RdL> You can't be much older than me if your big plan is to 
 RdL> retire at 35. How old are you? between 25-30? Maybe 
 RdL> your age will explain why you are such an unhappy 
 RdL> sinister old fart. hehe jk :)

Not long to go to the big three o.

 RdL> One challenge I have been facing over the last couple 
 RdL> of years is deciding whether or not to go freelance. 
 RdL> I've got a long term stable job, or I could venture 
 RdL> into the unknown to pursue my childhood dream.  I 
 RdL> decided to wait an other couple years before considering it again.

Sounds more like a dilemma to me.

If you want to start a business, you need to form a business plan. 

You should be toying with a plan right now. 

 ML> It's easy to say do it whether it 'crashes and burns' I 
 ML> assure you it is no emotional, psychological or 
 ML> spiritual trivial matter. It can deplete and wreck your 
 ML> life. Change your core beliefs and scar and fill you 
 ML> with permanent msitrust, hatred and dispair. Brother 
 ML> against brother. All gone.

 RdL> Are you speaking from experience?

When I was 10, my parents started a hot bread shop. Just typical asians
with NFI; just exchanging hard labour & time for money. A lot of wog
families started out similarly until their kids became doctors &
lawyers etc later on in life and families became powerful / famous in their
asian communities, and consequently their 2nd and 3rd generations of
relatives propagated. Anyway our (my parent's) "business" was
hardly profitable.

They argued, they yelled and fought all the time - over money. Money was
always a damn issue. The two bedroom townhouse was a wreck, mum couldn't
cook for shit. My 2 year old brother and I were malnutritioned and have
always been underweight even to this day. My school work suffered with the
constant distractions, frustrations and anger.

We got robbed once and I was there when the cops said "Why is this
place like such a pigsty ?" I couldn't dignify the situation with a
response so acted like I couldn't give a shit about what he said to brush
him off my back. He must've thought we all were real pathetic and
disgusting that day and deserved to be robbed. He said it in front of me
and my dad in the middle of our tiny 5 x 6m living room.  Their job was to
investigate a crime scene but they were mocking us instead. They achieved
nothing but some notes and paperwork, so as to document & register us
as another statistic. What a bullshit farce.  Good for nothing cops. I
should've smashed his face in.

They were in that business for 8 long hard years. Finally got enough money
to quit and buy a house. This house is a double story, full brick 420m squ.
house on 720m square suburban land. The inhabitants are distant,
disconnected individuals. It has a cold gloomy, refrigerator, echoey feel
to it. Dad's never home. My younger brother's never home. There's a deep
sense of unspoken regret throughout the family.

So I have to ask myself, was the sacrifice worth it. I wonder.

Time to break out the violin played to the malancholy tune in Schlinder's List.

When I was 14 this guy from school convinced me to store his bike rims in
my garage temporarily for safe keeping. I come home from school with him
and his mate, opened my garage, went upstairs (in my flat) for 2 mins, and
when I came back down he was pressing me for his rims because he wanted to
leave. Surprise surprise the rims were missing. Magically. I couldn't come
up with an explanation. Now he was demanding I pay for his missing
property. I go Ok, feeling confused and guilty I didn't want to be on
anybody's bad side. But where was I going to come up with $40. But I did.
And like I was born yesturday I gave my savings to this scum bag. 

He had descended from a family background of criminals, part of the
"tough guy" gangster crowd and even to this day I hope he is
dead. Hopefully double-crossed and shot dead in a drug deal that went bad
somehow. Or burning alive screaming (to death) trapped in his crashed car
or something during a chase.

A year later I get bashed at school in front of the canteen. Chipped my
front incisor. I will never forget the guy that held me down while another
guy's steel capped Doc Martins made contact with my face.

When I was 19 I met these guys in Uni we decided to sell glow sticks at
raves. I said Ok, I hand over my $200 cash for the stock. I turn up to the
rave, couldn't find those guys. They avoided me for a week, and when I
caught up with them they said they never got my money. He looked straight
in my FACE and said it - "I don't know but you never gave us
money." .......... ...... (!)

