Back to the Drawing Board

Although this week's trading has been better, I've been making mistakes and they're costing me money. I still have 4 open positions (long on USB, UARM, CVA and short on FDG) that could earn some money to offset the losses, but if you looked at my trading journal you'd think that I was addicted to giving the market my money. Granted, the bulk of the losses came last week primarily from bad entry strategy, but I'm still seeing flaws in the entry and management of my trades, so it's time I take a step back and test my trading rules in the sandbox again. This decision is primarily based on my failure to consistently apply my rules, not because I've incurred losses on the trades. Losses on trades are going to happen, but without consistently, flawlessly applying my trading rules, I have no way to know how successful my rules are and therefore I don't know how to systematically improve my results. The reason behind my failure to do so is because my trading rules are not explicit enough; they have too much gray area that's open to interpretation which makes it difficult to apply them. It's disappointing and I know you, my father and everyone who has helped me along the way are all interested in hearing of great success from me, but such is the current status of things. I'm implementing the following plan of action to get me back into live trades:

1. Finish my business plan.
• Includes my very specific, explicit trading rules. These are an adaptation of both Coach Rob's and Mentor Jordan teachings & thoughts on trading. It's an amalgamation of the two that I find appropriate for my risk tolerance, and burgeoning trading style.
2. Trade 25 flawless paper trades with 10 in a row flawless before going back to real money.
• Flawless only means I don't make any mistakes according to my trading rules.
• I will evaluate my rules after 25 trades to see what rule changes could net me a better return.
• If, after 25 flawless paper trades, I'm not seeing a net positive, I will apply some changes to my rules and retest on the next block of 25 trades and will repeat the process until I'm getting a net positive result.
3. Set up an account with TradeStation.
• TradeStation comes with very sophisticated tools for programming and evaluating rule-based trading including back-testing a strategy against up to 20 years of intra-day historical market data. I'm looking to TradeStation instead of Interactive Brokers because of these advanced features which should help with consistency and aid in reducing the time trading will require, making it more scalable and manageable on my time budget. I'm deciding to take this action now because it's the direction I'm planing to go, and while I'm tabling my money I may as well make the transition concurrently. TradeStation has great appeal to me because I'm a programmer and this sort of logical evaluation of a trade strategy based on my custom rules is pretty much a fantasy come true.

So there you have it. I'm putting myself back into the sandbox so I can play without further harming my account balance. You're probably thinking: Haven't you been paper trading and haven't you already seen success there? Answer: Yes, I have, but I made the mistake to not have more explicit trading rules and it was without the goal of flawless application of trade rules as I described above. I need to prove that I can consistently put in trades that follow my rules before I can go back into the market with real money. It's a bit of 2 steps forward 1 step back, but that's better than 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Who knows, maybe it is 2 steps backward, but they are much needed steps to take. Hang in there with me, it may take more time than I originally anticipated but I'm going to be a successful professional trader that will make a living trading the markets.

A Lesson in Liquidity & Execution

I have to share this with you. If you've been paying attention to my current position updates you knew that I entered a short position on SVN on Monday. You may have also noticed Trader Charlie's question about volume on his comment and read my response to his comment (check out the comments on: Re: Mark I like your BLOG! - Trade Seeker Question...). Good, I'm glad you're paying attention.

Aside the scant volume SVN sees, I followed my trading rules. I got stopped out today and bought back the short sale (sold for $6.73 on 10/9) for $6.708. You must be wondering why I'm excited about getting a mere 0.18% gain (after Cost of Trade). Take a look at this single-day 2-minute interval chart on SVN for today:

The black line is where my stop was located at $6.70 (3 cents better than break-even). And, yes I could have been justified in lowering my stop a couple more pennies based on this intraday chart and bailed once it violated the previous high after all that consolidation/no movement. I actually put some limit orders in to scale out of the position yesterday and today, but I was a little too optimistic and set the price too low to execute. There's a ton of what-ifs. I chose to set my stop at $6.70 and was waiting until I saw today's closing price to adjust from there. Anyway, let's move on...

