I recently lost a lot of money to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in the financial markets. What should I do?

"Easy come, easy go." That saying is sometimes true. It's funny that nobody complains when a portfolio is on the rise.  Some people pat themselves on the back really hard, proud that they made the 'right' investment decision.  But the fact is that it could have just as easily have been the 'wrong' one.  This is just the law of investing.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose; it is one that allows the other to happen. That's a lot of money for a 19-year-old.  I think what you're experiencing is inevitable and human nature, particularly amplified when it is the first time you're experiencing such a devastation. You must realize, however, that you cannot change the past or undo the 'so-called' mistakes you made.  To continually beat yourself up over it is neither healthy nor productive.  In fact it is quite the opposite. If you have to rationalize it in your head, you should consider that the blow, on a net effect basis, is not quite as bad as it seems.  Most of the losses were gains; that is money you never had to begin with.  The net loss, in reality, is whatever you lost that you worked for in your landscaping business.  The loss that was really once a gain was the result of buttons you pushed on the computer (i.e. buy this stock, etc.).  I know, it is little consolation to think of it this way, but it might help a little. Chin up.  Be tough.  Life goes on.  Move forward. That is my advice.

Consider it a learning experience.  It's costly, but not remotely a "life-destroying" event.  You're talking about tens of thousands of dollars, and like Garrick said, most of that was previous investment returns.  I'm going to estimate that you lost $50,000, so that means $10,000 or so was "real" money that you earned.  Again, a lot of money, but not insane.  You seem like a bright and motivated guy/girl so that should be a fraction of what you make in your first year with a full-time job. Anyway, on to a more investing-specific answer: Why did you lose so much?  Did you "double down" (lose some and then put more into whatever was going down in an attempt to recoup the losses)?  That's generally a really bad idea.  Was it one investment that just tanked?  If so then you likely had way too much in it and you weren't diversified enough. By losing that much, it seems like you didn't have a good handle on the risk you were exposed to.  Take this as an opportunity to learn about that.  I also am guessing that there was a lot of emotion behind your trades - to that end, I have one rule for investing that might be useful: I can lose at most 1% of my net worth per year on investments for which I cannot write a clear 1-2 sentence explanation defending it. In any case, don't feel ashamed at all.  I'm sure none of your friends even have tens of thousands of dollars to invest.  And EVERYONE loses in the stock market sometimes.  Sure it hurts, both financially and from an emotional standpoint, but look at this as a positive thing - sometimes even though we theoretically "know" what to do, it takes a real-life event to knock some real sense into us.

1- First of all, were you in long-term or short term? 2- Are you risk averse or a risk taker? 3- Finally, you lost a lot of dollars, but what was the size of your loss in percentage terms? You have to know your tolerance for risk. You can make more if you are more tolerant of risk. You can obviously adjust your exposure by owning lower risk investments. It will take longer to make a larger balance sheet this way. You can also be in and out of an investment too quickly. One extreme is a day-trader who buys and sells on very small changes in the price of your investment. Finally, you should probably diversify your portfolio to avoid huge swings in prices. If you balance your portfolio and include a variety of positions, your chances of ending up preserving your investment is better. p.s. the choice of brokers is critical, unless you are (a) lucky, or (b) well versed in finances.

At the hands of an inexperienced trader, playing the markets (especially options trading) is nothing more than gambling. As with gambling, the chance of losing money is very real: this is why people generally set limits on how much money can be lost, i.e. a stop-loss order. In general, losing "tens of thousands of dollars" is not a big deal when it comes to the stock market, as it's not about the percentage lost, not the absolute money lost. In other words, it's relative to your investment portfolio. However, it seems that based off your description, you lost a extremely major percentage of your investment. Obviously it's a bad thing. Fortunately though, it seems like you are still in good financial position, as you are not in debt and you seem to have just lost some discretionary income (talk about first-world problems!) The most important thing that you have lost seems to just be your pride. Keep a good perspective on your actual situation, and don't screw up so badly next time. Learn how to properly work the markets and reduce your risk so that this won't happen again.

