Why I Work On Weekends

I've had a number of different careers over the past 50 years, each with its own lifestyle requirements.  In the 80's when I worked for the airlines, I would go stretches where my schedule kept me away from my family for days at a time.  However, being able to fly first class to places like Hawaii and Europe with my wife and children was an incredible benefit.

There are pro's and con's to any career choice and my life as a retail investor is no different!  Through a process I've developed over the years I've given myself the freedom to do little to no "work" on my investments Monday through Friday and that's what I'm going to talk about in todays post.

Why I Work On Weekends

It's been a long time since I've had a traditional 9-5 job so I'm comfortable being a little different.  As a growth stock investor, I do the bulk of my work when markets are closed.  I start updating my watch list on Friday evening, research the stocks that survived my funnel on Saturday, and formulate all of my trade plans on Sunday.  

There are 3 big reasons for why work on weekends:

1. There's less volatility when markets are closed
2. I have stuff to do during the week!
3. It helps me reach my goals

Let's look at each reason in more detail.

There's Less Volatility When Markets Are Closed

I'm definitely NOT a day trader and thus, volatility is something I avoid like the plague.  I make my money by locating stocks with an impending breakout and timing my entry just right to keep the odds in my favor.  The type of analysis this requires is fairly significant so I don't want to spend time on it if the winds can suddenly shift on me.  

I Have Stuff To Do During The Week!

For any parents or grandparents out there, you know that the sun rises and sets with your precious little munchkins.  My granddaughter spent the past week at a performing arts summer camp and the coup de grace was a special performance on Friday where they get to show their friends and family what they've been working so hard on during the week.

My 5 year old granddaughter lucked out with the role of Tinkerbell 2 and had several lines (which she remembered perfectly!) and even got to show off some of her fancy dance moves (she's got some serious talent, and no I'm not biased!).  

If I was a day trader I would have missed it for sure because, the time for this spectacular display of awesomeness was 2 PM!  Doing my work over the weekend frees me up to do the things I find important during the week.  

It Helps Me Reach My Goals

I've talked a lot recently about how I keep every aspect of my day to day life as goal oriented as possible.  I have a number of goals just like anyone else and working weekends gives me the best chance to hit them.  My biggest goals aren't all that different from yours I'm sure:

• Increase my portfolio by 50% every year
• Take a summer vacation
• Retirement

Knowing these are my goals, I work backwards and break them down into manageable chunks.  I orient my activity to achieving my benchmarks and I track where I spend my time and money so that I can measure both my successes and my failures!  

Using this process, I've hit my financial benchmarks so far this year which means I'm embarking on a European cruise next week with my wife.  Historically, this time of year is rough if you depend on breakouts so it made a lot of sense for me to just harvest some profits and take a break for a couple of weeks.  Plus, with the dollar so strong against the Euro right now, I feel even better about it!  

A Week In The Life of Amin

Theory and philosophy are all well and good but let's be honest, if you can't put it into action - what good is it?  That being said, here's a peek at what my typical week looks like.  In my opinion, this is time management in action!

If you'd like help in formulating your own goal oriented schedule or even if you just want to get a clearer picture on my own personal schedule, I can help you through my mentoring services.  

Happy Trading!