The European tax defense against corporate profits moving offshore has been Value Added Tax (VAT). It taxes everything at every level of a product's production. It tends to increase retail price of goods and makes those domestically manufactured noncompetitive on price with imports. And, trend toward free trade continues, thus threatening European Union's economic base. The major added obstacle for U.S. in adopting VAT policy is that most States rely on sales tax to partially sustain themselves. A VAT combined with sales tax would cause a recession.

If you share Corporate American's view that you are best person to wisely spend your money, you'll follow Corporate America offshore. If you feel that Washington has a better grasp of your financial needs, leave your assets here.

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Living expenses are only one part of financial equation. Next you must consider how much trading capital you need. This is money actually facilitate trading, in other words your account balance for trading margin, and money you will be spending on data feeds, software, and internet access. You must account for this separately, you cannot start eating into your daily living expenses money just because you took a bad trade and need some more margin.

The amount of trading capital you require will depend very much on your trading style. To day trade US Stock Markets for example, you must have at least $25,000 in your account, so budget for $30,000 to allow for positions moving against you (if you fall below $25k minimum even briefly, your account can be frozen for up to three months). If you are holding positions overnight you may manage with a lower balance but bear in mind your buying power and consequently returns will be reduced.

If all this is starting to sound expensive, well it is. There’s no two ways about it, you simply cannot survive long term as a trader if you are under funded.

This article will be concluded in part two.