Developing One’s Self to Develop as a Trader | STR 093

We've done many interviews at this point in our podcasting journey, but thinking off the top of my head, I can only think of one other person who is taking the approach Ward (our guest and chat room member) is using. According to Ward's logic, which makes perfect sense to me, he is first focusing on developing as a person, to which he believes will then allow him to develop better as a trader. The awesome part is, Ward has a few years under his belt, so it just goes to show that it is never too late to work on oneself for the better. This was a refreshing interview and inspired me for sure. Notes: In 1998, Ward read a few books about trading but wasn’t in a financial position to put money in the market. However, the fire was lit. After getting married, his wife had her money in a mutual fund that wasn’t growing fast enough in his opinion and thought he could do a better job. He didn’t even fully realize that the market just experienced a huge downturn. Ward started to trade in stocks that had a steady uptrend. After reading 40 books about how to trade, he would still look back at his trading journal and question why exactly he entered particular stocks. He recognized he did not have a solid methodology. Unfortunately, Ward went through a cycle of trying a strategy, getting discouraged and then taking a break. This lasted for 4 years until he found Clay’s youtube videos. He thought that looking over someone's shoulder and watching them execute trades would be more beneficial than reading the theory of trading from books. Ward was actually in retirement when he discovered Clay’s videos. After seeing how well the course was structured, he went back to work for 2 months to pay for Claytrader University and to keep from having to utilize his savings for the package. At the same time, Ward discovered the power of self development and the power of a plan/goal. This ties into such a larger topic such that life isn’t all about trading. Trading is a part of Ward’s life but it is not the only thing that matters to him. Developing solid plans and planning the path to success played a crucial role in turning Ward’s trading around along with many other parts of his life. Quotes: “When I thought about trading this money, it didn’t even occur to me that the money hadn’t grown because of the market correction.” “I wasn’t losing any ground but wasn’t making any either. Even after all those books I read, none of them taught me how to trade.” “I’ve got money and read a bunch of books and think I can compete against professionals. I realized there was an education problem there.”