Should You Trade Stocks In Your Retirement?

It’s a wonderful concept: Retire on your 401(k), pension plan or IRA and go have fun.

The reality for millions of Americans is totally different. Not only are Americans often living much longer than Financial Planners and Advisors plan for, the cost of retirement is much more than most retirees have planned and saved for.

Trading Stocks in retirement is a much more desirable and enjoyable retirement job than many other job opportunities available to retired Americans. 

And in retirement, you tend to be in exactly the right position in life to make the most of trading or investing in stocks or ETFs. 

There are many perks to Trading Stocks in Retirement:

1. Unlike every other industry in the US, the Stock Market holds a very high regard for Brain Trust, which is the accumulation of knowledge, experience, expertise, skills, and the wisdom that comes with age.
2. Keep your mind sharp. The brain is like a muscle; the more you use it, the more time you spend learning throughout your lifetime, the HIGHER your IQ. The average person gains a considerably higher IQ as they age when they learn through their entire life. One of our students is now 106 years old. 
3. It doesn’t take all your time. Trading stocks can be something you do a couple of times a month or for a couple of hours 5 days a week or less. My students are always surprised that they can pay for their course in a couple of trades and start making spendable income soon after they complete the course.
4. You can trade stocks from wherever you are: at home, when you are traveling to see the world, and it is a much more productive pastime than TV, games or casinos.
5. Be prepared for unexpected expenses. You don’t have to sell your long-term held stocks OR charge a credit card when there is a sudden expense that is way beyond your budget. Your trading gives you monthly cash flow that you have on hand for emergencies. You can sell your stocks or ETFs at any time without tax penalties or higher taxes. 
6. Trading as a Business gives you the ability to have ALL of the advantages of professional traders who earn 6 to 7-digit incomes. Of course, your monthly income from trading stocks is dependent on your initial cash in your Trading Brokerage Account.  We advise a separate account for long-term and one for stock trading for monthly income. It keeps everything neat, clean and simple to track for IRS purposes. Trading as a Business is something all traders should consider as this IRS status has many perks and deductibles that lower taxes.
7. You have CONTROL again. If your retirement income or Social Security is cut or diminished for any reason, then you are in a position to move forward and maintain your retirement lifestyle.

Trading Successfully in Retirement

There are rules and parameters that you must adhere to IF you want to make your trading in retirement a success:

1. Do not Day Trade or trade intraday. It takes the longest to learn to do correctly and has the highest risk with the least amount of profit potential.  The SEC has been studying retail day trading for 20 years and has determined that 99% of all retail day traders not only lose all of their capital over time, but often are faced with steep margin calls by their broker. If you’re looking for a short-term trading style, learn swing trading. 
2. Avoid scams and so-called “gurus.” People with a lot of life experience know that investing in an education is the best way to meet your goals and have success in any endeavor. Make sure that the company you choose for your trading education has a credentialed individual teaching and creating the courses you will take. Make sure the company is at least 20 years in business and has testimony from successful students. Check BBB and see what, if any, complaints or accolades the company has earned.  A corporate entity provides a foundation of credibility over a sole proprietorship. Choose wisely, not some gimmick or get-rich-quick scheme. 
3. Risk Analysis, Risk Management, and Risk Mitigation are essential to retirement stock trading. When you don’t have time to recover huge losses, it is critical to learn how to keep losses to a very small amount.  TechniTrader provides Trade Management and Risk Analysis training in our comprehensive courses so that you have that knowledge and skill before you ever place your first trade.
4. Simulate Trading Stocks on a real trading simulator that is identical to the real trading platform you will be using when you go live trading stocks. Our students stay on their simulator until they have a consistent minimum of 75% success rate or higher. Elite students and our semi-professional to professional students have success rates between 80-90%. That sounds amazing, but it is simply a matter of receiving a complete education on:
   1. Developing Spatial Pattern Recognition Skills.
   2. Determining Risk factors and only trading low-risk stocks.
   3. Adhering to our Trading rules to eliminate mistakes and bad habits.
   4. Respecting the market as a means of financial security and not a place to gamble. 
   5. Using our Trade Management Planner to make trading simple, straight forward, and fun.
   6. Using our Trading Journal to analyze the market conditions, trading conditions, and your activity over time, especially if trading as business.

Retirees tend to be excellent traders when trained by professionals who understand your needs and goals for monthly income beyond your long-term investments, dividends and social security checks.

TechniTrader is a specialized and unique educational experience. What we teach is taught nowhere else. We have thousands of successful retirees who have made their retirement years the best years of their lives.

Martha Stokes, CMT

https://www.technitrader.courses 

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This post was authored by an external contributor and does not represent Benzinga's opinions and has not been edited for content. The information contained above is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and nothing contained herein should be construed as investment advice. Benzinga does not make any recommendation to buy or sell any security or any representation about the financial condition of any company.