The more you trade, the more you will learn about the world around you. You will gradually start to better understand the global economy, national economy, business in general, and how things work. Traders view the world in a different light, pondering how the goods and services we need and want are created and ultimately delivered to us at a reasonable profit. Every time you buy something, every time you interact with someone, your mind will constantly be sifting everything for trading opportunities.
Trading hones diligence and perseverance, maybe the most important life skills of all. Like life, trading has many setbacks so opportunities to get discouraged are legion. But if you stick with it, keep your nose to the grindstone for months, then years, and then decades, you will succeed. The single most-important ingredient for success is to simply stubbornly keep doing something until you naturally learn enough to get good at it! Most elite traders, CEOs, athletes, or any professionals became that way not because they had advantages up front, but simply because they never gave up despite the inevitable setbacks.
When I was 12, my father opened a brokerage account for me. Of course back then you had to actually call your broker on the telephone to make a trade, so it was certainly intimidating at first. Trading, and really anything new, always is. But I bought some stock in IBM and never looked back from there. I saved income from my summer jobs including fishing golf balls out of water traps, mowing lawns, and painting houses. I invested some of my meager surplus income in stocks.
The more you learn about yourself, the deeper you journey into your own emotions, the happier you will ultimately be. This quest for emotional mastery yields benefits far beyond the trading realm. The longer you trade, the better you become at stepping back and calmly analyzing life situations that make you angry, sad, frustrated, whatever. Controlling your own greed and fear helps you better control all your emotions, making you more even-keeled and slower to get upset in the future. Imagine the benefits this has for marriages, family interactions, business relationships, and everything else!
Trading also yields great insights into other people. Sentiment, how the majority of other traders view the stock markets or any given stock at any particular time, is the most important driving force behind price movements. Trading success demands buying low and selling high, right? The only times stocks are low is when they are unloved and out of favor among the majority of traders. Conversely, stocks only get high when they are popular and the majority of traders want to buy them. Observing others' sentiment gives you fantastic insights into life in general, and human nature, that are extremely valuable.
Teaching kids about business and stocks is very empowering for them, they naturally love to learn. It instills in them a broad practical worldview most people never experience, and increases the odds they will nurture their entrepreneurial side and ultimately do fulfilling work they love. The earlier anyone starts learning about trading, and all the necessary peripheral topics like sound money management, the more successful they will ultimately be.
On the other end of the age spectrum, trading is equally beneficial to the elderly. Sadly many people get bored in old age, it's tragic. They don't exercise their brains so gradually their minds turn to mush. Trading, since it demands endless learning, can seriously slow or even reverse this unfortunate deterioration. Trading provides excitement for elderly folks, helping them feel plugged in to the world again. It gives them something cool to talk about with their friends, kids, and grandchildren. I'm going to continue trading until the day I die to keep my mind in training and razor-sharp.
Trading demands discipline, which has unimaginably-big benefits in all aspects of life. In order to trade, you first have to generate some surplus income. The only way to do this is spend less than you earn. The longer that you live below your means in general, the more you save, the richer you get. This trading-forged discipline virtually ensures you will never have debt problems, never be in an ugly situation where you risk losing a major asset like your house. It leads to a much-happier and less-stressful life.
Living below your means, regardless of what they are, also loosens the hold of money (greed) on your heart. There is nothing wrong with building wealth, but the Bible is crystal-clear on the dangers of greed. In his first letter to young pastor Timothy, the great Apostle Paul wrote, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Paradoxically even though trading's goal is to build wealth, greed is its mortal enemy.
The amount traded is totally irrelevant. If you can earn a 20% return on $1000 in your earlier years, you can earn a 20% return on $100k or $1m as your capital grows. The critical thing is just to get trading, start small and start learning the lessons stock trading teaches. Get your greed and fear under control and grow your understanding of the markets and stocks when you have little on the line. This foundation is essential to help you thrive someday in the future when you are risking a lot.
Trading hones diligence and perseverance, maybe the most important life skills of all. Like life, trading has many setbacks so opportunities to get discouraged are legion. But if you stick with it, keep your nose to the grindstone for months, then years, and then decades, you will succeed. The single most-important ingredient for success is to simply stubbornly keep doing something until you naturally learn enough to get good at it! Most elite traders, CEOs, athletes, or any professionals became that way not because they had advantages up front, but simply because they never gave up despite the inevitable setbacks.
When I was 12, my father opened a brokerage account for me. Of course back then you had to actually call your broker on the telephone to make a trade, so it was certainly intimidating at first. Trading, and really anything new, always is. But I bought some stock in IBM and never looked back from there. I saved income from my summer jobs including fishing golf balls out of water traps, mowing lawns, and painting houses. I invested some of my meager surplus income in stocks.
The more you learn about yourself, the deeper you journey into your own emotions, the happier you will ultimately be. This quest for emotional mastery yields benefits far beyond the trading realm. The longer you trade, the better you become at stepping back and calmly analyzing life situations that make you angry, sad, frustrated, whatever. Controlling your own greed and fear helps you better control all your emotions, making you more even-keeled and slower to get upset in the future. Imagine the benefits this has for marriages, family interactions, business relationships, and everything else!
Trading also yields great insights into other people. Sentiment, how the majority of other traders view the stock markets or any given stock at any particular time, is the most important driving force behind price movements. Trading success demands buying low and selling high, right? The only times stocks are low is when they are unloved and out of favor among the majority of traders. Conversely, stocks only get high when they are popular and the majority of traders want to buy them. Observing others' sentiment gives you fantastic insights into life in general, and human nature, that are extremely valuable.
Teaching kids about business and stocks is very empowering for them, they naturally love to learn. It instills in them a broad practical worldview most people never experience, and increases the odds they will nurture their entrepreneurial side and ultimately do fulfilling work they love. The earlier anyone starts learning about trading, and all the necessary peripheral topics like sound money management, the more successful they will ultimately be.
On the other end of the age spectrum, trading is equally beneficial to the elderly. Sadly many people get bored in old age, it's tragic. They don't exercise their brains so gradually their minds turn to mush. Trading, since it demands endless learning, can seriously slow or even reverse this unfortunate deterioration. Trading provides excitement for elderly folks, helping them feel plugged in to the world again. It gives them something cool to talk about with their friends, kids, and grandchildren. I'm going to continue trading until the day I die to keep my mind in training and razor-sharp.
Trading demands discipline, which has unimaginably-big benefits in all aspects of life. In order to trade, you first have to generate some surplus income. The only way to do this is spend less than you earn. The longer that you live below your means in general, the more you save, the richer you get. This trading-forged discipline virtually ensures you will never have debt problems, never be in an ugly situation where you risk losing a major asset like your house. It leads to a much-happier and less-stressful life.
Living below your means, regardless of what they are, also loosens the hold of money (greed) on your heart. There is nothing wrong with building wealth, but the Bible is crystal-clear on the dangers of greed. In his first letter to young pastor Timothy, the great Apostle Paul wrote, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Paradoxically even though trading's goal is to build wealth, greed is its mortal enemy.
The amount traded is totally irrelevant. If you can earn a 20% return on $1000 in your earlier years, you can earn a 20% return on $100k or $1m as your capital grows. The critical thing is just to get trading, start small and start learning the lessons stock trading teaches. Get your greed and fear under control and grow your understanding of the markets and stocks when you have little on the line. This foundation is essential to help you thrive someday in the future when you are risking a lot.
About the Author:
New investors always need the most information at: http://pressroom.prlog.org/LeeSmith/ and http://www.onlineprnews.com/rss/pr/?cid=2730
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