The 700-dollar lesson!!

[coollikeme]

I always had this desire to be a broker, mainly of the stock market variety. I started noticing ads for Forex all over the place. So my wife and I went to a Forex seminar to check it out. I loved it; it was something I thought I could do. The program was 3000 dollars to join, and we did not have the money to join. We could not afford it. I was upset, we were always broke!! That was one of the reasons why I was ready to try something new. "My wife said there is got to be a cheaper way to learn about investing in the forex". We decided we were going read, and do everything on your own.

So after a year of reading, and going on the Internet and learning what we can. We finally saved up 700 dollars and we were ready to go. We established a forex account, and the trading began. It was great knowing we could get up every morning having a chance at making some money. The first day we tried it; we made $51.14. "Yah baby" trading was on. Day 2 we made $23.62, it seemed all are hard work paid off. Then reality set in. We lost a lot after that, and in about 6 months we lost the 700 dollars we put in. This is where a lot of the books we read help us.

We were obviously pissed off!! But even in losing money we were learning from are mistakes, and knew we needed to learn more. So with in another year we managed to save more money, and do more studying in that time. Now we took on the challenge of doing not only Forex, but also the stock market to. We have a trading account for each. We are doing a lot better at trading now. Some day we will be doing this full-time. Glad we did not give up. Lots of times I read blogs about whatever business you are trying to run people, just give up. Don't give up!! If something does not work try something different, and be a little patient. Just never give up. I lost 700 dollars 3 years ago, now my account is up to
$3120.52 on my way to millions. I can't say it enough. Don't give up.

[Wayne Collis]

Hang in there buddy , Warren Buffett started with nothing !!!!

[Technicolor Tim]

Originally Posted by Wayne Collis

Hang in there buddy , Warren Buffett started with nothing !!!!

Sure, but Warren is not into FX trading, a game in which most people lose money.

[coollikeme]

get involved in Forex. He had tons of money on the British pound last year, and made a killing. You can make money at anything, if you work hard at it. That includes Forex!!!

[shirleywins]

I loved your post. The moral of the story is....never give up. Learn from your mistakes. Keep going and know that success is for you. I recently taught myself how to create a website all through trial and error, reading books, googling and watching youtube videos. My first site took me about a month to create (time spent getting my html code to work right, tweeking stuff, etc.) My second site took about two weeks. My third site took 2 hours. My first site was tough and I pulled my hair out a couple of times but I never gave up. People email me now and tell me how much they enjoy my personal development site and my emails. Now I know that I can use my skills to create more business and more money for myself and my family. It feels good!

[Technicolor Tim]

Originally Posted by coollikeme

get involved in Forex. He had tons of money on the British pound last year, and made a killing. You can make money at anything, if you work hard at it. That includes Forex!!!

Actually, you're right! However, it's not the way he built his fortune, though - his general approach to investing is radically different.

[Blueskied]

In my opinion investing is gambling, nothing else. If you have money that doesn't hurt you if you lose it, you might give it a try though.

[Technicolor Tim]

Originally Posted by Blueskied

In my opinion investing is gambling, nothing else. If you have money that doesn't hurt you if you lose it, you might give it a try though.

I disagree with that. I do consider some forms of investing to be gambling, though - currency trading being one of them, obviously.

[DavidDavidDavid]

For individual investors, it's gambling all right -- though some, like currency speculation and futures, are much more so than others, even for institutional investors.

As an economic engine, a fact of modern life, investing is something that works. I think the debate over whether investing is pure gambling or managed risk has to do with the difference between a worm's-eye-view and a bird's-eye-view...on the ground, with just a few thousand dollars (I think Steve himself said it wouldn't make much sense without like ~100K-200K to burn), it's a crap-shoot all right...up at 30,000 feet, over the long term, with lotsa "disposable" cash, it's a smart thing to do.

One last analogy: as a group men are physically stronger than women, but actually any given man has no guarantee of being stronger than any given woman. Similarly, letting your money lay around only means that it will lose its value (purchasing power) over time -- but whether any particular investment would be better...there's absolutely no guarantee; not even a hint, really. Does that make it "gambling"? No, because there is no "house" using the same "system" time and time again, primed to invoke the Law of Averages, but different "houses" with different "systems"...however, it certainly *feels* like gambling, to be sure!

[coollikeme]

is gambling. You can get fired anytime or laid off, and there does not have to be an explanation. Individual investors have a better shot at being rich. Plus they are their own boss and controls their own life. If you have the right system you can make money at anything. 9 to 5 you are just someones slave, I call that gambling.