Pat yourself on the back, you've learned a valuable lessons with 10s of thousands that will probably help you later on in life when you have to deal with hundreds of thousands. What you need to do is to take stock of the situation. A lot depends on what you mean by "lost." For example you bought shares in company X and those shares tanked vs. you bought options and they expired worthless. In the first situation, things may turn around, in the second case, the money is lost. I'm not sure where you are in the emotional roller coaster but one piece of advice might be to take a pause, if your investment has lost a lot of money, but some downside protection like a series of puts and take some time to figure out if the decline is permanent or temporary. Yes this will cost you money but it will buy you some downside protection and time. The stock market is an expensive place to find out what type of investor you are. Despite what happened, I still applaud you for trying. That said, I had a similiar experience at the same age but my loss was much smaller (I had much less too loose). Congrats on earning tens of thousands by that age. In summary, if the loss is a paper loss, you can buy some puts or downside protection to try and figure out what happened, if its permanent, you need to deal with it. If it helps, this is probably one of the better times to experience such a loss (never a good time but its good to learn your lessons early.) The good news is that 80% of your losses were from your gain so you're down 20% on your original stake, yes it does happen but if you made that money quickly you're also likely to loose it quickly. The last thing, pick up a copy of this book and give it a good read. http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Million-Columbia-Business-Publishing/dp/0231164688 You still have a long road ahead of you and yes this will probably influence the rest of your journey, just do not get hung up on it. At the same time, do not justly blythely pass by it. You need to dwell upon it, long enough to absorb the lesson but not so long that you never get over it.

