Ask Lemmy

Fuck day trading, make shit. To me, manifesting isn't just wishing. Its focusing your mind so much that you make it happen. Granted, it has to be something actually achievable in the first place. What you need to do is find a passion for something thats real. The stock market isnt real.

more curious how you actually get into a good headspace and stay there day to day

Anything you can do to take care of yourself and get what you need helps with this, cooking for yourself, getting enough sleep, getting exercise, spending time in nature, spending time with people, cleaning, etc. Aside from the direct benefits of things that make you healthier, the experience of the act is a tangible reassurance that you are there for yourself, so don't buy into an idea that it isn't worthwhile.

Also if you like anime at all one that I liked where the theme is 20s life advice is The Tatami Galaxy

Some stuff I didn't see in reading responses.

• Learn some "handy" skills. Create, build, repair. Stuff breaks all the time (and is probably only going to get worse), and as an adult you may be the one responsible to resolve that. It's satisfying to do, saves money, makes you more independent, and might even open additional employment avenues.
• Do travel. Pick places with cultures you aren't familiar with. While some high costs may be unavoidable (plane tickets, for example) travel can generally be done fairly cheaply. It's an amazing experience and I think can give you some valuable perspectives on life.
• Be reliable. Having a reputation of someone who does what they say they will may open doors.

Something I did see but wanted to say as well anyway:

Don't try so hard figuring your life out that you forget to live your life. Find balance.

What I thought mattered at the time: Opinions of other people
What actually mattered: My own opinions

People expected me to borrow money, buy a house, get married, travel the world etc. I didn't actually want to do any of those. Well, eventually I did screw up, got stuck in that situation for years, but now I'm finally free again. Phew. 😌

If I could send a message back in time to a 20 year old me it would be this:
You may not be entirely sure about what you do want, but you certainly know what you don’t want. Let the latter guide you. When people expect you to do something you don’t want, don’t do it. Peer pressure in this context is just annoying noise, nothing more. You shouldn't make life-altering things unless you're really sure about it. It isn't enough that everyone else has done it and expects you to follow suit. Contrary to many cultural norms, the people around you don't actually always know what's good for you.

is manifestation, just assuming "paths" open up for you in life without effort. ive seen that in other forums, where people end up complaining about it?

I was fortunate enough to be in a place where university was free, and you even got enough support to live on bare essentials. If that's your case, study. Don't put yourself in a deep hole to go to school - but do learn on your own.

There's no way easy to get rich. Day trading is hard. Saving funds are usually a safe bet. It's hard to put down 10% of your income there without a goal. What are your saving for?

Treat trading like you would a casino. You can put a little bit in as a treat, but that is part of your entertainment money, not your investment money.

Index funds (or mutual funds) like everyone else said. If you are in the US you can buy some U.S. Series I savings bonds as your semi-emergency savings (after 1 year you can take it out freely outside of a 3 month interest penalty, takes a week to cash out so it's fine for most emergency things). Do not just leave it in a savings account.

You're asking the right question at least. It's about persistent effective action, what kills that is motivation.

If daily affirmations or visualizing a goal keeps you motivated, great. I went through about 6 months of job hunting last year, doing literally anything but writing apps helped me clear my head so when I started again I got into a rhythm more easily.

I think it's just important to track your progress. What have you attempted, what is the status of things you're currently trying etc will help you determine if whatever you're doing to stay motivated is working and if not you know you need to change your approach.

if you havent read Reminisces of a Stock Operator, do so

and remember the most important rule...buy low, sell high

speculating is like farting, if you have to force it it's probably shit. being nervous about a trade likely means your either oversized/not managing risk properly or there is some underlying doubt to whatever thesis underpins that particular gamble.

"scalping liquidity/volatility" on an intraday basis should really only be done on the most liquid indexes within the opening hour/hour and a half, via futures (safer if you mistime/don't set a stop, and gets better tax treatment but requires higher initial capital)/short-dated options on ETF's like QQQ (do not hold these shits outside opening hour, these should be 5-15m trades, buy low sell high. cannot say that enough)...trying to trade "momentum" on individual tickers is just really not worth the effort/risk, trust me.

scalping volatilty is just for paying the bills though, the best $ comes from identifying solid swing trades with longer timeframes and buying solid companies while they're cheap/beaten down and holding them for a long time.

also, your basically actively giving yourself a gambling addiction if you do it daily... from the author of that book

the desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many losses on Wallstreet even among professionals, who feel like they must take home some money every day as though they were working for regular wages

the entire point to figuring out how the casino works is to free yourself up from needing to work a job, obviously watching/worrying about charts all day isnt fulfilling though. volunteer your time to something impactful locally, work on a passion project etc. live life, if you've figured out a (backtested) edge to the market you have beaten the first fucked up level that is capitilism

I agree with others here: manifestation is nonsense. Or at least it's a sloppy way of describing the idea of careful planning and hard work, but without that careful planning and hard work. Wishing for something to come true without doing the hard graft is a losing proposition.

