number of contracts allowed for the month. Also, the number of allowed contracts is determined by the available buying power. ✅

3) The ending value is projected to meet and exceed the plan, unless something unpredictable happens by EOM; ❌

4) We deposited cash as per plan and slightly exceeded the plan. ✅

5) Premiums, so far; are projected to exceed the plan. ❌
 

report

 
Previous posts related to this plan:
 

My 5-year Plan to Freedom Update – May 22, 2019
April 2019 financial freedom report – May 05, 2019
 
 





6 responses to “Fed up with my own lack of discipline, putting down a plan to reach FI”

  1. suresh jogia says:

    have you described your strategy to trade?

  2. sean green says:

    Hi

    Have you described, (on another page) as to how exactly you expect to make the gains that you have stated in this plan?

    In other words, what is the strategy?

  3. Independus says:

    Hi so you still sell options? Why dont you just focus on dividend growth investing? Selling options is really NOT a sustainable strategy

  4. Leo O says:

    Nice blog!!

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