[Sam988]

I don't have much faith in trading. I hope you achieve long term success, though.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by coollikeme

I always had this desire to be a broker, mainly of the stock market variety. I started noticing ads for Forex all over the place. So my wife and I went to a Forex seminar to check it out. I loved it; it was something I thought I could do. The program was 3000 dollars to join, and we did not have the money to join. We could not afford it. I was upset, we were always broke!! That was one of the reasons why I was ready to try something new. "My wife said there is got to be a cheaper way to learn about investing in the forex". We decided we were going read, and do everything on your own.

So after a year of reading, and going on the Internet and learning what we can. We finally saved up 700 dollars and we were ready to go. We established a forex account, and the trading began. It was great knowing we could get up every morning having a chance at making some money. The first day we tried it; we made $51.14. "Yah baby" trading was on. Day 2 we made $23.62, it seemed all are hard work paid off. Then reality set in. We lost a lot after that, and in about 6 months we lost the 700 dollars we put in. This is where a lot of the books we read help us.

We were obviously pissed off!! But even in losing money we were learning from are mistakes, and knew we needed to learn more. So with in another year we managed to save more money, and do more studying in that time. Now we took on the challenge of doing not only Forex, but also the stock market to. We have a trading account for each. We are doing a lot better at trading now. Some day we will be doing this full-time. Glad we did not give up. Lots of times I read blogs about whatever business you are trying to run people, just give up. Don't give up!! If something does not work try something different, and be a little patient. Just never give up. I lost 700 dollars 3 years ago, now my account is up to
$3120.52 on my way to millions. I can't say it enough. Don't give up.

Good on ya mate for persistence and determination.

Whatever works for you.

I have always found that by taking a long term buy and hold 'the market/index' approach; it has freed me from having to study/worry/ about the investment AND avoid extraordinary large and onerous charges by frequent trading. A $40 trading commission on a $700 dollar deal is almost 6% and thats before the spread (diffrence between buy and sell price) is accounted for. Frequent trading kills profit.
I have consistently matched the market by my approach. Over the long term those, no brainer LTB&H investments have seriously capitalised growth and thats without counting all the dividends I have received.

Every investment has it's good days and bad. I cant afford the time you put in mate; so hat off to you. I hope it works out

[Acting Like Godot]

Well I am an investment banker. And IMHO, financial markets simply accommodate all views. They are a natural function of the Law of Attraction on a collective basis. Whatever you believe will come true eventually. This article says it very well:

Mr Wang Says So: Thoughts, Reality And the World of Finance

(some of my above comments are tongue-in-cheek )

[DavidDavidDavid]

coollikeme: Nine-to-five definitely isn't gambling; it can't be both gambling and slavery (think about it).

Human nature being generally retiring, people would rather take the devil they know over the devil they don't.

That is also the reason why the advice is to invest with money you can do without -- because you will be doing without it, even if only as an expensive lesson in how to make money!

Because by the time Main Street knows about anything, Wall Street has already made its killing off of it.


You can bet on *that!*

[DavidDavidDavid]

Acting Like Godot: I read your blog entry with interest because it echoes my own observations -- about human consciousness and free will! I think IM/LOA is a bit like astrology: useful, even true, but not in the ways people seem to think (namely, ego-centrism, no matter how much "good" they consciously will would come of fortune): to make a long story short, they are true and useful the way money has value and utility...only when people agree that they should.

As per Goethe,

Woe to him who becomes accustomed, from his youth, to want to find something arbitrary in the necessary, who would like to ascribe some kind of reason to the accidental, to follow what might even be a religion. Does this mean anything more than to renounce one's own understanding and to give absolute room to one's inclinations?


Anyway, it was quite thought-provoking to read of similar notions WRT economics and finance. Indeed, there is a kind of "law" or "principle" here, as all human activity is the result of consciousness -- and therefore it should not be too surprising that human consciousness goes on to affect the outcome!

[coollikeme]

DavidDavidDavid all the richest people in the world invest in something. If you are an employee you have 3 problems. 1# You have no control of your time. 2# You are taxed the highest, and your taxes are taking out right away. 3# if you happen to have a high paying job, you are most likely depending on your 401k, or having a broker taking care of your money. That sounds like a big gamble to me. Wall street companies don't always make a killing ask Enron, Refco and Bear Stearns. Bear Stearns was so respected as a company, ask the people that loss money, If they wish they had more control of their money. If you aren't trying to live our dream, and are settling for 9 to 5 job then you volunteer yourself for slavery. Hope your boss lets you go to the bathroom, or take a lunch at the time you need. I don't want to stay late, but my job says I have to, what does that sound like to you. Learn+ Invest= Control. LOA

[Lisa Smiles]

Interesting thread.

The main point is to realize you can do it.
It will cost more money and time if you are starting from scratch.
Keep learning and earning.

