On the internet trading is generally marketed as a get rich fast scheme, because you can make easy money, but actually trading is one of the hardest ways to make “easy money”. This is from personal and market experience. Trading is a flash job, but keeping expectations realistic is a must!
When I started trading it wasn’t about making loads of money. It was about a new career to have a flexible life. I was already a finance professional in Insolvency and Turnaround Management in Sydney, Australia working for one of the best firms in the industry. I had great partners and managers. It was actually a really great place to work, if you wanted to be in that profession. However, like many people in life I also felt I needed the flexibility in life and pursued this avenue. So in March 2004 the first thing I did was go back to school! Having a bachelor of science in management and masters in accounting and finance, it was the sensible thing to do. First learn and then apply and ensure you have continuous professional education to stay on top of developments and improve yourself (this is exactly the same template I had for my career as a finance professional).
One thing that came with experience in my career was blatantly obvious though; “you always learn a job on the job”. Not at university or college, but on the job, on the application, going through the process. So why the education? Because, the education I got at university taught me one very important thing, how to learn anything properly and become that person. Education is valuable because it develops your mental faculties. Education is not about just getting knowledge to do a job. It includes broadening your perspective, innovation, it gives you human contact which you need later on, it allows you to build yourself, discover yourself and thus upgrade yourself with new methods that others did not think of before.
So, the first thing I did was to join a trading education community in Sydney and learn how to trade the markets. In life you are going to need more than yourself if you want to learn and get better. On your own it will be just you and not a lot of improvement, but with the right people around you, there will be an opportunity to develop new and better ways to do things, not to mention you will see your bad habits faster and you will have the ability to work on them and very importantly you will need motivation and drive. The environment here is critical!
Having spent about six months on education and market analysis I figured I need to start mock trading. Note “mock trading”. This is a concept I got in college when I was doing my A Levels in London. Before you entered your “real” A Level college exams you went through mock exams to see how you are at. What good is school if you don’t pick up a good habit or two?
In the 21st century when everybody wants everything yesterday, having the patience to do this is like getting tortured! You want to trade and start making money right? So after a few great mock trades I thought “yea I got this”.
Then I blew my first 10,000 AUD at CMC Trading. That was the first on the job lesson, on how you learn and apply, can differ greatly when you are trading with real money. The psychology of trading starts to come into play.
Twenty years down the line in 2025 it is a much different story. However getting here was not a smooth ride and it will not be for most people. I can honestly say I haven’t made tens of millions or hundreds of millions, however I have made for myself the life I did set out for in the first place. A family home by the forest, no mortgages, no car loans no debts and when I look across from my window the beautiful sunset over the mountains with the family at the dinner table. So as you can see sometimes your peace of mind can have price tag that’s priceless. Its personal for everyone.
Which brings me to the question you need to ask your self about your trading journey. What do you really want for yourself and loved ones? At the end of the day this is a journey and it has to be your vision and your mission. You will need to pave the road. The easier and less stressful way to do it is with like minded people, experienced people and a support mechanism around you, just like family.
In the following newsletters I will touch upon points that are very important on your journey. I hope it will help you as what I have learned from others have helped me to greatly develop without experiencing the pain of reinventing the wheel. As Socrates said:
Improve yourself by other men’s writings thus attaining effortlessly what they acquired through great difficulty.
In each article I will endeavor to share what I felt to be important along the way in hope that it will help you out.
