28 Sep Get Rich Quick
Get Rich Quick
Sept. 28, 2016
I hate “get rich quick” claims.
They’re clearly marketing scams.
The true way to get rich is slow and steady. You need to commit to something and expect slow progress.
If you try to get rich quickly, you’re either employing a method that is dangerously faulty or taking on a gargantuan amount of untested risk. Getting rich quickly is a scheme for someone else to get rich, not you. Plodding progress is the best way.
Except…
I don’t really believe that.
I only think I believe that.
Looking back at my coaching life, I sold “get rich quick” my entire career. I sold the idea that you can become great at tennis very swiftly.
I laughed at pros who said that you need several years before you can see results. I scoffed at pros who didn’t preach immediate success. I believed in stern commitment, but I also believed that you should start winning immediately and dramatically improved results should be just around the corner.
Was I right?
With my own eyes, I saw one of my students go from no ranking to a 3-Star recruit in three months.
I saw one of my students go from a very low ranking to top 10 in the Midwest in just over a year.
I saw one of my students go from about 450 in the nation to top 10 in the nation in eighteen months.
And I saw one of my students go from junior varsity at his high school to a world ranking in five years.
Those aren’t the only examples.
It turns out I do believe in getting rich quickly. I’ve believed in it all along.
So how does that apply to trading?
In one of my previous posts, I talked about rapidly growing a trading account. But what does that really mean?
It first means commitment. Whether you believe in getting rich slowly or getting rich quickly, what’s not negotiable is commitment. Nobody gets rich by being flighty. No one gets rich without unwavering dedication.
If you’re not committed, you don’t get rich.
The second part is what you believe. If you think growing money rapidly is dangerous, then your account won’t grow. You’ll sabotage at every opportunity.
Instead, lower your trade size (nothing wrong with that) and lower your expectations (nothing wrong with that, either). Growing an account slowly over a long time is an incredibly smart way to go about managing your money.
But if you do believe a small account can grow, then the last part to consider is the losing.
In my previous post, I talked about how a $10,000 account turns into $1 million in less than seven years (if you have enough leverage). This was a daytrading robot (as opposed to a longer-term trend-following robot).
It’s important to understand, however, how much losing is involved on the path to a million. The same robot that turned a small account into a big one would have suffered as many as 42 negative months. That’s a lot of losing.
Imagine: What if you got excited and decided to go for it–and then lost money the very first month? How would you feel? Would you still be excited? Would you think “get rich quick” was a scam? Would you turn the robot off?
Put yourself in that situation: You watched your system trade every day for a month. You lived and died with every entry. And at the end of thirty days, you were a loser.
Furthermore, this robot lost for two months in a row nine different times. Nine times! That’s nine instances where you lost money for sixty days. Could you watch a losing system for sixty days and still believe in it?
Even worse, there was one stretch where the robot lost for three months in a row. Ninety days of dwindling capital. That’s not getting rich quickly; that’s torture! And that’s why your beliefs are so important. It’s your beliefs that will get you through the tough times, making sure you don’t stop before you start making money again.
The bottom line is: What do you believe? If you believe you don’t have to wait to make money, then there are ways to speed it up. It’s possible to grow things quickly.
If you believe that it’s dangerous. Then slow down and lower your trade size. Maybe eventually you’ll feel like upping the stakes.
Right now, I’m interested in getting rich quickly. But you can’t make money unless you can take the losing.
You have to commit to the whole process.
Disclaimer:
It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable or that they will not result in losses. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. Examples presented on these sites are for educational purposes only. These set-ups are not solicitations of any order to buy or sell. The authors, the publisher, and all affiliates assume no responsibility for your trading results. There is a high degree of risk in trading.
HYPOTHETICAL OR SIMULATED PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE CERTAIN INHERENT LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, SINCE THE TRADES HAVE NOT ACTUALLY BEEN EXECUTED, THE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER- OR OVER-COMPENSATED FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY. SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN.