I may have found the perfect job for Aspies

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Over the past few days I've gotten into the stock market, I've been researching all the terms and teaching myself technical analysis, I've learnt about P/E ratios, bull/bear markets, trends, and all manner of other things.

Now, the more I think about this and look into it, the more something in investment, such as a hedge fund manager, seems to be a very good job for Aspies. Essentially, it's collecting and analysing information, and making logical decisions based on that. You look at past trends in AAPL stock, for example, and you look at the current state of it then try to predict what will happen next. If you can master that, you can become very rich - the 25 best hedge fund managers made an average of $1 billion last year alone. Many will point out that they are exception, and while that may very well be true, if the exception make $1 billion then it isn't unreasonable to except someone who does a decent job might make about $10 million, which is a very good salary isn't it?

I'd also like to bring attention to this article, or this much shorter one, about an Aspie hedge fund manager who made $100 million in a single year by predicting the subprime mortgage crash and buying credit default swaps on subprime mortgage bonds - that is, he bet against subprime mortgages, and made almost a billion dollars profit out of it (over $700 million went to the investors of his fund).

I'm trying to get into the stock market at the moment, and am managing a virtual portfolio already for practice. If I can master this, it could very well be the way I get rich, and make many many millions.

What do you think? If ever there was a perfect job for Aspies, this is it IMO - not forgetting the fact you can do it from your house too, right from your computer in fact. Just keep a stock ticker running and your broker site up!

On The Daily Show last month, there was an interview with an author who wrote a book about someone with AS who made a lot of money in the stock market because he didn't invest in the same way that other people were investing:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-m ... hael-lewis

I don't think there's likely to be one perfect job for all Aspies any more than there is one perfect fit for anybody. I was a Radio disc jockey for thirty years and other than having to make public appearances from time to time, I loved virtually every minute of it. When I tell people who understand AS what I used to do, the common reaction is "Wow - that seems like way too social a job for an Aspie" - what they don't realize is, it allowed me to spend almost my entire workday in a closed studio alone, stimming, playing music and talking to myself into a microphone. And I got paid for that. For me that was as perfect a fit as being the proverbial 'pig in sh*t'.

On the other hand, anything to do with stocks sounds too much like math to me and I suck at math. I think it would bore me to death. Not to mention the fact that left to my own devices at home, I'm so easily distracted by my other interests, I can easily waste an entire day and get absolutely no work done whatsoever. So, like anything else, I guess it would just depend on the individual, but if it were a fit for any given Aspie, it would probably be a great one. Make a million for me while yer at it!

First of all, I would like to say, congratulations.

The second thing that I'd like to say, is that each of us, have our own perfect jobs.

Good for you! I don't think I would be happy in that kind of job myself though.

i dont lke countng money. Usually when i try and count a bunch of coins, f I try again i get a different number every time. I do lke spending money though... luckily i keep my shopping sprees confined to the supermarket so I dont do too much damage.

Asp-Z, when you get employees down the road, if you can delegate-not dump, you'll be ahead of the curve. You're also likely to face the Ted Williams problem: how do you manage/coach people less talented (or less serious and intense) than yourself? Well, it's better to do 15 activities satisfactorily good, rather than two activities perfectly. And if you can figure out a better answer, please let me know.

I lived in Las Vegas for two years and played poker on a semi-serious basis and what I can tell you is that it was far streakier than our societal and esp. school focus on mean, medium, and mode, and on bell curves, and 'normal' distributions, would ever lead us to expect. There are streaks in which things go in your favor (along with sound, relaxed, observant play) and you think you are a well-, well-above-average poker player! And then streaks, where just due to bad luck, things go badly and one somewhat loses his or her rhythm (as one pro wrote, when you're in a slump, a proper fold won't pull you out of it, but it will help you from sliding deeper into it, and that's just as important).

And I found myself wondering how far this went. Might an obstetrician have that awful streak in which he loses three babies in a row. And just due to bad luck? although the third one is the one that will haunt him. And he will find himself questioning everything, as well as he should, including whether he ever wants to continue in medicine another day in his life. And just three different unlucky events hit him right in a row. Now, he may have lost his rhythm at the end, including being overly cautious and doubting himself.

Okay, so when you get a bad streak, become somewhat more conservative, somewhat more deliberative, but not uber cautious, nothing like that. And find a way to win the hand, play the hand, one card and one betting round at a time. It will be there. Let it come to you. It will be other than predicted in advance. Give yourself permission to win messy.

One lesson from Bill Gates. He gave himself permission to win messy. And also, arguably he did not push it too far.

And as you start making a goodly amount of money, please donate some to charities and causes you believe in. Please, if it feels right to you, I do make that request.


(I broke even in poker. But then again, the casino rake + customary tip is significantly higher than financial transaction fees. If I added a few key skills to my repertoire, if I focused on enjoying my game and letting winning be a by product, or if someone else more talented than I tried Vegas poker, well, who knows. But there are definitely upswings and downswings.)

here awhile back i made a little money on ativision. after cod4 i bought into atvi at 10 the release of mw2 bumped it another 2 bucks a share. recently sold it after the forced regime change at infinity ward. didnt make alot of money but enough to justify playing with the market more