Notice the volume, it is appalling. I did say I may live to regret this trade because of the thin volume. Given the complete lack of volume when the stock crossed the black line (my stop) I was convinced my order would be filled for a loss and I'd be buying back the stock at the blue line for ~$6.80. However, when I pulled up my Interactive Brokers account, I could see that IB filled my order for an average price of $6.708 (it executed across 3 exchanges, one at $6.70, and two at $6.71) which turned what I was certain was a loss into a gain.

Once again, I'm asking myself: What have I learned? ... Liquidity is good, learn to love it and don't be sucked in my a low volume stock just because it has a few higher-volume days under it's belt. Turn up the volume! The other thing I learned is that Interactive Brokers has terrific execution. Any questions?

Interactive Brokers Adventure

It was a dark and stormy night in the middle of the hottest day of Southern California's current record-breaking heatwave when I began to attempt to put my Interactive Brokers adventure down in sans-serif, mono-spaced font. I'm sure the immediate question is: Why use a mono-spaced font? Or, more likely: What does sans-serif mean? The real answer is: Stop asking silly questions! None of that matters. This is the account of signing up for an Interactive Brokers (IB) brokerage account, why are you asking about fonts? Nothing to see here folks, keep moving... If you're not interested in reading my colorful-commentary, or you're impatient, scroll to the end of this post for my executive summary.

I had already set up an account with OptionsXpress (OX) about a month earlier, but did not fund it. I did attempt to put in some paper trades together on OX using their virtual trader interface. OX's interface seems simple enough, but I have a couple complaints: 1) The virtual trading interface is not exactly the same as their live trading interface. 2) Although they're modestly priced for multiple contract options and medium-to-large lot stock orders, for small orders, they are rather expensive (even at the "active trader" rate).

Both of these are major factors in my decision to not use OptionsXpress and instead go with Interactive Brokers. I plan to take advantage of the virtual trading in exactly the same way as I'll manage my real account, so the disparity in abilities between OX's virtual trader and their live trading interface is undesirable. Also, because my account will be small to start with, I won't be able to take advantage of the multi-contract Option discounts nor large lot stock purchases, so the Cost of Trade will weigh heavily against gains and will enhance losses.

I have heard a number of complaints by non-professionals about IB's interface. Interactive Brokers seems to have gained a reputation amongst amateurs of being difficult to use, yet I have not heard such complaints from professionals. I'm a reasonably savvy computer user (ok maybe even a full-fledged computer geek), so I'm not dissuaded by a complicated interface; I'm willing to put in the time today to learn to use a powerful order entry tool for my career in professional trading. I figure once I'm through the learning curve I get to take advantage of a very nice platform for placing trades.

Without the typical negatives touted about Interactive Brokers being of any significance for me personally, the remaining reasons for choosing IB make it seem like a no-brainer. Both my weekly call-in coach (Rob Craig) and my mentor (Jordan Stokes, who I'll sit down with in mid-September) use and recommend Interactive Brokers. Both of these gentlemen are successful traders and I'm going to mimic them in the beginning as I discover my own style of trade and risk tolerance. Another huge point is that Interactive Brokers is cheap, really cheap. So cheap that Bill Keevan made the remark in one of the Trading P.I.T. sessions that he doesn't even factor in the cost of the trade into is profit/loss calculation. I like that -- the ability to be an active trader without it costing much to get in and out of positions. Also, some Option plays require 4+ legs to put the strategy together -- this could likely end up offsetting gains greatly. Interactive Brokers also has an outstanding reputation over an extended period of time (29 years) for accurate order execution.

Interactive Brokers also seems to be the choice for professional traders because they don't place artificial restrictions on your orders - things like a required distance between your stop and limit when opening a position. IB allows very sophisticated, advanced order specification and routing. It is also worth noting that they allow you to trade just about every kind of tradable security under the sun: Forex, futures, options, ETFs, etc... If it's tradable, IB has it. IB's interface may be a bit more complicated than other brokerage firms, but that's because they expose so much power and flexibility. They really give you a lot of control over your trade and with such control there is far more to know and consider when trading through them.