[DavidDavidDavid]

coollikeme: I think there's confusion over what real freedom is. Everywhere the complaint is that we are not allowed to do as we please, but that's the least of what true freedom entails. The very valid points you raise in objection could easily be applied to investing as well. Ultimately, it's quite a question of semantics (of course, semanticists would say it's all *always* a question of semantics!), whether one thing is more risky or more like slavery than another.

I think the real slavery is not being able to make do where you are. Think about it. The real slavery is being tied to one's own fear -- and one's desires.

It's not about nine-to-five or being laid off as it is about one's fear. I was an Army infantryman and though I never saw combat I knew many who did. Yet they were still able to quite happily, if that's the word, make a career out of it...over twenty years, beyond retirement. Why is that?

You talk about nine-to-five...ever think about three-to-eight, as in three hundred hours to twenty hundred hours?

The richest man is the one who can happily live on a dollar a day. Seriously, that's the richest man of all, one who can be of his own accord (beyond the physical basics, naturally).

People who need this that and the other to be happy or satisfied...those are the truly impoverished. Would you rather be an amazing quadriplegic aerobatic airplane pilot, or an ordinary person with legs that can run and arms that can lift?

Likewise with money, and the job, and every aspect of life.

The person who can be happy with a nine-to-five is more a master of his or her own self than the person who needs financial independence in order to finally feel independent.

Would you make the devil's bargain and trade self-awareness and mastery for riches and leisure?

Remember, your soul isn't worth anything the moment you're willing to sell it!

[jimbos123456]

Have you ever thought about using a trading simulator? They aren't that expensive and you can mess around with options, and different market types. There a lot of free trading simulators too, but you can't access otcbb , canadian, european, south american, and asian markets with them sadly. So it wouldn't be a very diversified portfolio in my opinion. I just finished establishing a 67k core position based on pure fundamentals so I think I'll try my hand at a trading simulator next risking only monopoley money. Plus now would be a good time to practice shorting with fake money considering this recession is going to last a few years. Or you could just leave some cash in the shorting etf of your choice which is pretty simple. Whereas when the recession ends all of the stocks and real estate just bottom out, then it's easy to just buy and hold it at the very bottom.

[jimbos123456]

I think these charts would help your trading. If a picture says a thousand words these 4 pictures say 4000 sharp swords .




Real estate drops 50-75% sometime from 2012 to 2017. Time to go shopping for a new house in the USA.


History repeats once more


Thanks for protecting us from inflation gold


You are here time for bear market strategies it looks like to me.

[coollikeme]

DavidDavidDavid freedom is doing whatever your passion is. If someone is working 9 to5 at whatever job they love then that is great. If someone is making a dollar, and they are happy then that is a beautiful thing. But for the millions of people that get up everyday, that hate there job. My point is their are alternatives, do what you love. If you are not doing what you love then you are cheating yourself. I love investing it gives me the opportunity to do things I want. I answer to no one, and love the freedom. Just do what you love and your life will be great. If you are settling then you are lying and cheating yourself.

[coollikeme]

I use scottrade, they have great charts, and also fxcm offers all kinds of charts that are great. Your charts look interesting, but I feel comfortable, with what I am using. I like listening to conference calls reading up on the company, then using the charts to help me make a decision. Always like hearing from other investors hope to hear from you soon.

[DavidDavidDavid]

coollikeme: Freedom is most definitely not doing whatever your passion is. There's a difference between liberty and lawlessness. That sounds obvious enough in the abstract, but in people's lives they confuse following their passions with true freedom. Just consider the fact that your passions change with maturity. Was someone truly "free" when as a teenager their "passion" in life was to party hearty? How about the young man whose "passion" in (that stage of his) life is to "establish himself"? Or the middle-aged man whose "passion" is to somehow "recapture his youth" before retiring, under protest, into dotage and irrelevancy? Or the old man who, after a "fulfilling life" decides he wants to "give back" and goes about using his money to emblazon his name across buildings and landmarks as one last act of will before his mortality expires like a stock option?

Yes, alternatives exist to the nine-to-five. The issue, from a self-awareness perspective, is why one option seems more appealing than another. To quote Goethe, the master reveals himself only in limitation, and the law alone can give us freedom.

Unfortunately, people often think in terms of what philosophers call "negative" freedom -- freedom *from*. But any reaction -- which is what a freedom-from is -- is no freedom at all. A reaction is a function, in the trigonometric sense, of variables or factors. You think you achieve "freedom" when you achieve freedom from something, but that's not the case at all: you were merely reacting to stimuli, no better than a highly complex Artificial Intelligence subroutine!

The typical "nine-to-five-sucks" mentality is based on "negative" freedom. It is the freedom of a child from having to do any homework, not the "positive" freedom of a Creator *to* or towards something existential, inherent, intrinsic.

I recommend Hesse's essay "Trees"..."when one has learned how to listen to trees, one no longer desires to be a tree."