Cool. That day I learnt I could trust people ....... ...

Later my friend and I decide we would set up a hotdog stand in the city on
new years. "We'll make a packet !". Sounded like a good idea. Too
simple, too easy. It would practically rain money on us. Just get the
rolls, some sausages, some various sauces. Set up a portable billy stand.
The big night came. We had a crappy table tennis table, had to buy
sandwiches, cheese and ham from Seven Eleven. We had 16 customers all
night. 12 hrs. It cost us $150, we made $80. I felt like such a knob. But I
couldn't blame my friend. We went in it together, and got out together with
whatever little dignity left.

So that's what you get for having a dumb plan.

Big laughs about it these days. He's a FX trader :) One of my best friends.

These days I joust with office politics and corporate backstabbers. It's
amazing the range of personalities and dirty character traits there are.
What people will say and/or do to make a friend out of you.

So these days I don't give a fuck what anybody says. I simply take what is
_mine_. I will get my revenge on anybody that betrays me. Game on. I will
retire young and rich so I can rub it in everybody's face those Good for
nothing hypocrites.

 ML> I think aspiring money-makers fall in 4 types of categeories
 ML> (1) The employee
 ML> (2) The small business owner
 ML> (3) The big business owners
 ML> (4) The investors

 ML> Everybody aims for #4 which ultimately leads to 
 ML> financial freedom. But of all those 4, the ones I feel 
 ML> most sorry for are the small business owners :)

 RdL> Interesting opinion. I'm sure many would disagree with you.

Yeah. The many "do-it-yourselfer's" out there who like to be
their own boss and do their own thing. The people you talk about are highly
educated "professionals" who spend years pursuing post-graduate
study PhDs and accrditation, whom are fiercely independent individuals who
believe that if they work hard, they expect to be paid for their work. A
bunch of delluded hardcore perfectionists who think nobody else can do a
better job than the way they like the job done.

I love hiring and contracting people like this. 

I can tell these types of people what i want done and then best leave them
alone to do it unsupervised. I know that money is not the most important
thing to these guys but their independence, freedom to express and be
respected by "experts" in their field are much more important.

While I work on my business systems, I get these guys to work on my business.

Heh.

 RdL> time when to avoid paying larger taxes.  The tax money 
 RdL> I got back when putting money into RRSP's is paid back 
 RdL> as you take the money out.  The larger amount of money 
 RdL> you take out per year, the more taxes you pay.

Like I said. It's scam.

 ML> I'm an active trader and I average 100% pa portfolio 
 ML> growth. When I trade sometimes I make 20% per -week-.

 RdL> Impressive, now I understand how you plan to retire at 35.  My dad is an 
 RdL> active trader too and he does well.  How much time do 
 RdL> you spend researching and trading to be so successful? 
 RdL>  Or per week.  I always thought you had to have your 
 RdL> finger on the pulse of the stock market, always 
 RdL> researching everything to stay on top of it which is 

Me. I open up a trading forum on the web with my browser, find out which
stocks are the most talked about in the last 5 hrs and I run after them.
http://www.hotcopper.com.au. Research is overrated. Except when trading
futures markets, which I typically do well adhering to the insto's advice.

 RdL> just as much WORK as what I do to stay on top of 
 RdL> programming topics for work.  However that just keeps 
 RdL> me employed, doesn't make 100% return on my investment 
 RdL> like you do.  Congradulations!  

I wouldn't call it work. I read a few reports, that's it. 

Your dad is one of those types of people who places their faith in
analysis. The problem with analysis is how much of it do you have to do to
prepare for every possible >>> unknown <<< variable in
the market ? Heh. And when he gets burnt he feeds the viscious cycle by
convincing himself that the more he knows the less likely the problem
recurring.

It is natural to think like that. :)

The bottom line is it comes down to a decision to place a trade or not
place a trade. It will be a winner, or it will be a loser. How you deal
with losing will determine whether you're rich or poor.

--- Maximus 3.01