On a personal note about the learning curve involved with IB's trader interface: consider my background. I'm a musician and computer programmer. Neither are instant-gratification pursuits. You don't just pick up a French Horn and a week later you're performing at Carnegie Hall. It takes years of disciplined practice. With the right attitude, patience, and acceptance of the learning curve you can make great strides. Even when you get to the top of your game, music, like many things, requires diligence to keep your skills sharp. Use it or lose it. Programming is the ultimate discipline of a lazy person. On the surface you may not think so, but one tenet of programming is the desire to save time. Programmers will spend thousands of hours in order to save minutes; however, those minutes are saved by everyone, everyday when they use what the programmers were willing to spend thousands of hours creating. I'm certainly willing to put in the time to get past the learning curve and take advantage of all those very nice benefits IB offers.

Now that you can (hopefully) understand my motivation to get an Interactive Brokers account, I can recount the tale of the actual sign-up process. After reviewing the various accounts that Interactive Brokers offers, I considered signing up for an advisor account. I thought: Cool, I can manage multiple accounts from one? That should work quite well for me as I plan to manage my father's account someday too. However, I stumbled when I was faced with some questions about being considered a professional and the tax implications, etc. Also, I had a reality check moment where I realized it was probably a bit ambitious to take on an adviser's account before having actually placed even a single trade. Even though having an adviser's account is likely in my future, I was getting ahead of myself.

After identifying that I desired an individual account, the details behind that account must be filled in. As mentioned, Interactive Brokers allows you to trade all kinds of markets and commodities. It seems like a simple enough decision: I want it all. I signed up for access to everything they offer, and supported the fact that I can be trusted with such access with all the necessary details. To avoid any unnecessary delay or rejection, I may have been slightly embellishing on some of the details of my experience with the different types of markets. I take full responsibility for my usage of such access, and stand by my stated experience. Please understand that I'm not advocating lying about your experience or net worth to bolster your account access; doing so can lead to many interesting ways of losing your money and may be considered a punishable offense.

It took hours to read through the roughly 40 legal agreements concerned with subscription and usage rights and disclosure of inherent risk of all the various types of markets and trades. After 4 cups of coffee, I was nearly through half and decided to take a break. There's only so much legalese I can take before the words are just a blur moving by in the background while I fantasize about... Wait, what was it that I just read? ... You get the picture. It was important for me to read and understand all of the agreements, and there were so many because of the level of access I was requesting. Make no mistake, setting up a brokerage account is not a casual thing that you should do for fun at the end of a long day.

The next step after reading through the agreements was to actually fund the account. Interactive Brokers required a minimum of $5,000 to fund my account (remember, I signed up for it all, including margin, etc... the minimum may be different for other types of accounts/access). As far as I could tell, you cannot move forward from this point until you set up the funding. That is, no paper trade acces, nothing... They seem to want serious customers, not lookey-loos. After I send the ACH payment, I scanned my driver's license and emailed it in, as proof of who I am and where I live. It seems all brokerage firms require some proof of who you claim to be and where you live. About a week later my account was activated. Immediately after, I asked for a paper trading account to be created for me to virtual trade. It took another few days for the virtual account to become active and now I have my account set up, funded and ready to trade.

Executive Summary (for the impatient):

Positives for Interactive Brokers:

• Powerful capabilities
• Trade many different markets
• Cheap!
• Reliable
• Well-established brokerage firm
  
• Virtual (paper) trade interface exactly same as real trade interface

The only negative is the opinion amongst casual (or amateur) investors is that the interface is difficult. I've begun using their Trader Work Station (TWS) software and although I don't know all the ins and outs, find nothing worth complaining about. As I learn how to use their TWS software for trade execution and management, I'm sure all the abilities they provide will be very desirable and much appreciated.

