DislikedI lost a lot of money and a house in mutual fund and stock trading in 2008. I was totally devastated because of this. This occurence has caused me to be a very risk averse person. Lost a lot of money because : - Over confidence - I used money that I can't afford to lose - Emotional factors - Money management - Noob skill in trading. - Other classic noob mistakes Lessons learned , it's a lesson that I will never forget for life because the experience was so painful, The desire to be a full time, profitable trader never completely ceased though. I...Ignored
In a simple, sincere statement - I'm very concerned about what you're doing. This is due to the fact that some of the statements you've made are highly contradictory.
Risk averse? You are NOT showing signs of being risk averse. For someone who lost a lot of money and a house previously due to trading issues, I would have thought you'd be much more concerned about putting yourself in the same situation again.
Lesson learned for life? - Once again, I suspect not, as you're currently planning on getting rid of a business, living on 2/3 all the capital you have and just 'hoping' you'll be able to get the trading side of things working for you to be profitable.
Please, seriously review your mental state about trading, this plan and what the statement 'risk averse' really means. :-/
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Regardless, if you were hoping to do this, I would really think you should keep the business and trade part-time/evenings with a demo account (for at least a few weeks) and then move into a small account (because real is very different from demo). Use a nominal amount and see if you can be consistently earning something like 1-2% per week (4-8% per month). If it can be more (consistently), then great! That'll make it even easier. But I'm assuming you'll be making decent gains but taking losses as well, therefore, assuming a reasonable return.
If you actually can achieve this in your trading, you will find is that with the 45k (the amount you were planning on trading with after learning trading and living on the other 80k), you will only have gains of 1800-3600 per month (4-8%). Not nearly enough. (NOTE: Do not assume you can just 'trade more' to make up the difference, as the assumption is that this is the best you can achieve consistently.)
On the other hand, if you could use the 125k as capital, the return could be 5k-10k (4-8%).
So, if you can keep the 125k put aside and keep your job, you can learn whether you are ready to trade or realise you are NOT ready to trade and thus still have your income and savings in place. If you're ready to trade, then excellent, go ahead. The best bit? You can even do this part-time, as you've already proven you know how to do it that way, thus having income from your job AND from your invested capital (hopefully not all of the 125k).
Lastly, the real answer to your question is something only you can answer, with time, patience and focus on learning how to trade consistently. But at least I've been able to throw some numbers around which might help to see that you will struggle with your current plan (and mentality).