Happy 2020

Crikey, it’s 2020 already. The past twelve months have shot by at a terrifying rate. No matter though, because I love this time of the year. Not because it’s about setting New Year’s resolutions, I don’t believe in those. I think that if something is worth changing in your life, it’s worth changing the straightaway. Why wait until the beginning of a year to make an improvement?

No, the reason I love this time of the year is because I am reminded of how lucky I am. I get to watch all those poor souls with proper jobs have to go back to work after the Christmas holidays. I see them struggling through the cold and the wet, and sometimes even the snow. I see people battling with poor public transport and strikes. I see them struggling to get back into the routine after having spent a couple of weeks feasting and partying and probably drinking too much. I watch them, and I reminded how lucky I am to not be one of them.

It’s been years, no, decades since I’ve had a proper job. I’ve talked about my story on this blog plenty of times, so there’s no need to go over it again. Suffice it to say that day trading for a living has offered me freedoms beyond even my greatest hopes at the time I walked out of my last employment. Telling the man where he could shove it was both exhilarating and terrifying, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. It was the best decision of my life.

2020 will be a challenging year no doubt. Less than a week in and already international tensions are running high after what happened in Iraq. The bush fires in Australia continue to devastate, and smoke and ash will have knock-on effects for years to come as they feed the vicious cycle of global heating. I have family and friends in Australia so have been watching these events unfold with particular concern.

While Australia burns, Indonesia is being flooded. People are dying, whole communities are being displaced. And all the while the world looks on and twiddles its thumbs and procrastinates, and in some quarters remains in complete denial about the nature and scale of the problem of the climate emergency.

I don’t even want to think about the political events that are due to occur this year. An optimist would say they are a chance to start making a change for the better, but the experiences of the last three years have all but erased my optimism for politics.

Anyway, throughout all of this turmoil, throughout all of the problems the world throws at us, the markets remain a welcome and reliable constant. Maybe it’s selfish to think like this, but sometimes it helps to focus on the positive. The market is ever present. There are always, always good trades to be had every single working day. It is reassuring to know that I can continue to provide for my family from anywhere in the world, even if should we be displaced like those poor souls in Australia. However bad the news gets, us traders can make a living. Indeed from a selfish point of view again, bad news is often more profitable than good.

I have no qualms about making money from good or bad news because I know that that money can be put to good use, helping those in need. Charity begins at home as they say. I fully believe that before you can hope to help someone else, it is best to have your own house in order. And so again I am thankful and happy to start another year knowing that the markets will provide, and that in turn means I can do my bit too.