http://quintrade.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/ten-ways-to-get-your-trading-back-on.html Ten ways to get your trading back on track Every  stock trader goes through times when they may be experiencing negative  returns or are simply not trading up to their expectations. Here are -  Ten ways to get your trading back on track: 1. Reduce position size  Traders may have a number of reasons for trading poorly, such as  pressures in aspects of life outside trading, or not following basic  trading rules. Commonly the market may be changing and the trader is yet  to change their style or adjust. For instance a market may be moving  from ranging to trending, or entering a Bear market.  Many good  traders will significantly reduce their position sizing and/or stop  trading for a period while they make adjustments to their actions or  psychology.  I am reminded of another great quote from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471770884/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0471770884&linkCode=as2&tag=quintrade-20,  "There  is a time for all things, but I didn't know it. And that is precisely  what beats so many men on Wall Street who are very far from being in the  main sucker class. There is the plain fool, who does the wrong thing at  all times everywhere, but there is the Wall Street fool, who thinks he  must trade all the time. No man can always have adequate reasons for  buying and selling stocks daily - or sufficient knowledge to make his  play an intelligent play." When  losing money it is very important to trade smaller, not larger in an  attempt to get your money back. When going through a period of poor  performance good traders will often reduce their position size and try  to obtain small profits on part positions so that they can slowly bring  their psychology back into balance with the market. There is nothing wrong with taking a break from the stock market. 2. Double your discipline and focus Discipline  is important across all aspects of trading from regularly reviewing  research, to cutting loses, to being able to overcome the resistance of  pulling the trigger and entering the stock trade. Ask yourself,  “Are you getting lazy, or not putting in the work, or have you lowered  your standards for opportunity identification?" You want to trade only  excellent opportunities with good risk, reward scenarios.   Increase your focus on the market and determine why you may be  distracted. Try to allocate a part of each day to paying close attention  to your positions and what is happening on the stock market. 3. Always note liquidity A  stock’s liquidity is often overlooked. One of the key ways traders get  caught unable to exit is when liquidity dries up. This often occurs  especially in the speculative end of the stock market when stock prices  start to turn down. When trading illiquid stocks it is very  important to only trade with proportionally very small position size. If  a trader cannot exit a stock quickly they face much larger risks and  they forgo one of the chief stock market advantages over property, that  of a quick exit.  From now on check your stock's daily turnover, to make sure you can head for the exit door it you need to. 4. Pick an exit point and keep to it There  is a secret to avoiding large losses in the stock market, with the  exception of liquidity traps and market gaps. If the trader wants to  avoid big losses then it is absolutely necessary for them to take small  losses. In other words, to cut positions when the stock price starts to  go against the trader.  Remember every big loss in the market,  bar liquidity and gaps, were once small losses that the trader allowed  to get out of hand. Write down your stops and if they are hit make the  trade a dinosaur, extinct! 5. Take the emotion out Try to stand somewhat aloof from the stock market. Become an impartial observer, read my short article on http://quintrade.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/mindfulness-in-stock-market.html Becoming caught up in the emotion of market moves or trying to will things to happen are not beneficial to good trading. Read  some good books on Zen, applying this philosophy will reduce the chance  of experiencing trader burnout and getting too caught up in the game.  Start with http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401907016/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401907016&linkCode=as2&tag=quintrade-20 that should calm you down and help your psychology come back into better balance.  One of the best quotes I overheard from a broker on the phone to a  client was, "Look mate, the worst thing that can happen is you will lose  some money."  It is only about money, there are many more important things in life. 6. Learn some basic technical analysis  It is interesting how many fundamental traders dismiss out of hand  technical market analysis, or the study of prices and trading patterns.  While there is a lot of mumbo jumbo in technical analysishttp://quintrade.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/how-basic-technical-analysis-can-make.htmlwill assist the trader if these elements have never been used before.  Also traders who use line charts are missing a huge amount of  information on a stock. Traders should always use as a basis high, low,  open, close charts with volume, or derivatives such as Candles. Delete  your line charts and set your computer up to provide a better picture of  the stock market and learn some basic technical analysis. 7. Organise your trading like a business Determine  to treat your trading as if it was a business undertaking. This means  keeping good records, developing a strategy, and setting a target for  returns. Very few traders set an actual target that they want to achieve  in terms of profitability, most simply assume they want to make as much  money as possible. Setting  a reasonable target for a return helps define what a trader needs to do  to achieve this target. The mind will subconsciously work to achieve  the trading goal and look for opportunities that will move the trader  towards his or her written targets. 8. Write down the reason for each buy and sell This  is often overlooked but is actually a very important aspect of  developing as a stock trader. Eventually a trader will find that  analysis, position  sizing and other structural elements of trading are just a given, and  that ultimately for the purely discretionary trader psychology will play  a larger role in success or failure. Every trader makes errors  in their trading. The interesting thing is that these psychological  errors tend to repeat for the individual. A trader can better  recognise these patterns in trading psychology it they write down a  reason for all their trades, both taken and not taken. Over a period  when the notes are assessed a pattern will arise and the trader will  find they tend to repeat the same psychological errors. For instance,  not taking trades, not cutting a loss, falling in love with a story etc.  This information can be very useful knowledge for the trader trying to get back on track. Read my article, http://quintrade.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/know-yourself-keeping-stock-diary.html 9. Try a new way of trading One  of the most important things a trader can work on is to develop a  trading methodology that suites their personality. There is no point in  trying to be a day trader if the trader’s personality is better suited  to being a position trader. There is no point in being a pure technical  trader if charts send a trader to sleep. A  trader should periodically try new ways of trading to determine if  there could be other methodologies more suited to their psychology. All  good traders have a characteristic in common they operate with a  trading methodology that suites their personality. Why is this true?  Because a style in line with a trader’s personality will be easier to  consistently implement. The trader and the trading style will be in  better balance and greater harmony.    10. When you are going through hell keep going All  traders go through bad periods, it is simply the pattern of life.  Accept this and determine to move forward. Sometimes losing positions  are acting as psychological baggage for the trader and it is often best  to just sell them out to reduce this pressure and start afresh.   Remember you are not a failure until you quit. Start small again and  build up by trying to avoid the mistakes of the past, the past was your  education. Read my story http://quintrade.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/the-unique-gift-of-you.html Remember the Zen philosophy, even a dead fish in a stream reacts, but the live fish creates its own way. If you found  this information interesting or helpful others may too, please feel free  to forward the article or make a comment below.  By Andrew Quin You may also like: http://quintrade.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/dont-fail-myth-of-stock-market.html http://quintrade.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/stock-trading-is-mind-game.html http://quintrade.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/know-yourself-keeping-stock-diary.html StockCalcs iPhone App - 14 useful stock calculators http://www.quintrade.com/ Free Listed or Quoted company publicity - Via Gantt chart, and activity posting http://www.stockrays.com/

You are 19, so you are still doing fairly well. Although you made a huge lost financially, you still have your brain. Other people make this huge mistake when they have a family to support...Not trying to compare and contrast problems, but no matter how big things seem, it's never that bad when you realize everyone has been through the same type of mistakes. In order to restore yourself, learn to have the courage to forgive yourself. Find the courage to admit to your mistakes, and learn from it. But don't let this fear drive you away from the market or other future business investment. Everyone has gone through something terrible financially or mentally, and we all have been digested with ourselves before. You have already made the right steps to ask questions about what you can do next. Stay proactive and continue have the courage to persevere.

When I find myself in situations like yours, and I have more often than I care to admit, I ask myself: What are you going to do about it? That question attempts to put the trauma in the past, steer you on the path forward, and focus your attention on how to get back on track. You've done well before. You'll do well again. Nearly all successful investors and speculators blow out at some point. The key is that they learned from it. You will too. Good luck!

My dad lost orders of magnitude more than that. Deal with it. Just learn your mistakes, keep cool, and move on.