One of my mentor students asked me this the other day and, well, it had been a while since I’ve had to answer a question like it. My answer was okay but incomplete. As with most queries, when you have time to stew before replying, it’s easier to craft a great response.

It also helps to have a blog where you can flesh out ideas and think through how to articulate your viewpoints. The question implies that someone who can make money trading doesn’t need to work. So why do it?

I suspect if you asked this question to ten different mentors you might get ten different answers. Though, I bet our motivations shares some similarities.

Fulfillment

Why does Jeff Bezos keep going? He’s worth some $160 billion.

Why doesn’t Warren Buffett retire and play bridge on his own private island? He’s old and has north of $84 billion.

I could ask similar questions of countless billionaires that continue to toil away building businesses and otherwise working every day. The last thing they need is more money. So it’s something else that drives them. Fulfillment. Creation. Service. Capitalizing on talents. Using skills honed over decades. I suspect these masters of business would die of boredom if you made them retire.

The things that motivate them are similar to what motivates me. Even if I did have enough money to pack it up and live on an island (I don’t), I suspect I would still awake with a desire to mentor others. It’s incredibly fulfilling and fun. I like it.

Mo’ Money

Compared to the one percent of one percenters, my investments are meager, a rounding error unworthy of mention. Sometimes when I get this question I want to respond,

Dude, how much money do you think I have?

I’m 34 years old, not 80. I have four kids, not zero. I’m a cancer survivor that takes a very expensive pill every day. I’m not searching for sympathy; if anything you should be very happy for me. My life is dope.

But these are ravenous economic realities that eat money.

Plus, I know of a million things I could do with money. I don’t know if I could run out of ideas. You give me $100 million, and I bet I could put it to good use. And I’m not just talking planes and mansions, but charity and philanthropy.

Sometimes I think the people who ask questions like this one don’t have an active enough imagination

Multiple Streams

Even if I could trade for a living, I would still seek multiple sources of income. Do you know how comforting it is to have money come in from all sides? Please, stop the barrage! It’s too much; I’m drowning in Benjis. That’s a problem I want. That way, if my trading sucks for a spell then, oh well.

One of the side benefits of having other streams of income is you don’t have to tap into your trading capital. Remember, when you remove money from your account it stops the compounding. You can’t reinvest gains if you’re taking them out to pay for food.

Benjamin Franklin once quipped,

“Money makes money. And the money that money makes, makes money.”

But only if you let it! I want my interest to make interest, my dividends to pay dividends. But this is only possible if I leave it in my account to grow.

To summarize:

I enjoy teaching. I could put more money to really good use. And multiple sources of income allows me to tap into the power of compounding.