Here's the problem...
This isn't a sales pitch. It's a problem we all have. It's there, and it needs a solution regardless of who you are.I was able to solve it first through my investing in real estate, and now in currency trading. Here's the problem: If you're not happy with your job, or the amount of money you make or have, how do you change that?
If you're 50 plus years old and realize the horrible situation that you just don't have enough savings or the time left to accumulate them to be able to retire, how do you change that?
If you're 30 years old and realize the horrible situation that most of the 50 plus year olds you see who just don't have enough savings or the time left to accumulate them to be able to retire, and that if you don't start doing something right now to accumulate wealth or you won't be able to retire either, how do you change that?
So, how do you solve that problem?
The answer is that you need to have your money make money, rather than you working to make money.Not much happens with your money in a savings account, currently paying maybe 1% - other than saving it and watching it erode with a 2% to 3% inflation rate. Do you really know enough to invest in stocks, or gold? Do you have the capital and skills necessary to buy, improve, manage, and sell real estate? And how are those 401k, IRA, etc. accounts your broker holds for you? How are those doing?
The other thing with all of those investments is that they take time to compound into meaningful amounts of capital. Like 20 years. Have you got a lot of money to start with so that in 20 years it can compound into a significant nest egg that you can then take enough out a year to last you 30 years in your retirement? In fact, do you even have 20 years to make that happen?
And if you think that you'll accumulate enough money by working 40 years at your job, then why is it that even in 2019 the average American between the ages of 55 and 65 had only accrued about $104,000 in retirement savings? Though that may sound like a lot, it really isn't when you realize that would only provide about $300 a month at a safe withdraw rate of between 3% to 4%.
Not to be grim about things, but the average Social Security payment is only around $1,500 per month (2020 statistic). With retirement savings, that's $1,800 a month. Not sure where you live, but most places I'm aware of cost over $1,000 just for rent.
So, how do you make significant money from your money regardless of your present job, financial situation, or age (I didn't start trading until I was in my 60s!)?
Well, you need to invest a little of your time and money to learn what I learned after a hard and difficult career as a software engineer.
I faced retirement in a little bit better shape than most because I had saved some money. But regardless of that money, I knew that it, along with Social Security, was just not going to provide sufficient income. There'd be no real margin for error.
The sudden demise of a car, new roof on the house, or unexpected medical bills could make life a little difficult. Or how about just having a dog! In October of 2017, I had to pay out over $800 for x-rays, surgery, blood tests, and several prescriptions of doggy-meds for my mini Australian Shepherd, Beau. Love him to death, but $800....
I discovered the FOREX foreign currency markets quite by accident (and not until my 60s!), and became fascinated with how much better these markets were for investing in than stocks, bonds, commodities, or even real estate.
You see, one of the main problems with all of these other asset classes — other than the fact that they all require specialized training — is that they rely on time to compound in value. But I was at a period in my life that I no longer had that time. However, with FOREX, time disappears! The problems of compounding go away!
But first, what if you are currently doing well?
But what if you are happy with your job, and you are happy with the amount of money you make or have?If so, you're a very fortunate person. You've obviously worked hard, and have skills that are valued enough that your income exceeds your expenses such that you not only have savings, but disposable income and growing net worth.
Not to be dramatic here, but you should still be concerned. I was in that exact situation. Twice. And I lost a Million Dollar net worth. Twice.
Sure, I was able to come back each time. But it took me 10 years. Each time. And during those periods, things could have simply not worked out. Things did work out. But I was more lucky than I had ultimate control to make anything happen because most of my assets were in real estate.
Look, it's fine to, as Andrew Carnegie once said (in a June 23, 1885 address to the students of Curry Commercial College of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania): "Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket." But a basket full of real estate can deteriorate far faster than your ability to liquidate it in time to save yourself. So can a stock and bond portfolio, both of which I had, and everything just flat-lined.
I've been through 4 severe economic down-drafts in my life and watched helplessly each time as that basket evaporated. Because I understand the rules of this game, all I lost was net worth, not assets. But as I approached retirement, I evaluated that basket with the timing of the market, cashed out, and banked previously vulnerable, and mortgaged property for cash and mortgage free assets.
