Happy Monday to all. I hope this week will be steady, meaning, I hope the rough waters will be a bit more settled. My guess is they will be calmer, especially after details of the European Central Bank’s purchase of Italian and Spanish bonds emerge. This is just a guess …
Well, I guess it falls on me to keep finding and emphasizing good news, so I will. It looks like the corporate money spigot is still flowing. Google announced it will buy wireless phone maker Motorola Mobility for a whopping $12.5 billion. I guess that company did not get the word about the global economy falling apart.
Neither did Japan. It just announced its economy shrank by less than half of what economists expected last quarter. The economic powerhouse is steadily climbing out of the hole created last March when an earthquake and tsunami broke up and then swept over the northern part of the island, the heavily industrial part.
I’d like to give you more good news, but my doctor has instructed me to limit the amount of good news I can take on any one day. He says something about too much good news is bad for my optimism, a condition he says is curable, if I follow the regimen he is prescribing. So, I will try to stick to a strict limit of good news, which leads me to the combined question below.
How did you get into the trading business? How and where did you get capital? What should I do to get capital, which has become a great challenge to me?
I am so glad the reader phrased his question that way – trading is a business, as I, and so many others, have been saying for-e-ver. What-e-ever. Sorry, couldn’t help myself. I just find the language of today’s youth quite charming. As someone who understands that language is a dynamic thing, I enjoy watching it change with each new generation. Oh, but I digress …
I formally jumped into the “trading” business back in 2004 after two years of studying the market. Yes, for two years, I never moved a penny in or out of the market. I simply watched it, read about it, and asked questions of those who knew a thing or two about it. When I was ready to do a bit more, I found a mentor who agreed to teach me what he knew. Slowly, I “bled” money into the market, taking my hits one small bang at a time.
After some time with little success, I began to develop a sense of things, an understanding of what goes on in such a complex world. Soon enough the disparate pieces of the jigsaw puzzle began fitting into the right places. I must admit, that was exciting, and in my world when something begins to click, it inspires me to work harder, to learn more. Eventually, my work led me to writing this column, which has taught me more than I ever imagined I would know.
I got my “startup” capital from liquidating my real estate in late 2004 and 2005. I had the money, but it sounds as if you do not. So, you too should wait until you have the money to lose. There is no other safe way to play a game that can wipe you out, if you are not prepared.
Trade in the day – Invest in your life …
