| | | My life's defining moment !!!
As I am sitting in my office kicking back, between trades, legs on the table enjoying my ocean and the intracoastal view in North Miami, my wife walks in.
“Can’t you put on some pants or shorts?” she says. I reply with a smile and a laugh.
“You want to go out and get some lunch?” she ask, knowing perfectly well what my answer will be.
My reply “Sorry, I am working and busy maybe another time”.
She shakes her head and as she is leaving my office says sarcastically “you have no idea what work is and this certainly isn’t it”
She knows me better than anyone, maybe better than I know myself.
I have no idea what real work is and I certainly don’t consider trading work.
The truth is trading is my great LOVE, a passion, an escape which challenges me every single day.
But all that said, I would have quit and retired years ago if not for one very important thing:
I love the action, the swings, the big homerun trades.
My name is Michail Shadkin and I am an adrenaline junkie, there I admit it. LOL
Many, many years ago one event changed my life forever.
It’s an unusual story and one you might enjoy reading.
It was 1974 and I was 13 years old.
A year earlier my family immigrated to the US from Russia and settled in Detroit.
We came to the US with nothing, literally nothing.
My dad was an engineer in Russia, but knowing zero English couldn’t pursue his occupation in the US.
Instead he was lucky enough to find a hard labor job at scrap metal shop and worked 10-12 hour days 6 days a week.
It was painful to watch him every day coming home dead tired.
Seeing how hard my dad worked to make a living and support us made me want to earn some money on my own.
So I got a job delivering the Detroit Free Press newspaper.
I was given a route with 80 homes and every morning at 6am with my little red wagon in tow (rain, snow, whatever) I delivered newspapers.
A year went by and I saved every penny and had $600 to my name and very proud of myself, since that was really a lot in 1974 for me and my family.
By this time my dad learned some English and was able to get a little better paying job while working less hours.
In Russia my dad enjoyed occasionally going to the horse race track with friends and making very tiny wagers strictly for fun.
Now with a new job and some free time, he went several times to Northville Downs in the Detroit suburbs for some fun.
Being a curious and very street smart kid, I begged my dad for weeks to take me along.
Finally he gave in and we went together one day.
It was very cool I thought and really enjoyed my first time.
My dad would bet $2 on each race and I would take 25 cents of that action to have something to rout for.
I really don’t remember the financial outcome the first 2 times we went, but the 3rd time changed my life forever.
We were lucky that day and after 9 races my share of the winning was $6.
In the final race my dad wanted to make a trifecta wager. (meaning picking the first 3 hours in exact order)
He picked out 2 of the favorites in the race and some middle of the pack horse as his third choice.
I turned to him and said “dad even if you win, this trifecta is going to pay nothing because of the 2 huge favorites”
“Instead lets pick these 3 horses” as I picked 2 huge long shorts and his 3rd middle of the pack horse.
He said “that’s crazy, we would be just throwing our money away. I am making my original bet”
So I told him to make his own wager and use my $6 of winnings to make my own wager (first time)
I picked my 3 horses and made a $1 box trifecta wager that cost $6 (meaning it didn’t matter what order they were long as they finished 1, 2, 3 and I would receive half the trifecta amount)
As the race started there was a giant collision between 7 horses and both of the heavy favorites were involved and never even finished the race.
My 2 long shorts were on the far outside and avoided the collision and took an insurmountable lead with no other horse even remotely close.
As they crossed the finish line 1 and 2, way behind them were 4 horses fighting for third and my horse on the rail.
It turned out to be a long photo finish and after about 5 minutes the photo showed my horse finishing 3rd by a fingernail.
My dad was in shock and I was jumping up and down like crazy waiting to find out the amount of my winnings.
My heart stopped when that number was finally flashed on the board.
The trifecta paid $9,600 and I would receive half that amount of $4,800 and this was an enormous amount of money at the time for me and my family.
I have never seen my dad so happy before or since. It was truly an amazing feeling with so much celebration.
As we finally got into the car and drove home, I remember my exact words as if it was yesterday:
“Dad, there is got to be an easier way of making a living than working and I am going to find it”
My dad looked at me in wonderment not really realizing the significance of my words, but to me it hit home like a brick in the face.
The hook was set for life and the next day I quit my paper route.
We only went a few more times to the track afterwards after I realized the huge 20-27% vig the track collected on all wagers.
It’s impossible to overcome in the long run and I had zero interest in giving back any of my winnings.
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Five years later my first day of college in my English class the teacher asked all the students to get in front of the podium, introduce ourselves and briefly outline our ambitions or desired work field.
One by one my fellow students stood up and gave a 1 minute intro:
“I want to be an engineer, I want to be an accountant, I want to be lawyer, I want to be an architect”, etc.
Then it was my turn and I will never forget the look on every ones face after my into:
“I want to become a professional gambler and am going to get my accounting degree in case I fail”
It was simply priceless and I meant every damn word.
I am now 51, and my life has played out exactly as I had envisioned and I couldn’t be happier.
Dream the dream, live the dream and never settle.
Working is for the bids !!! Trading is for me !!!
Happy Trading
Michail
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