This was in 2015, where I got recognized as the Barista of the Year by Costa Coffee (Singapore), and it’s also the year I made the transition to be a full-time trader.
Till today, I still love being a barista, and I absolutely love coffee. But we live in a very practical world, don’t we? The pay of a barista back then was about US$5 per hour. Working tirelessly for 8 hours a day, that’s US$40. If I took no break and worked 7 days a week, 30 days a month, that’s US$1,200 for my monthly salary.
And to make it worse, what are the odds of me getting my salary increment? If I’m lucky a 3% to 5% yearly increment? That’s US$720 per year. I did a quick calculation that if I were to commit 10 years of my life on this, I would have made US$181,122.
10 years of working, 120 months of no break, 3,650 days of repetition living paycheck to paycheck. Is my life only worth US$181,122?
Looking back, I’m grateful to have made the decision and commitment to be a trader. Because today, I'm proud to be financially independent and not having to work just for the money.
But don't get me wrong, traders were not born yesterday and made today. We all went through some ups and downs, and that's exactly how we are trained to be a trader.