One quick post to address a recent comment that “£30-40k a year wouldn't be worth the hassle of being full time, you could easily make that part time”.
I suggest that whether or not making £30-40k a year full time would “be worth the hassle” rather depends on where you are in life, and what other options you might have.
I would also suggest that making that amount is certainly not something that can be done easily but something that requires not only a commitment of time but which also requires a number of skills and an interest in sports that not everyone has. If it could be done "easily", everyone would be doing it, but not many are.
The official figures for 2009 are not yet released, but as I posted last July, the “mean” gross annual earnings for all full-time employees in 2008 was £31,323 and the “median” for full-timers was £25,123.
A 30-40k NET income from trading would thus be a significant pay-raise for more people than not, but there are other things to consider.
Future earnings are a big consideration. While £30-40k might be a good pay raise for you right now, how much more might you be making in 20 years time? In most professions, a whole lot more.
Legislation / Regulation: The furore over the Premium Charge showed just how dependent many people are on one company – Betfair. If the same happened here as recently happened in France, as unlikely as that is, a lot of people would be left high and dry if they have all their betting eggs in one basket. There are other risks too. Betfair could (in theory) change their commission structure to resemble that of the financial exchanges and charge per trade. Betfair could decide that they want to move more towards the bookmaker model, and ban winners. Who knows what the future holds. Ten years ago, how many of us had even heard of Betfair? It would be a downer to quit a job Friday, start trading full-time on Monday, only to find our projected income reduced, slashed, decimated or eliminated.
The perfect scenario is one where you are able to supplement your income by trading part-time although this requires a sacrifice of leisure time.
Of course it depends on your occupation, but many businesses are now flexible in allowing you to choose the hours you work, and where you work, at least to some extent.
I certainly wouldn’t recommend for anyone to give up a steady job for the insecurity of full-time trading. It all sounds very glamorous, but the reality is rather different, at least based on my part-time experience, and the sums mentioned are attainable on a part-time basis.
For what it’s worth, I calculated last July that, very approximately, taking into account taxes and National Insurance, you would need to make the following daily totals trading or betting to be at these levels:
Median: £38; Mean: £48; Top 25%: £58; Top 10%: £82; Top 5%: £108; Top 1%: £216
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Easily Said - Not So Easily Done
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5 comments:
I just wanted to thank you for having, in my humble opinion, the best sports investment blog out there today. I myself have been doing this full time for the last year and it is always great to get someone elses viewpoint on things. It seems like "ananymous" has been giving you a hard time. I just wanted you to know that there are people out there that are more than happy with your blog just as it is. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Rudy - appreciate the comment. Anonymous is no problem. I know from the fact that he keeps coming back that he enjoys the blog. He also gives me things to write about.
So how has full-time been working out for you? Perhaps you have some thoughts based on a year's experience as a full-timer? Good luck anyway.
"For what it’s worth, I calculated last July that, very approximately, taking into account taxes and National Insurance, you would need to make the following daily totals trading or betting to be at these levels:
Median: £38; Mean: £48; Top 25%: £58; Top 10%: £82; Top 5%: £108; Top 1%: £216"
Lol, I should've guessed you can't even calculate simple tax figures correctly.
So to be on the equivalent mean of £31K you need wins of £48 per day, we'll overlook the fact no full timer does 365 days.
OK 365 x 48 = 17520 pa
so for that to be equivalent of £31323 you're assuming taxes of around 44% of earnings!!!!
I'd previously assumed you were UK based but seems you're living in some 3rd world country with ridiculous tax rates :)
FWIW a basic taxpayer would be taking around £450pw net, £64 per 7 days from that £31,323.
Obvious question is how much to you earn then from your self proclaimed expertise.
My first year full time has been enlightening. No job i ever did taught me as much about myself as this one has and I am the better for it. I knew it would not be easy and dealing with losing runs would be far worse then when it was just a temporary side investment but it is incredible how badly the losing runs effected me. But i took it all as feedback, stayed honest with myself and kept sticking to my strategy which i know gives me an edge and overall things ended up working well. I made many mistakes but again I took those as feedback and have tried to learn from them as best i could. As far as thoughts go i could write a mid sized book on that topic...so i will spare you anything further at this stage. Take care.
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