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Comment by module0000 | Hacker News Reader

Commodity futures trader here... this article reminds me why I got into futures: because I don't have patience to hold positions for days, weeks, months, or years. If that's what you are doing, and it's working for you - keep on doing it.

All the bloomberg articles in the world won't help you trade profitably nor consistently. At the end of the day(for me), success is a very repetitive set of tasks that rely on math and probabilities to succeed. Inside information is great(no really, it is great when you have it), but discipline was the most important skill for me to master. Before I began, I was sure I had it - and was entirely wrong.

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You know what's very good at a very repetitive set of tasks that rely on math and probabilities - and is 100% disciplined, right?

Holding a position for years is the best bet for me because I don't have the patience to investigate the same reports (with small changes to the numbers) constantly to figure out what is going to change in the near future. I just buy a good index and let it grow. I'm up 3x my money over the last 10 years and I think about that account once a year when I have to put it on my taxes - except for one time when I wanted to make a big purchase: I had plenty of money to spare in that account.

That's fantastic! I was never able to hold over long periods myself, but that's an excellent success story you shared.

At times like now(bullish), do you continue to grow your position or wait for dips? I think there is great long term profit to be had in people allowing fortunes to grow in long term index funds, I just wish I was one of the people who could take advantage of it. My niche revolves around VIX futures contracts and their effects on equity index futures - so very short term(intraday).

The account I was talking about was created on a one time windfall (see my other responses), and had no other contribution.

Most of my investment is in my 401k, which I max out. As such I'm dollar cost averaging and not otherwise thinking about it (except my last paycheck in December is a mini bonus). My day job is writing computer programs. When I get home every night I have dinner with the family, play a bit and put the kids to bed. This makes it easy to ignore the stock market day to day: I have better things to do than think about it. Once a year I check balances, decide I can't retire yet (won't happen for years) and forget about it.

You picked the best 10 years to start investing :)

That was pure luck, I had some stock in a previous company that got bought out. I decided I didn't want to think (if I had been thinking about it I would have sold years before) so I dumped it in the index.

What index did you invest in?

Vanguard S&P500.

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