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?

@Mrschickenlady Some of those trading markets operate at night. DDs boyfriend does this as an employee. That’s why uni students get involved.

I think he will end up learning the hard way but at least I can point out it’s not only him this happens to!

Between 97%-99% of individual day traders either lose money or barely break even in the longer-term (1-3 years). What makes your son think he has an edge over the hedge funds and investment banks that do this professionally? They position their computers on super-fast connections to the exchanges in order to have fractions of a second advantage over others.

Just because he’s watched some TikTok or YouTube videos of people claiming to be successful doesn’t mean he will be.

If he has the aptitude he’d be better completing A levels and then trying to get a trading job in the City - and get a few bonuses behind him if proves to be any good.

I have given him this choice. He chose to leave now before he’s even 18 and will pick up some job to pay me rent/bills. I said I’d give him 1 year on v min rent if he completes A levels first, he’s not interested

One of my relatives lost £5k doing just this. Discourage him if you can. Best left to those who actually know what they're doing!

I'd be saying a hard no - or he moves out as soon as he quits his A levels and pays proper rent and bills elsewhere rather than mum rates. He thinks he can do this and live cushily at home still? No chance.

There are lots of people on TikTok making it look like a viable option but it really isn’t. As with everything on social media, you can’t be sure what you see is the whole truth. Day trading is fine as a side hobby if you have spare cash lying about that you don’t mind losing if it goes wrong (essentially like gambling). But it’s not a serious career option

Tell him to get great A-levels, do a degree with high maths content and get a job as a proper trader in a hedge fund or investment bank. Vastly more secure long term. He can still do virtual day trading as a hobby as it demonstrates a real interest in the markets that will be useful at future job interviews.

@LivesinLondon2000 The world and his wife want these jobs. They often go to the very brightest and the hardest working. Not sure this DS is that. Sounds too belligerent too.

Totally agree the jobs market is tough but if the OP could persuade him to do a degree then he might have matured a bit by the end if it

It’s like the old joke. how do you end up with a million pounds from a publishing business?

You start with £5 million , and a year later you have £1 million.

There is a warning on some sites...85% of people lose money.....day trading is very volatile, i dont do it, just some long term dabbling.

DP and I told him a few times he should log how many hours per week he was focused on trading, so that he could work out his hourly rate, but of course he never has done ;-)

He says that often on the days that he trades, he usually is "in and out" within 2-4 hours, as in 2-4 hours of actually concentrating on the market and placing his trades/analysing when to get out. So obviously it's very attractive that it's not a full day of work, and you can do it from your bedroom.

He had a minimum wage weekend job at a fast food place prior to this, which was his first experience with menial work and he disliked it enough to be pushed towards day trading. He definitely thought he'd left all that kind of work behind him, but since he realised he wasn't going to be making any kind of reliable money with trading, he's picked up a lot of temp work in warehouses and stuff this summer. And thank god he hasn't given up his degree!

He still trades on the days where he has enough free time, but now he looks at it as potentially extra money rather anything reliable.

He won’t do a degree, I can’t even persuade him to finish A levels!

My son (now 18) was obsessed with day trading for the whole of his year 13/final year of A levels. He began the year with good predictions and kind of hoping to go to Uni but the final year was a rollercoaster with him giving up any motivation he had for A levels and us and his teachers trying to motivate him to do any work at all that wasn’t day trading. He would constantly tell me that he wouldn’t need a levels because he was the 1% of day traders that would become a multi millionaire 😵‍💫 It’s a shame as he’s the youngest in his year and last year it really showed, whereas previously it never had. He didn’t do any work at all for college and as a result got very low passes destroying any future hope of going to uni which is a shame as he’s is bright and has the ability to do well IF he works hard. The crazy thing is he lost interest in day trading towards the end of a levels but by then he’d fallen too far behind 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ They are being brainwashed by young influencers on the internet and sadly there’s not a lot parents can do!

I’d be pushing him to complete his a levels and trade pt, stress it’s fine to not go to university

My DS day trades - a mix of prop funds and his own money. He’s been doing it for almost three years and averages a FT minimum wage job per month.

he sounds like your DS. He’s just completed a second year internship - amazing money and loved every second of it. Working with a group on people who all love the maths as much as him, try and persuade your DS that that’s what he could do.

This is mad. Paying someone to trade!!

I have a 17 year old son and if this was him I would be so disappointed, I think I would actually tell him to finish his A levels or his homeless.

Sounds extreme but if he's being so irrational it feels the only way. To be doing further maths he has to be very bright unfortunately sometimes that comes with arrogance.

I really hope you can change his mind.

That’s really sad to hear. Very similar position. I’ve spoken to his tutor, she’s gutted.
they just seem so young to be making life choices sometimes!

I’d be taking away all his tech until he’s done with his A levels. He’s going to destroy so much for the sake of 8 months.

Tell him he can try and do it while he is taking his A levels. If he he half way through his course he only has a year to go it's stupid to lose all that work he has already don't in a whim.
Sadly you can't physically make him stay at school but you can tell him that if he leaves school he will have to contribute his fair share to household income and that includes his share of rent, all bills , food , clothes etc and tell him you can't give him any money for clothes, social life etc. don't subsidise him in any way. Tell him how much it will cost each month
Also I don't know how you do that but he needs a reality check. He won't be able to suddenly become a millionaire. Has he got any funds to start trading with.

The alternative is to let him go ahead but for him to guarantee that unless he is making significant money ahead of August (say) he goes back to school next year and works hard to get excellent A levels, and then straight to unj, no gap year.

He will have to write down specific SMART targets and, if he fails to meet them, back to academics. And, obviously, put school/college application in in good time for next year.

If he thinks he is a trader/businessman, let him make a plan, including at what point to abandon a concept that isn’t working.

@Gingerbread981 So why are they so stupid as to be brainwashed? @boredwithfoodprob What makes dc believe this crap? Why can they not see it’s virtually impossible? Why are they addicted to idiots by influencers when most dc are not? I don’t know the answers but it’s clearly a personally flaw. An addiction to being easily persuaded by others instead of working out probabilities of success?

My guess is that many of them have been coddled their entire life they haven't been required to do anything much or care about anyone else other than themselves.
The parents catered and they became the main character and now they wonder why at age 17 they don't have the Lamborghini and then the reality of doing the boring thing like study and go to university and get a regular job just seems to mundane compared to the lies people are telling on YouTube. And then not much guidance from the father figure if he's always working or just absent they are looking to these YouTubers as role models in a way