What I'm getting at here is two points if you are doing well. First, at some point your entire conventional asset base will come under duress, perhaps even catastrophic decay. You need to have the skills to weather this. Second, you may find yourself "out of time" for another run at conventional asset growth. You need to have the skills to weather this.
So, what are you going to do to avoid this? Well, I'd love to tell you all about it....
About training
Although Longwood Currency Trading is primarily a proprietary trading firm where I only trade my own money, I do provide fee based education and consultancy for serious speculators through both private mentoring, and group workshops.The fees I charge are for my consulting and my knowledge. No one gets a kickback from what I do. For example, I don't recommend a broker who then pays me a finder's fee as so very many educators do under what's called an IB, or Introducing Broker Agreement. That's just a pure conflict of interest. Do some research on this, and ask the educator if they operate under an IB agreement. They are required by law to have such an agreement with the broker, and if they refuse to release it to you, ask the broker as they must divulge it. Don't ever, ever put yourself or your money at risk under such an arrangement.
I also don't manage money. It's my money I trade. I'm not interested in trading yours. I'm interested in teaching you how to manage your money in the manner that's right for you. Don't ever, ever entrust your money to be managed unless you are absolutely sure of the solidness of the management company. And even then, you're going to end up paying fees that will so erode any capital appreciation that for the risk you take you might as well just put your money in one of the really small load index funds. Don't take it from me on this: read Tony Robbins' book, Money Master The Game.
In addition, I do not have any affiliate members that hustle my services and earn a commission. If you don't hear about me from me, then ignore what you hear. I don't pay anyone to carry my water for me.
And finally, I don't offer what's called a "signal service". That's where you pay someone to send trade signals to your cell phone so that you can duplicate what they're doing. Anyone who offers this type of program is not helping you one bit, and is most likely a scam. Just do some thinking on this for yourself, and you'll immediately be able to figure out why this would be a bad decision.
Unfortunately, there are way too many scam companies offering a signal service combined with an incentive payment bonus for signing other people up to the service. This is multi-level marketing done the wrong way. Well, it works great for the scammer, but ultimately only a very few of the original members make the money, and they make it at the expense of everyone else's work.
What I do as a trader and educator.
As I've mentioned: I trade my own money, and am not interested in trading yours. However, if you'd like my help in better organizing your trading efforts, I'd be happy to share with you what I know to help you learn how to trade your money.I don't want you to look at all of this as a sales pitch. I don't need your money, and I don't need to pitch you a training program.
If I was really trying to sell you, I'd have big print, lots of white space, colors, pictures, and easy to read thrilling bullet points with hyper-links to a page for you to sign up where it would be proclaimed in huge, bold letters that if you sign up right away, not only will you get a 60% discount off the price, but a box of useless DVDs, a lifetime membership to some forum, and a set of kitchen knives.
I don't have any of that. What I do have is information that may very well change your life.
I do not sell access to webinars, or memberships to chat rooms, forums or blogs. And for that simple reason, it's a totally different process than you may be used to seeing. The reason my process does not include such things is because I want to work with just a few serious people, not hundreds — or thousands.
And please know that my process does not include learning stupid crap you can find for free on the internet. It just makes me crazy to hear stories from folks who paid literally thousands of dollars to learn what a trend line is, or the wonders of a head and shoulders pattern....
Training that emphasizes simplicity
I try to keep things as absolutely simple as possible by presenting strategic process as opposed to just tactical execution. I don't teach 'systems', nor do I try to pitch anyone to buy a system. I work with folks so they can develop their own skills based on market price action.I don't teach "stuff". I teach how to look at price, and how to make money from price action. That's it. It's as simple and as hard as that. And it is simple. It's not easy, but it is simple.
Based on a Bachelors Degree in Physics and a lifetime of involvement with the martial arts, meditative process, and the study of all of nature, I know, and thus teach, that the most complex things in nature are just composed of a bunch of really simple things.
