Son wants to quit A levels early to try day trading

[Gingerbread981]

My 17 year old son wants to quit his A levels, he’s one year through, got an A in maths (fast track) without much revision and is studying further maths and physics.
Hes decided to leave when he turns 18 in a few months without completing A levels because he doesn’t want to go to university or work a 9-5 job lining someone else’s pockets.
he’s adamant he will make it as a day trader and become a millionaire. It’s driving me crazy, he’s so bright yet so silly to throw away the chance of A levels.
im on my own and will lose a little Universal credit, I’ll lose child benefit and have to pay the extra 25% council tax. I’ve said he will have to contribute if he leaves education but this hadn’t put him off.
he now wants to leave asap as he’s got himself behind as mentally he’s left!
I can’t physically push him out the door as he then won’t drive there.
I just don’t want him to waste his opportunities.
any ideas?

He can try to do that while still doing a levels.

he’s very unlikely to make much money and you do need a bit to start with.

Well it isn't a great idea but if you can't change his mind it's not the end of the world. If he doesn't want to go to uni and already has an A in A level maths does he really need anymore A levels to get a job? If he finds he does in the future then sounds like he is bright enough to do them then.

I would let him know how much you need from him to make up the money you will lose and to keep him fed etc and if he can't make that from day trading he will have to get a job or an apprenticeship.

My son does this for enjoyment with some money he got from his Child Trust Fund and his 18th birthday. He enjoys it but has only made a few hundred £. I doubt he'd make enough from it in the short term to live off unless he has £££ to put into it. Does he know how to do it? It doesn't seem to take that long. There's no reason he can't do both. Maybe tell him to do his A Levels and this. If he has A Levels he will be able to take the next step to work or university or full time day trading(!) but at least he'll have options. You could let him find out the hard way but I think the funding runs out at 19 for free education, although I think that is changing.

Let him know what you expect him to pay at home. He will learn the hard way.

Sadly a lot of gullible people get sucked in. I know lots of people who’ve done it, not a single one is a millionaire, most didn’t make a penny but wasted huge amounts of time chasing the dream. Some actually lost huge amounts of money when they got sucked in to the riskier areas in the hope of profits after failing in the safer areas, one poor sod lost a few hundred thousand. Stay away - very few people make any money.

My dss lost £13k day trading which he started after her finished his a-levels.

Its basically glorified gambling but you already know that

I do not have any words of wisdom to help you make him see sense. We had all that same rubbish spouted at us about making other people rich.

It was only when he was completely broke that he saw sense and now has a job and still invests but doesn't day trade.

Dss has been told ld and j no uncertain terms that he cannot live here and f he starts day trading again.

I realise that doesn't help you but I agree with the others you need £x just to cover the income lost by him leaving school and £x as a contribution, now he working.

it is possible to set up dummy trading accounts on platforms like Hargreaves Lansdown without investing any actual cash. Ask him to do that for a month and record how much he makes then give him a bill to show him how much he needs to make to cover rent, council tax etc. It might shock him back into working for a levels.

@Gingerbread981 can you say that you’re happy for him to day-trade but only once he’s finished year 13 and has his A-Levels to fall back on should he ever need them.

Stand firm that he’s going against your wishes if he drops out now.

This is a great idea.

I’ve said this. I said I’ll support him for a year, where he can contribute less, if he just finishes his A levels!

This is what he’s doing, he said it’ll take a year or so to make money 🙄
Ive gone over how much he’ll need to pay me. He’ll happily do any kind of work while he gets started.
he’s very stubborn!

Most people lose money day trading. I set up a dummy account after a colleague was telling me about it. I made £10k in my first 3 months and then lost £20k in the next 3 months. Thankfully it wasn't real money.

I would insist he finishes A-levels. He can "day trade" alongside them. Make sure he doesn't have access to any significant amount of money - some platforms let you start with a few hundred so as long as he doesn't have access to thousands from a trust fund and can't access credit, he'll either make a little bit or lose his stake.

I would focus less specifically on the A Levels but start talking about the benefits of Uni and interesting bits of certain degrees.

My ds has just started a Finance degree and they spend a good portion of Y1 learning about the stockmarket and dummy trading, with a prize for who makes the most money by the end. I haven't seen ds so motivated about winning something for years 😂

There might be something that catches his interest and makes him want to keep going.

Where is he getting his start up cash…he will just end up in debt and ruining him credit rating. He is being childish

It is much easier in a rising market... So even if it's ok for a bit it could fall apart fast !
Insane to stop A levels but you're obviously aware of this.
Oh dear op.
Hopefully he'll try some pretend money and change his mind with no harm done but wow that would be stressful.
Can he even make his own trading accounts before 18?
Would he be willing to at least do further maths and economics A levels in the meantime?

If he is thinking of using his child fund money for his starter pot then work out exactly how much you will be losing out on through council tax, child benefit, universal credit by him leaving school and demand that he pays you that upfront from his stash before he starts his get rich quick lose the lot fast trading. That way at least you won’t lose out.

I think investing is better than trading daily.
We had some bank shares when they were £4 but then it merged went down to 33p! Gradually crawled back to £1,
The market goes all over the place and for eg i assumed house building companies would rise at the moment no they were dropping.

As someone who has worked in the area, no, he cannot hope to compete with the research that professional traders have at their fingertips. Unless he plans to spend 24h per day researching world events and considering how weather events in another continent may affect prices of raw goods etc, he's just gambling. He may as well go to a casino.

As a pp said, anyone can make gains when the entire market is rising. Including investors who put their money somewhere and leave it there. Which he can do and also study for his school exams.

I haven't read the full thread, but there is a lot of info on this website

Is Day Trading Profitable?

Thank you. I’ve sent him so many articles like this. He thinks he’s in the top 5% that won’t fail! He’s quite obsessive and currently obsessed with this idea.

Are there any known people in the 5% that succeed? Do they have qualifications? I dont know about this but it strikes me studying a levels is a great way to start learning about world events and consequences etc.

Wont these traders be superseded by ai soon?

I would be telling him i cant afford to fund him so he needs to find somewhere to live while he pursues this career path.

If your whole messaging around A levels is about money and financial security, you won’t persuade him.

If, however, you start talking about A levels as achievements in their own rights and that he will always be able to go to uni should he get bored of A levels, you might have more success.

Also, as someone mathematically minded, he might understand a probability argument. ‘Maybe you are one of the few that will make it, but even if there is a 10% chance it doesn’t work out, shouldn’t you have a plan B?’.

Day trading is a total mugs’ game now, especially with AI.

This is entirely gambling. I’d be coming down as hard as possible against it. Cut off internet if needed. He will lose a lot of money and mess up his future education.

what is he studying for a levels? If maths etc, would he be motivated by a real finance job at a latter stage?

Yes Maths, further maths and physics.
he’s now decided he doesn’t want to work for someone else or work a 9-5. I can turn the internet off but I work, so it’ll be straight back on.

It’s less than a year until he would be taking his A levels, more like eight months maximum. Encourage him to run dummy accounts in parallel so he keeps his options open and for your sake as well as his.