Efficient Market Theory

Recently I read StockCharts.com's Stock Analysis Overview, which is part of their free Chart School Educational Information. I've been reflecting on the concepts presented therein and it's helped me understand the principles behind much of what EduTrades, Inc. (Teach Me To Trade) teaches. As noted, I'm new to stock & option trading and I'm doing all I can to soak up more information and opinions. Although it's not the only thing TMTT teaches, technical analysis is certainly paramount to TMTT's system of trading. Technical Analysis should be incorporated into any investment strategy for trade entry and management, but it's absolutely essential to being a Professional Trader.

The overview is a presentation of theories that are the basis of a trading or investment system designed to "beat the market." There are scores of people on wall street and around the world that are attempting to do just that. It seems logical that the way to beat the market is to exploit anomalies that exist at any given point in time. So how do you know what's anomalous? This is one area where technical analysis excels. If your technical analysis leads you to believe that a particular security is overbought or oversold, you can enter a position to prosper from the anomaly. Now that sounds all well and good, but it does require accepting Strong-Form "Efficient" Market Theory as a foundation.

Simplistic as it may seem, strong-form theory states that everything you need to know about the company is reflected in its current price because that's the value the market has dictated. Technicians look to trends and patterns in the chart & volume to make money on overbought or oversold stocks. For an efficient market to work, investors need to know all relevant information, including news and fundamentals about the company; investors must also have the ability to act (or react) to such news as quickly as possible. Essentially the price will continually correct itself as news and company information is made available to the public.

The other theories for and exploiting anomalies include the semi-strong form and the weak form. The weak form of the market dictates that the fundamental information behind a stock determines its actual value. The discrepancy between the current price and the expect value based on your fundamental analysis is the anomaly that we can exploit. For example, if your fundamental analysis leads you to believe the stock is underpriced relative to it's value, you'd be bullish on the stock and seek to profit as the trading price approaches the value that you've determined from your fundamental analysis.

Although I don't think this approach is worthless, there are many times the price of the stock does not react the way you might expect. When good news comes out about a stock, this system dictates the price should increase, but there are numerous examples of the exact opposite happening if not nothing (no increase) at all. Even if you were a fundamentalist who whole-heartedly subscribes to the weak-form market theory, knowing a good technical setup can certainly benefit your bottom line.

The most interesting theory (yet the most worthless for the basis of a trading or investment system) is the semi-strong form of the market, aka the "random walkers." This theory basis itself on price corrections happening (much like the strong-form theory), but that the only way to profit from such price corrections is to know the news ahead of the public at large. The idea behind this is that, although all known information available is reflected in the current price, there is inevitably information that is not public (think insider trading). Without such insider information, the markets behave in a rather chaotic, unpredictable way. Thus making the ability to "beat the market," a near impossibility without insider information. I don't believe this is the only way to beat the market, however I do believe a certain level of insider trading does exist. I say this only based purely on human nature; I'm not so much an idealist, nor so naive that I believe everyone is honest and forthcoming all the time, especially when they stand to profit from withholding such information.

Granted, I'm new to all this, but it seems the market has become more efficient as the delivery of news and the ability to act on that news has become more immediate (and cheaper). Therefore, in today's world of up-to-date news available at the click of a mouse, and the ability to act on that information with similar speed and ease, we have a more efficient market than we've had in the past. It also seems realistic to expect that the markets will become more effecient and possibly more predictable. Consider if everyone is using the strong-form (effecient) theory to determine their trade entry & exit; in such a situation, the stock should exhibit a normalized, semi-predictable behavior. Of course this could all just be in my imagination as I conceptualize how trading & the markets work.

Coaching and Catches

I spoke with my personal coach, Rob Craig, this morning. This was the first of sixteen of our regular Wednesday morning phone calls. I'm really looking forward to working with Rob. He's very honest and to the point about things. When we spoke I informed him of what I've paid etc... He explained to me that coaching alone is $3,500. I've paid $12,000 to participate in this special program that the Teach Me To Trade folks sold me (see: The Next Success Story). Both of us couldn't help but wonder what the balance of $8,500 went towards. After further review of the program I signed up for, I have an additional day in person with my mentor and another advanced training course. I also get a discount on additional training courses (which I do plan to follow through with after I'm trading successfully in the market). I'm not sure exactly how those all balance out, but courses officially sell for $5,900 and the extra day in person with my mentor is certainly worth some money... Let's assume the balance.