If you want to master the complex, just figure out the simple parts. As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, "To know oneself is to know the ten thousand things." That's my approach to learning for myself, as well as teaching.
The importance of a mentor
Every successful trader, in fact: every successful person, in whatever discipline they are involved in, will tell you that it took a mentor for them to see clearly what they needed to do in order to achieve their success.Everyone has information. But few really know how to apply that information to be a success. With all of the information available, there are so many different paths a person can take in their pursuit of success that choosing the correct path is a daunting task. Unfortunately, most, 80% in fact, of these paths either lead you astray or loss.
There are no "secrets" to successful trading. Pick up 5 — or 25 — different books on trading, and ultimately, unless the author is an idiot, you'll be able to identify all of the common advice among them. That common advice is how they trade, the principles of their success.
I suspect you've done a lot of study on how to trade, and most likely you've tried some of what you've learned by trading on your own. I also suspect that your success has not only not been what you expected it would be, but that you've lost money trading.
However, "...losing money is the only way you're going to learn what not to do so that you can learn what to do," as Jesse Livermore put it. But just losing by itself won't make you a winner any more so than throwing your ante into the center of the poker table and blindly betting your cards.
You need someone to show you not only what not to do, but why not to do it. A favorite quote of mine was made by the great actor Samuel L. Jackson in the interesting movie "Searching For Bobby Fisher":
"Where'd you learn that? From your teacher? He didn't teach you how to win; he taught you how not to lose. That's nothing to be proud of. You got to risk losin'. You got to risk everything. You got to go to the edge of defeat. Never play the board. Always play the man."I've taught karate and self defense to hundreds and hundreds of folks since 1968. The one thing I emphasize over and over and over again is that you simply can't worry about losing, but that you absolutely must have a mindset that is confident of your survival at all costs based on the simple principles I teach.
I've been retired since 2015, and don't need to run a training business. But I've been an educator for 50 years and really enjoy that process. I see the problems out there with the resources available, and certainly understand why the failure rate is so high among new traders.
Because I can only effectively help and manage a limited number of folks through consulting and mentoring, back in around 2018 or so I took some of my written work from that, and structured a group of courses.
I had resisted developing a course for many years, but I kept getting emails asking If I'd do one. So, I do have a foundations course, as well as an advanced training program; more on those later.
I like to write, and so I have many other written materials, some book length, concerning various advanced topics that I use as seminar presentations, or as the basis for mentoring if the person's concerns might be resolved by that material.
Finding a mentor
In finding someone to help you in your trading journey, you need to feel comfortable with them. It's got to be someone who can express themselves in a manner that you can directly relate to and who will enable you to become a better trader.A mentor is a coach, who, though competent in what they do, has to have that unique ability to help someone else become even better than they are. I've been involved in the martial arts since 1968 and am at the Grandmaster level, so I know a few things about learning, developing skills, and the difference between just teaching and being a mentor — I have martial arts students who have been with me for 30+ years. I get it.
Do you think the great Tiger Woods listens to his caddie or coaches because they are all better than he is? No. He listens to them because they can take an objective view of what he is doing and express it in a manner that enables him to get better.
But, of course, that doesn't mean just anybody out there with a little training is going to be qualified to mentor you. They have to be good, really good for that, right? Sure they do. No doubt about it. But, even if the person who is offering to teach you has made 30 million dollars, that's not enough to determine if they can teach you how to be successful.
A good trading coach or mentor will teach you the same 'stuff', just like a good steak house will serve you the same good steak. Your goal is to find the best environment for you to enjoy that steak. And so too, you need to investigate a lot of trading coaches in order to find the one that you're going to be the most comfortable with, the one that you'll flourish with as your mentor.
I didn’t have a mentor when I started live trading, and I lost a huge percentage of my account because no one was there to guide me though. It took me a long time to recover. I wish I would have had someone to look over my shoulder....
