I understand many of you out there are interested in trading because you see trading as a quick path to making money. Trust me when I tell you that the idea of making quick money is an appealing one. At least in my lifetime, though, I have never seen any path to making quick money – no, not a single path. Whatever wealth I have acquired over my lifetime has come over my lifetime. It has come from researching markets, defining them, understanding them, and then buying and selling them when the time is right.
Yes, I trade, meaning, I buy and sell markets relatively quickly, and that activity provides income, but it is difficult and time consuming to get it right. It is a lot of work. It is a job. So, for those who continually write me asking how to get started in trading, I say to you consider broadening your perspective. I say to you consider doing what I do which is mix prudent and carefully considered trading with longer-term investing.
If ever I have seen a time in my life for this approach to making money, it is now. We (the world) are in the midst of a technological evolution of historic proportions, an evolution that is changing and reshaping the very foundation upon which we have built an industrial society, a foundation floating on the viscosity of oil. Despite what the pundits and politicians tell us, that foundation is sinking much more quickly than assessments suggest. The momentum of change is becoming synergistic, and when this point is reached, the transformation cannot be stopped or even slowed down. The tipping point is not far away, as the CEO (David Crane) of NRG Energy now recognizes. NRG produces energy and last week the company announced, “The New Jersey-based power producer would abandon further investment in a Texas nuclear power project,” and instead …
… has been ramping up its investments in solar and wind power as well as rolling out an electric car-charging network in the petro capital of Houston, of all places. And Crane strongly hinted that NRG will jump into the residential solar business, a market currently dominated by startups such as SolarCity and Sungevity. “We think over the next three to five years the solar business will migrate heavily from a utility-sized solar business to a more of a distributed solar model driven by consumer demand …
There are three very important notions in the statement above. 1) Nuclear power is not our future. 2.) Electric cars and the corresponding necessary infrastructure are coming fast. 3) Production of energy for homes, cars, and businesses will move from a centralized distribution model to production at the source of need, in the home, in your car, or at your place of business.
The above presents opportunity on both the trading and investment side of making money. What it will take is lots of work in researching markets, defining and understanding those markets, and then buying and selling when the time is right. My friends, now is the time to begin your new job, a job that if done right can put you on a slower but almost certain path to making money.
Trade in the day – Invest in your life …