This is a huge amount of money for me to carry on my credit card and leaves me with little to trade with. I'm still happy to be on the path to Professional Trading, and truly see it as a viable future, but it seems I've handicapped myself for the short term. I guess the good part about having spent so much money on training is that I can't afford to not pay attention and not put the knowledge to use as soon as possible. I do expect that I'll be able to recoup the cost of the classes through the market within a year's time (hopefully sooner). I practically have to recoup my money through the market. How else can I dig myself out of this kind of debt?

Am I in a precarious position? Yes, and it's unlike any I've ever been in before as I am rather conservative, especially on the debt side of the equation. If you think it's some strange dichotomy for me to be debt conservative, yet willing to put my money (and livelihood) into trading... I can sum it up with the following statement: I have an aversion to debt.

Do I feel that I've been ripped off by EduTrades, Inc./TMTT? No, I don't think so. Certainly knowing what I know now I would have rather paid only $3,500 for the coaching and kept the rest for trading. I am very happy to have personal attention and individually tailored coaching, and I couldn't be happier with Rob as my coach. I see personal attention as one of the most valuable of the services TMTT offers. After all, every professional trader that I've read about has had a mentor that helped them become successful.

Rob is rather insistent that I only paper trade for the majority of the time I'm training with him. He also informed me that 85% of people that begin to take the path to becoming a professional trader quit within 6 months. As you must know by now, I'm not in this for the short term. I have made a real commitment to becoming a professional trader. I'm obviously not going to recoup my money until I'm actually doing live trades, which won't happen quite as soon as I was lead to believe when Tim Kane asked me to participate in the special package they offered. Being completely new to trading, I'm ok with running paper trades while I cut my teeth. It's much better to burn paper than real money and I would like to learn from my mistakes as safely as possible.

I'm feeling slightly desperate being this much in debt. I'm still awaiting an update on my credit report in order to figure out what can be done to make the loan less costly. I certainly hope TMTT is able to help me negotiate my card rate and balance with Chase (as they have offered and claimed that they've done successfully in the past) to make it possible for me to float that money with a lower usage cost.

Knowing all that I've just shared with you, what would you do differently? Comments are very welcome.

About The Name: Taocode

Because so many of you are clamouring to know the significance of the name Taocode, I've taken the time to give a little background and explanation.

I've had the username Taocode at a variety of sites for the past dozen years. It originally started as a double entendre (double meaning). 1) The Art Of Code, meaning: creative, elegant programming code that has an intrinsic, artistic value. 2) Tao Code, as in: "the way" to conduct oneself. This adopts the concept of Tao, which is the natural order of things and cannot be explained since it exceeds senses, thoughts and imagination, as a code to follow. Deep, right?

As it turns out, the former interpretation of Taocode fits right in to trading, making it a triple entendre. Allow me to explain: even though it starts with a T, one pronounces Tao exactly like Dow (Charles Dow & the Dow Jones Industrial Average, etc...).

It appears that trading has been calling to me for some time and it's high time that I answer. If you think I'm making something of nothing... Smile, and don't take things so seriously!

My Goals

I've been dragging my heels on this long-over-due post. I say that because I've been figuring out exactly what my goals should be for some time. I want my goals to be as complete and specific as possible, yet flexible; aggressive, but realistic. I may be putting too much pressure on myself on this issue. So, here goes...