Use caution in selecting a mentor
There are, unfortunately, not only a lot of bad steak houses, but there are a lot of bad trading coaches. There are a lot of folks out there teaching stuff that they don't use themselves. There are even a lot of trading 'coaches' who don't even trade! I love to watch the videos from some of these clowns just for the entertainment because, if you pay attention, you can spot how implausible what they say is.So, don't be fooled by all that glitter. Be aware that many of the companies advertising on YouTube videos are really multi-level marketing companies that show big gains from folks trading, but most of those gains are from money they make from getting others involved in the game. And so many companies are just flat-out scams. It's really scary if you don't know what to look for.
And, please don't fall for the guy that says he has 90% winning trades, or that with their system you only need to have 40% winning trades. Those are all just useless metrics to base your judgment on. And just run from anyone who's 'proof' of how great a trader they are is based on them flagging their 'certified' trading and bank account statements at you. Remember Bernie Madoff? Please....
One other thing to consider when looking for a trading mentor is be wary of someone from overseas who claims to have made millions of dollars from their trading. That could very well be true, but so many who market their programs here in the U.S. made their money overseas where the leverage available to them at some point could have been 200 to 1, or more, and they just happened to get lucky.
Playing with leverage over 50 to 1 is really dangerous because it only takes a very small move to wipe out an account. However, using even just 200 to 1 leverage, they could very well have compounded a small $5,000 account to literally hundreds of thousands of dollars. For example, where someone in the U.S. with a $5,000 account might make a decent return of around $1,700 (34%) compounding 5 winning trades at 20 to 1 leverage, the person with access to 200 to 1 leverage with that same starting bank of $5,000 would make over $47,000 (940%) compounding over the same 5 winning trades, and $550,000 over 10 trades.
And statistically, 10 winners in a row is quite possible. And, of course, so are 10 losers in a row....
Such inflamed results lead to very deceptive claims as to what their trading programs are capable of. This is why the European Union, and many other countries, have banned such leverage. However, the claims of fast riches from these folks continue to be seen.
You should choose your trading mentor the same way that you would select an attorney: you interview them and determine for yourself if you feel comfortable with that person based on your conversation vs a sales pitch, advertisement, or parchment paper certificates hanging on the wall.
As an educator, I use the reverse of that: I interview folks who approach me for consulting or mentoring. I have a series of questions I ask so I have a solid basis of information about what the potential student is looking for. If I don't think I can help them, I tell them. I also use that process to filter out tire kickers who just want easy magic information rather than entering into a serious study of material.
Sure, that's a long process, and it takes work. It's an unfortunate fact that most folks who go into trading will spend more time picking out a pair of shoes than they will selecting a mentor. If you don't do your homework, or you pick the cheapest alternative, then you get what you pay for. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.
I've been in the martial arts since 1968 and hold a Grandmaster ranking. I didn't achieve that by myself. I was persistent and I had mentors to point the way for me. Of course, I had to do the work. But a huge part of what I was taught was that once I had mastered that art and myself, my responsibility was to share that knowledge with others. And so, since I have benefited from my experiences in trading, I feel I have a responsibility to work with others. And that's why I teach trading. Simple as that.
Courses — another option
Obviously, other than consulting and mentoring, courses — either online or in book form — are another option for getting educated in trading the currency market.A course is different than simply buying a book on how to trade. You can pay $30 for a book, but courses you buy or watch online run from $15 up over $20,000 depending on the value they provide.
Books tend to be more about "what" something is as opposed to how to actually go about doing it. I've done both, and understand this difference, and how the writing needs to be structured for each purpose.
Some of these $15 to $100 or so online courses have a lot of content, but you need to ask yourself exactly what it is you're trying to learn. If you know nothing, then perhaps a resource like that is an inexpensive entry for you. But how much real value will you, with your particular needs, actually benefit from such training when that training is written so broadly such that it sort of satisfies everyone????
Having said that, if you are a rote beginner and come to me for help, the first part of my work with you is to refer you to some terrific inexpensive beginner resource material because I don't really teach beginners. After going through that really simple introductory material (actually only about 50 pages), what I call "base line" information material, I can immediately get into actually teaching real analysis and trading with you.
