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Hello,
I recently joined RealTraders, and so far have been thorougly impressed with
the quality of posts as well as the excellent knowledge that many of you
have shared. I'm happy to be here.
I'm writing this email both to provide a brief introduction to myself and
also to ask for some general advice and information.
My name is Brian, I'm 22 years old and live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I'm a
fourth-year senior at the University of Utah pursuing degrees in Physics and
History and a minor in Math. I am presently employed by eBay. I was disowned
and disinherited a couple years ago, because I left my parents' religion.
Shortly after this, my girlfriend dumped me, my friend died, and my dog got
hit by a car. My father must have felt guilty about this turn of events
because I received substantial amount of money. At that time I knew very
little about money, and I, unfortunately, decided to use most of it to buy a
house.
Up until my disowning, I was given stocks and mutual funds by my father and
grandfather throughout my life. I retained these through my disinheriting.
These are mostly Blue Chip stocks and conservative funds. Some of these
shares have not ever been traded during my life. All are conservative in
nature and were bought with long-term growth and investment in mind. While
these belong exlusively to me, I made verbal agreements when I received them
that I would never sell them (I suppose 'never' meaning until the benefactor
dies) unless the long term viability of the company had changed. To date,
this has not ever happened and, at this time, I intend to honor my
agreements. All have been at least moderately successful, from the patient
investor's viewpoint. (Patience being a virtue that I don't possess.)
My knowledge of the market is generally very traditional. My father
endeavored to educate me in economics and, as a result, I feel that I have a
good foundation of knowledge. Inclusion to this list has, however, made that
foundation appear much smaller than I previously thought. :-)
Last July I made my first foray into day trading, blindly following the
advice of a friend. Three weeks later, I was out a little over $10,000,
mostly to fees and commissions on top of a few horrendous trades. That
debacle taught me that never again would I find myself ignorant in regards
to a market I was vested in. I have conducted zero actual transactions since
July.
After losing my money, I read a couple books, all of The Motley Fool
archives, and decided that anything other than long term investing was
basically gambling, and that I'd have better odds, not to mention more fun,
if I moved to Vegas.
Then I made a friend who had then just begun option trading. In the three
months I've known him, he's gone from having significant debt to quitting
his job and paying cash for a nice house. In light of this information, I
reconsidered my previous determination and am now attempting to gain enough
knowledge and insight to follow his example.
My short term goals are to make enough money to: 1) not have to work any
longer for someone else; 2) find it financially feasible to buy a house near
and attend Graduate School in Mathematics at Berkeley. (Thereby escaping
from Salt Lake Shitty.) My long term goal is to build enough wealth that
lack of money will never be a factor in decisions regarding my life.
The successful option trader has given me a book, _On Track Investing- A
Guide To Simulation Trading_ by David R. Herbert. This book is very simple
and basic, but I have still gleaned some knowledge from it. Apparently it is
associated with Wade Cook. I don't know who that is, but from people's
reactions I surmise he is the Amway of investors. At the direction of Mr.
Herbert, I have been conducting practice trades.
In light of the recent posts by Clyde and Earl, I have ordered _Technical
Analysis of Stock Trends_ by Robert D. Edwards, John F. Magee.
Currently I am interested in Options. I like the idea of knowing my maximum
loss when I enter a trade. I ground away noticeable amounts of my teeth
while half-sleeping in July. I'm the first to admit, though, that my
interest in Options is probably due both to proximity in addition to lack of
knowledge of other strategies.
Basically, I'm pretty ignorant about everything. :-) I'm looking to learn
anything and everything I can which will help me to reach my objectives.
Given my goals and history, are there any strategies that anyone might
suggest?
What resources would you recommend? (Books, websites, etc.)
What programs are the best? TeleChart 2000 was recommended in the Wade Cook
book.
I appreciate your time in this matter. All responses are very appreciated.
I'm looking forward to belonging to RealTraders.
Regards,
Brian
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