Short term goals:

1. To learn, apply, and follow EduTrades, Inc./Teach Me To Trade's methods for chart reading, trade entry and exit guidelines, and structure/type of trade (option play, etc...). I'm not here to re-invent the wheel; my father and I have paid a lot of money to be instructed on TMTT's effective methods of trading and I'm going to do exactly as I'm taught. This is best, in particular for you: the reader of this blog. I don't want to invalidate the results by not following their guidelines. That would ruin why you're reading this blog, wouldn't it?
2. My first paper trade (virtual trade). Sounds a little silly that I haven't yet, right? I actually have attempted to paper trade a Bear Put Spread, but wanted to ask for a discount off the bid-ask to make the spread cost less than 40% of the expected move (in this case a $5 dollar move, so I wanted the trade to cost me <= $2). The trade was looking great with a 0.58 Net Delta (the in-the-money put buy at 0.69 and the out-of-the-money put sell at 0.11). The expiration was 7.5 months out as the underlying stock was averaging <$1.6> per month, so I gave it 3.5 months for the move and doubled that. The January expiration date looked very nice. Since I wasn't sure how to specify the discount I canceled the order (silly thing to do... now that I think about it). Yesterday the underlying stock had already moved 3/5s the distance and I could have closed the position today -- profitably -- since the stock started to go bullish. But it's more likely that I would keep the position open for a while. I would have had plenty of time left on the option and today wasn't a reversal candlestick. Also, it was still below the 13EMA and hasn't proven that it's found support. But I still need to place that first paper trade. ;-)
3. Fund my account to execute actual trades. (*gasp*) That probably doesn't seem like big a deal to you, and I know I'm blowing it out of proportion but... WOW! that is kind of a BFD for me. I've never even had a brokerage account before! This leads into my next goal...
4. To learn my lessons as they come and not get spooked by a couple bad trades. It's really easy to mentally or virtually enter and exit a position, but it's certainly different with actual money. I know I pay way more attention when playing poker for a decent sized pot. Don't you? After all: "That's my money!" say it with me: "That's my money!" ;-) (thank you Lee Dotson!)
5. To make my credit work better for me. I don't have a great credit situation right now. You may know (from earlier posts) that I've taken some actions to improve my credit score. Doing so should give me some negotiating room to get lower rates because I really don't think I'm a credit risk. Maybe everybody says this, but I assure you that my integrity won't allow for that. Aside from two collections that slipped through the cracks -- and have since been paid -- I don't think I've ever been past due on any money owed.
6. To make enough Trading to offset the cost of the interest for the education that we've put on credit cards. I hope to negotiate a low interest rate to make that easier to achieve. While, at the same time, being able to pay that debt off as soon as it makes sense financially. If I'm netting more % return Trading with the use of that money, I may not be in such a hurry.

Mid term goals (you know -- like a mid term exam):

1. Become financially independent. Earn enough Trading (while still being able to grow my account) to pay my bills and have the option to quit my job. At a bare minimum, $4k per month, but my real target is $10k per month and eventually more, as needed.
2. Take over some of my father's investment accounts to get him better and more consistent returns.
3. Do what I can to help my friends and family that are interested in Trading* (and I do hope that all of them are interested) to get them to where I will be: financially independent. If that means sending them to TMTT on my tab, so be it. They can return it to me when they become successful Traders*. Plus interest! HA! (no, just kidding about that... or am I?)
4. Buy a home. Stop renting and get a nice place that accommodates me much better. I need a better kitchen situation to really help improve my life and health. This is very important to me and something that I've neglected for too long. I love food and I do enjoy preparing healthy & tasty dishes!
5. Find out if laser eye surgery is appropriate for my sister and pay for it as a gift. ... So she can clearly read and learn how to become a Professional Trader* in even less time!!! I think she'd be really good at this, better than me.
6. Have more free-time. Ideally, I'd have enough available time each day to do some things I enjoy: music, surfing, paragliding, exercising, learning a foreign language (preferrably in a foreign land :-D), etc...
   
7. Remain humble, attentive, and adaptive to the market environment. I don't want my ego to cost me money when I'm successful. I want to always remain involved and continue to make smart trades. I also want to keep my skills current and learn to improve my trades to exploit whatever condition the market is giving.
   