I use specific resources because of the way the material is organized, and dovetails smoothly into my early course presentation work. For those who choose not to invest in training with me, I always suggest the free online website Baby Pips that's just great for this sort of thing.
Do not, as in do not, pay literally thousands (or even hundreds) of dollars for this type of basic information. Any, as in any course that contains this type of basic information would be highly suspect as a viable course to actually teach you good trading principles.
As someone with over 50 years experience as an educator, I can only warn you about this sort of poor educational methodology. If you pay $50 for it, fine. But anyone who tries to sell you this stuff for more as trading 'education' is only out to get as much money from you as they can.
Courses can be taken either online, or by hard copy manual. I personally prefer to provide a student with a hard copy course. This protects them from any number of problems that can occur accessing online information. For example: the platform the course is hosted on closes, the author decides to stick everyone with additional fees to continue access, the author dies and the site is closed, etc.
As to course pricing... well, you get what you pay for. Cheap prices tend to indicate material created to appeal to the largest number of people. It's far easier for someone to pay $100 for a course than $1,000. I've experienced both in my own learning journey, and clearly know the difference.
My approach to education
My pricing tends to be higher than most simply because I do not provide material for beginners. Though I'll work with a beginner, in the way I mentioned previously, my target customer is someone who has some trading experience in a live account, but who is not experiencing the success they feel they should be having. Or, a beginner who has the discipline and desire to push themselves to learn at that higher level of material.It takes a lot of work on my part to organize material that addresses this far more complex situation. Folks who have experienced live trading have very serious questions about specific aspects of how to improve their trading. Because of that, they are far more apt to appreciate and benefit from my more text book approach in presenting issues that can actually solve their concerns.
My presentation, both as a mentor and in course form, is a practical approach to education than material designed with lots of white space, large print, endless graphs, and useless discussions of patterns, indicators, 'secret 97% winning strategies', and other folklore better suited for postulating around the campfire with too much beer.
I use sound educational principles based on what I call 'process oriented trading'. This means that rather than teaching 'things', I teach process. I'll teach you how to look for a trade set up, how to evaluate the potential of that trade, the risk level you may have to take based on the structure current price action is indicating, and what methodologies you can consider managing that trade after entering your order.
That's learning how to trade, not just 'what' to do. And that's what you pay me for, not paying me to hold your hand while you learn full lot size vs mini lots. Please....
Here are a couple of videos of me discussing what I term 'process oriented trading'; please watch them both:
- Process Oriented FOREX Trading: https://youtu.be/tWn9yJm5PG4.
- Methodology Of Process Oriented Trading: https://youtu.be/0lVgnggxoIw.
Learning to trade the currency markets
I'm not pushing training programs as my business. I'm a trader, and I'm in this business to make money and to enjoy life. However, I feel I have a responsibility to help folks who seek my counsel. But, before considering Longwood Currency Trading as your training resource, please consider the following quote again by Jessie Livermore because it embodies the essence of my thought process:"The only way you get a real education in the market is to invest cash, track your trades, and study your mistakes."The objective of taking a class and practicing is to learn how to win substantially more when you win than you lose when you lose so that over the long run you come out ahead.
I didn't have a mentor, or guide, when I started trading currencies. It was only after years and years of losing in simulated trading accounts, and way, way too much real money, that I finally did figure out "...what not to do."
Part of the solution was by simply applying the same principles I used to become a millionaire in real estate. I stumbled at first with it because of the time differential in these two investment vehicles.
Once I saw how to alter the process, though, everything fell right into place. But that was just a small piece of the puzzle.
What I discovered was really remarkable.
Remarkable because it brought my trading to a hugely successful level in literally just a few weeks.
Trading isn't hard nor is it complex. You don't need a physics degree to trade. In fact, that was one of my problems: I thought it would take some complex algorithms to trade successfully.
Boy! Was I wrong on that.
Once I understood that, I knew I'd be a good teacher and mentor for someone wanting to learn to trade.