On the "things I wish someone had told me back then":

• Start investing in index funds. Steady saving as early as you can on low-fee investments with more stable returns is the way to go. It's not as glamour or exciting as day trading, but it's the safer and smarter approach. Keep more volatile trading limited to a limited budget of 'fun money'. Treat it like gambling on horses or playing poker - assume you will be flushing that money down the drain, and once you've hit your fun spending budget don't go behind it, even by a penny.
• Don't take your health for granted. Find a sport or exercise you really enjoy and lean into it. Soccer, basketball, martial arts, gymnastics, going to the gym, Street running, cycling, baseball, or whatever. You don't have to be good at it, you just have to enjoy it. Your proficiency will increase with practice.
• Watch your diet for too much sugar, salt, ultra-processed foods, etc. When you're in your early 20s you'll probably feel like you're indestructible. But the decline without watching your diet (and without regular exercise) is slow but insidious.
• Take time out to just connect with your environment, friends/family, and yourself. Connect with nature. Practice mindfulness and meditation. Do yoga (that shit is deceptively amazing!).

Manifestation used to work but then I manifested for it to no longer work

During my 20s I studied and then had my first few jobs, which weren't that famous, actually :) At the same time, I tried thoroughly not to take money too serious at all.

Experience came later.

Learn how to cook food. Learn how to love cooking. You will be rewarded in money you save, in health and nutrition, in peaceful mind of being in the flow of doing, and lastly in delicious meals.

Don't schedule every moment. Leave some time to be idle/bored and recharge your mental batteries.

At the same time, don't waste your life. Force yourself to get out and do things. When you're old and dying the things you will regret most are the things you never got around to doing. "I never went skydiving" or "I never went to Switzerland" or "I never asked out the cute redhead girl."

Try to play as much as you work. I use the reward system, "If I put my laundry away I can play video games for a couple hours."

Start saving money now, if you can scrape together $3000 put it in a Vanguard Explorer index fund and just let it sit. It has historically made about 10% per year and being 20 years old you will have a lot of money in there by the time you retire. Time is really really powerful and right now you have a lot even if it doesn't feel like it.

Manifesting is bullshit without action. Making a plan and sticking to it works. Action is the antidote to dispair.

Trading is gambling. At least craps comes with free drinks. Anyone saying they have tricks to get rich fast or attract money is trying to part you from yours.

You are young and you have a lot more energy now than you will later in life. Don't waste it working. Make a point of having fun. Money isn't everything, don't worry about getting rich, worry about making enough to get by comfortably. Companies don't reward hard work and loyalty like they used to. Get in, do your work comfortably, and get out.

Spend more time with friends and loved ones. Make connections and relish in them. They matter far more than any career. Be young and stupid and have fun. It'll be harder in your 30's.

Find a sport you actually enjoy and do it. Preferably one with other people so it's a social activity. Learn to cook vegetables you like to eat. Don't eat fast food, drink lots of water. Get a face cleanser and use it daily. Be kind and help others, it's on us to repair the world and make it a kinder place for all people.

But above all, have fun and enjoy this time

https://reddthat.com/comment/27670354

My advice from a month ago still stands.

I recommend checking out the the book The Evolving Self by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It helped me a lot around that age think more deeply about what I wanted in life.

So when I was 20 I didn't have money, but as the others have said, just do boring index fund investing. My greatest advice is, exercise at least moderately. A lot of people including myself only start with 30. I am glad I did as 5 years later I start feeling the pain of getting older, but I wished I started way sooner.

The other thing I can recommend is finding hobbies that make you happy, it does not matter how weird they are. Go running in the woods, collect old news papers, get into board games, play tennis, contribute to openstreetmap, hell do whatever. Don't make finance or cryptosystem your hobby.

Regarding the manifestation / headspace stuff - sounds pretty esoteric to me. Reminds me of young insecure man that write stuff like "be successful" on their mirror. I hope that's not what you're into, if yes, stay away for your own sanity.

Thr only laws of attraction that are real are gravity and magnetism.

I'm going to latch onto another part of what you said rather than focusing on trading or manifestation. What in the world do you do for fun? If you're trading in any way that has the chance to make you a profit you're already commits multiple hours a day to this if not a few hours a week (honestly you shoudn't really be trading right now, you should, if you're able, be saving most of your money you're trading into an etf and just let it sit and accumuluate, but that's beside the point), on top of learning dispatching (which I don't know what you mean but that's my own ignorance), and studying. Literally what do you do for fun that doesn't put your money on the line? What do you do that makes you feel good as a person? Because I can tell you what's on the other side of all this grinding you're doing without having any time to enjoy yourself, and that's depressed and burnt out, if you're not already there.