Long term goals:

1. Have vacation and travel time to see much of the US, often with my parents as well as plenty of travel abroad. Asia, Europe, Australia, ... I could go on and on about specific locations and how much time I'd like to spend and what I'd like to see and do, but I don't want to make you too jealous because you didn't think about that ;-). Maybe, if you ask nicely, I'll share a fantasy trip or two with you.
2. Be able to sponsor deserving and needy musicians/music groups. I have this crazy notion: I'd like to be able to afford to have (enough of) a semi-pro orchestra's interest under my control (buy that interest via sponsorship/shares/BoD) in order to get my favorite conductor (and friend) a position for others to see that he's worth more than a second look. I'd love to allow him the chance to prove to the world what a fine conductor he is and how improved the orchestra becomes under his direction. I told you it was a crazy notion, didn't I?
3. Help this world. Respond to what's calling me, what I feel most passionately will do the most good.

Short and to the point, exactly as I intended ;-)

* I am joking about converting everyone into a Professional Trader. There are many people that don't want to have that much responsibility for their own finances. Who do you blame, curse, and begrudge if you're the only one responsible? It certainly can be a lot of pressure: to not have any excuses; especially if accustomed to using them as crutches.

Thought & Consideration

If you think I’m crazy for putting $12k on my credit card, you’re not alone. It is not without careful consideration that I put myself in such a perilous situation. If you think I have taken these steps lightly because of my genial nature, you are mistaken. It is sink or swim time for me and it’s not in my nature to take to such extremes.

Now that that’s off my chest, allow me to explain the thoughts and motivation behind my father’s and my decision to spend a combined $34,000.

Perhaps it was my naïveté as a young man, but it seemed to me that companies used to care for their employees, treated them with respect, appropriate compensation, and nice retirement plans for years of faithful service. As I entered the workforce I saw those retirement plans get renegotiated, reduced or even yanked. With internationalization and overseas outsourcing, there aren’t many truly secure jobs.

Without any guaranteed retirement plans through work, it seems obvious that you must put your money to work in order to retire with any comfort. Even before I learned of the advanced techniques Teach Me To Trade offers, I have realized that an individual can get a better return than mutual funds and other managed investment vehicles.

I’m also a do-it-yourself kind of person because I know that nobody has my best interests in mind more than I do; I also believe that, in general, I can do a better job than whomever I would hire, contract or otherwise outsource to. After much deliberation and some semi-sleepless nights, I’ve decided to put my money and energy into myself using Teach Me To Trade’s educational materials and resources. I’ve weighed a lot of options for retirement & wealth building and I greatly favor being a professional trader using Teach Me To Trade’s systems for reducing risk and getting a consistent return.

This is a fairly dry post, but putting $34,000 into anything is a sobering experience and you need to know that it isn’t a flippant move. And anyway, that money is invested in me and my future, and I can’t think of a better place to invest :-).

The Next Success Story

My father and I were called on Monday about participating in a more advanced program with Teach Me To Trade. It was explained to us that this program is designed for us to become one of their success stories and that we'll be receiving additional attention to become successful as soon as possible.

My one year goal is to be able to continue to grow my finances through the market while taking out $7,000-$9,000 per month for living expenses (my salary, if you will). I consider this to be a rather aggressive goal, especially considering my current financial situation of having all of $200 in my "savings" account.

It sounds great that Teach Me To Trade has taken this interest in my father and I, but what's the catch? There are several requirements they are asking of me, the big one is that we need to pay an additional $12k for the year of coaching which comes with 1 additional class. After my father has put up the bulk amount for my education I'm taking this expense/debt upon myself but it is with my father's approval. There are also some additional perks included such as an unlimited advisor line and a discounted price for additional classes. It is also required that I follow my coach's guidance, do my homework and dedicate 5-10 hours to my trading business each week. In return, assuming I fulfill all of my obligations, they will continue to work with me past 1 year if I haven't made my goal yet.

So, did I sign up? Yes. I upped the limit on my current Visa card to $15k so that I can pay the initial cost of the year of coaching with the plan to transfer the balance to a 0% interest card with TMTT's assistance, if needed. I'm also planning to open an additional 0% interest card to put the initial funds into my brokerage account.

More to come...