The price of admission
Some of the folks I've chatted with about trading feel discouraged because they think they don't have enough money to get involved. All they immediately see is that to trade 1 full lot of a currency pair requires somewhere in the $10,000 range, depending on the pair traded.It's nice if you have that much money to trade with, just like it might be nice to be able buy a BMW. But you might only have enough money to buy a $3,000 used car to get you started. It's the same with currency trading: it's nice if you have $10,000 or so because then each pip move in the price is worth $10.
However, you can trade mini lots with a $1,000 account and make $1 per pip, or — though I do not advise it — you could even trade micro lots with a $100 account and make $0.10 per pip. Regardless of all that, you shouldn't even start trading real money until you've practiced in a no risk, free simulated account.
Not a sales pitch....
On a final note, if we met somewhere and I handed you my business card, I don't want you to think all I was doing was hitting you up to become a client and paying me money to teach you how to trade.You can learn how to trade on line for free; you don't need me.
I gave you this reference so that if you ever wanted to contact me you could, maybe just to play backgammon or something. Or perhaps I gave you my card because on the opposite side is my martial arts, Rose School of Karate, contact information.
And sure, in addition to that, in the event you've never heard of the FOREX foreign currency markets, you just might want to check it out and see what's going on for yourself. Just know that there's a lot of bad information out there, with compelling sales pitches trying to get your money.
If you're interested in getting a glimpse of how I write about trading, send an email to me at the following address infodesk@LongwoodCurrencyTrading.com with Subject 'Request For 7 Steps To Currency Trading Success document', and I'll send you a 37 page PDF document I wrote which outlines some of the rules that I use to solve issues I face on a daily basis trading the currency markets.
And look, if you're investigating currency trading for the first time, you may have to do some additional research to understand some of the issues I discuss in the 7 Steps To Currency Trading Success document. So, if you get stuck or have questions, throw me an email. I might be able to point you to additional resources. I'd even be willing to set up a time to chat with you and help you out — no charge and absolutely no sales pitches.
But.... could you make money trading?
The short answer to that question is, maybe....No other educator would say that. They'll tell you anyone can do it, and they'll gladly take your money regardless of whether you could or not. Why? Because it's not their business model to ask you a few questions that may cost them a sale.
I ask the questions they should ask. If I don't think you have the basic skills to learn how to trade currencies, I'll tell you.
Why would I do that?
Well, for my own selfish reasons, actually. I'm not running a training business where I want to teach hundreds of people by flying all over the place giving seminars taking my time to work with someone when I know they either don't want to put the effort forward, or simply won't be able to implement what I teach successfully.
I'm reeee-tired, and I'd just as soon trade my own account and enjoy life in my deck chair rather than chase folks around trying to convince them to do something I feel they're not suited for.
Because of that, please don't contact me about learning to trade if you can't truthfully answer to some degree 'yes' to most of the following statements:
- You've had to work hard in your life for what you have. You appreciate what you have, but you want more.
- You realize that at this time in your life that you need some way to increase your net worth because it's not working fast enough doing what you're doing now.
- You can and will follow instructions, and you're able to question things you don't understand.
- You have a fairly well balanced personality. You may bitch about something, but can put it into perspective and then let it go.
- You're inquisitive, and enjoy learning new things.
- You have at least a little bit better than fair skills getting around on the computer and enjoy spending time at the computer.
- You like games, and puzzles, and have some experience playing either chess, poker, backgammon, or other strategy based game, and enjoy the challenge of problem solving.
Whew! That's some list, isn't it? Yes, it is. But key to all of those are the following traits that I feel are most important:
- You can and will follow instructions.
- You are inquisitive, and enjoy learning new things.
- You enjoy the challenge of problem solving.
These 3 are critical. The others are important, but they, like anything else, can be learned if you're motivated. But if you can't answer a resounding 'yes' to these 3, then I can't help you.
However, if you can answer 'yes' to those 3, then there is absolutely no reason you can't learn how to trade successfully, regardless of your education, occupation, or age.
If you'd like to learn more about the services I have to offer, then please email me at infodesk@LongwoodCurrencyTrading.com