hi buddha, i got the same problem i want to start trading my own account but because of fmaily pressures, i am holding off at the moment also trying to set up a few income streams that could feed into my trading, anyway seems your getting along fine and yeah like you said in the long term with the effects of compounding things should get better, anyway as we are both interested in the saem thing, heres a few sites for you to check out.
www.originalturtles.org (can get the turtle trading rules for free here.
www.investors.com (the william o neill canslim site check it out tell me what you think as looking to use his investment approach) and finally
www.turtletradingsoftware.com (great little forum) anyway take a look and let us know what you think