Excellent question and answers!
I've been a former SO subscriber on the "all services annual" bundle, and I've spent the first 3 months or so learning the strategies and trying to replicate the returns of the official portfolio. This is my first post in a few years (I guess this is why my message "will need to be approved by a moderator" despite having built reputation/community points, @Kim?). Your question, @jvo, and your answers, @zxcv64 and @Ringandpinion, really resonated with me and my own personal situation:
I'm also based in the UK (cheers to our government crisis @zxcv64!), but I have a full-time day-job as a research academic tenured at a University of London College. On top of that I run 2-3 businesses as side projects. Focus and time is the problem... Will the SO strategies make you money? Yes, but if, and only if, you consider them a job with quite a learning curve that needs constant engagement and, indeed, focus. Kim et al. are excellent at pointing out that this is not a "get rich quick" scam, but a "work a lot, and eventually you'll reap the fruit of your seeds (i.e., skills) and the context/fertile grounds (i.e., the community and its members)".
Like always, if you're a seasoned veteran it'll be easier for you to set up and monitor the trades, and each individual trade will take less of your focused time as things will become (almost) second nature. Compare the day you took your driving exam with how you drive today or after having driven for a few years... Stuff will get visceral as in any profession you spend years on training for (gosh, those SO friends who, like myself, were stupid/keen enough to invest 4-5 years into a PhD know what I mean...).
So then why am I a "former" SO subscriber? Because I am realistic about the time it takes to dedicate proper attention to learning and mastering the craft. Right now, my academic career and side-projects take precedent over the returns I could achieve by trading full time. But this depends very much on your individual circumstances. So it's a matter of managing your most scarce resource, which is time. Particularly focused time for deep work. At present and for me personally that's best dedicated to doing research and writing papers for top-tier academic journals. But this may change in the future, and then I'll be back. It's really not about the money: breaking easy on the $1k p.a. for the SO membership should be easy for anyone willing to learn and dedicate due time and resources (given you trade a reasonable small/mid account of $25-50k+, more won't hurt if your money management / risk allocation allows). The problem for me personally is simply that, given I know I have decided to not invest this time into SO and other trading strategies at present, the membership would be just wasted money (no offense, Kim).
All things considered, taking SO seriously will require flexibility to adjust to some extent to earnings schedules, exchange opening times, time zones, trading setup (multi-display, additional software [OptionNet etc], data feed subscriptions, volatility databases etc...) . Without that it's just the futile attempt at "getting rich quickly". We must not underestimate that there's a lot of full-time pros in this game, and I personally know some of those guys who are (literally) almost "living" in the trading rooms of Canary Wharf and the City. If you want to compete with them, you must come prepared and do your homework. If you're able and willing to make these decisions in your life: I doubt there's a better, more supportive, more transparent/ethical community than SO (disclaimer: at least when I was paying member). Sure Kim wants to make money of subscriptions as well, but that's alright. SO offers you a stage. But learning how to perform you have to do yourself (with guidance, obviously).
Ah, it feels good writing in an SO forum again for a change! 🙂
All the best and always good trades!
Chris
