I suddenly remembered I was blogging about my trading.
Reading some of these posts, it's amazing how stupid and ignorant I was.
20% gains every two weeks? Are you serious?
Actually. I was. Even in 2015 I was serious because that was when I tried binary options. Needless to say that was a failure too. And the reason is simple. Ignorance and Desperation.
Why in the world was I expecting my money to multiply by over 100 times in a year? What I was expecting to accomplish in two weeks took Warren Buffett the whole of 2016 to do. Am I mad?
I say ignorance is a reason because I chose to believe the exceptions could become the norm. In other words, I ignored what centuries of investing has thought the rest of the world. If it's too good to be true, it probably is. I hadn't read or studied enough about trading and investing to realize that my expectations were unreal.
I say desperation is a reason because I wanted to quickly gain back everything I had lost from my venture into real estate. I lightly mentioned it on one of my posts, but the truth of the matter is that I lost A LOT. I mean, sure it wasn't my own money since it was funded with credit cards, but I am obligated to pay it back. With interest. I also lost my source of income around that time, so monthly payments went down the toilet, which in turn affected my credit.
This also goes back to my ignorance. If I truly knew then how valuable my credit was, I wouldn't have taken on the debt. Even if I were to take on debt I would have ensured that I had enough spare funds to service the debt in the event there is no positive outcome from my venture. I had not studied enough about real estate investing to ensure that crucial step.
In 2016, I paper traded for a few months with success and believed I knew what I was doing. The account started with $100,000 and I was able to increase that by about 30% in a month. Seeing these results, a friend entrusted me with $1500. I truly believed I could achieve those same results. Here's an advice. Trading with $1500 does not work the same as trading with $100,000. You can't continue to "dollar cost average" till your trade idea works out. Oh and. Commissions will eat up your gains.
Three months later here's how I ended. $397.39 lost to commissions from trading so often and $743 in actual loss from the trade ideas. Total $1140.39 lost. Left shows loss from each trade and right shows loss including commissions. Click for a larger view if you can't see them.
I will be trading again come 2017. I will once again put my own money on the line keeping in mind all that I have learned. I will not expect unrealistic gains, but I will take them if they come.
I once read that Warren Buffet had two rules of investing. The first was not to lose money. The second was not to forget the first rule. Those will be my guiding words for 2017.
I look forward to sharing great news. I also look forward to hearing them from you.
Till then, may 2016 end well and have a prosperous and wealth building 2017!!!
