The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

I’m guessing your trading and investing journey has been a totally smooth ride up until this point? At this point you are, rightfully so, thinking I sound like the most delusional person you’ve ever come across. Anyone with even a shred of trading experience knows the ride is not anywhere close to being smooth. The big differentiating factor is how do you react to the bumpy ride? This is where our guest, John (”JerryPMan” in the chatroom) shines in regards to setting a great example. As you’ll hear, his journey was had plenty of bumps in it. In other words, he has had plenty of bumpy experiences he has needed to react to. How did he react? What was the main thought process behind his reactions? Was he using poor or rational logic for these decisions? We get into that and a whole lot more. I enjoyed speaking with John as he was a straight-shooter who didn’t try and pretend he was someone he was not. He was kind enough to share his experiences that we will all be able to relate to in one form or another. Let’s get to it!

Have you heard of it? The term is “quiet quitting” and it is a job strategy that seems to be catching more and more popularity as these current times continue. I do my best to be as objective and fair as possible, so on that note, is “quiet quitting” a smart strategy? In order to tackle this question and discussion, I bring back a long time friend of the community and podcast, Judd. I figured Judd would be the perfect person to discuss this strategy with due to the fact he has built and sold (for a very nice profit) a business. He’s also worked his way up within several corporate structures (from the bottom level), so he’s had to eat dirt before he could sit in a higher perch. With his experience at higher levels of companies (and building his own), he has also had to hire several people throughout his career. Point being, Judd is someone who I trusted has the ability to give a solid perspective to the strategy of quiet quitting. If you have no idea what quiet quitting is, no worries, I’ll be sure to define it right at the beginning. I have a suspicion that you already know what it is, you just don’t necessarily have a name for it. Perhaps you are doing it? Maybe you’re thinking of doing it? But, should you? Let’s discuss…

Have you heard? The Biden administration is proposing to forgive student loans. This has of course opened up the floodgates of opinions and debates. Given this is not only a podcast for trading, but also money/economics in general, I wanted to weigh in on this topic. My main hope with this episode is to discuss student loan forgiveness in a very fair and reasonable way. I am not here to strawman either side’s argument. In fact, I’m not going to argue one way or another. I’m just going to point out some flaws in the arguments that I’ve seen. Some of these are factual flaws, others are more so logical flaws. I would like people to be able to have fruitful and productive conversations about this topic. In order to do so, there needs to be some general acknowledgements of facts and logic. This does not mean both people are going to ultimately agree; however, it does ensure people don’t talk pass one another. Maybe I’m just a conspiracy theorist, but at times it seems the mainstream media is intentionally confusing us to cause disagreements where there is actually an agreement. I suppose confusion creates content and clicks, and given media companies are “for profit”, it makes sense they want to create confusion and drama. Let me cut through the drama and point out some of the most common arguments being made with additional content and considerations.

What would you do? You’ve just become, unexpectedly, homeless and you’re sitting there in a motel room. It sounds like a Hollywood movie script, doesn’t it? This is the exact set of circumstances my guest, Bradley (”modelact” chatroom alias), found himself at a stage in his life. If you’re ready for a an inspirational ride, then let’s go! If you are looking for someone uses who plays the victim card and pulls out a deck of excuses, this won’t be the guy for you! Bradley was extremely kind to share what many others may have wanted to keep to themselves. He was very polite about it, but yeah, his life was hit by some whirlwinds that sometimes just happen. I enjoyed his approach to life and his attitude overall. Therein lies a great learning point though. As you’ll see, even with such a fantastic attitude towards life and keeping things positive, trading still ahs the ability to push you to the limits and expose all the shortfalls. Bradley and I get into some solid discussions over trading psychology and how tricky the human mind can be. The moral of the story is this, if you enjoy a good “not gonna give up after getting punched in the mouth” type journey, you’ll love this one! Let’s go!

Who remembers Scottstrade? Us older traders will have a fond memory of them and how awesome it was they offered $7.99 commissions! My guest, Mark, has had a wide variety of experiences as he’s been around for quite some time! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love talking with guests who are on the younger end of the spectrum; however, when you talk with someone who is older, you can get some great stories form “the good ol’ days”. Mark has been through quite a bit and shares some big ups and downs which I’m confident we can relate to. Mark has traded pink sheet penny stocks, normal stocks, options and is now moving into futures. He’s a bit unique in the sense he tends to blend fundamental and macroeconomic ideas into his trades, but hey, we all have our different approaches to the market. Like all of us, Mark still has work to do, but the one underlying dynamic I noticed in his journey is becoming extremely good at acknowledging when he does not understand something instead of keeping himself in the dark. Most of his problems came from staying in the dark, but when he has grabbed the flashlight, things change quickly (amazing how that works, huh?). Let’s get to it!

I’ve been blind sided several times on the show throughout the years from guests sharing their stories. Just when I think I know the end results of a story, I hear something completely different. While I can’t say it takes the top spot (it may!), I can say this episode’s guest, Taylor, has one of the most blindsiding moments in the show’s history. There’s no other way to say this than, his ego was out of control! As traders we 100% need confidence. There is no way you’ll have a chance at success without being bold and confident in your decisions. You need a strategy that you can be fully confident in and deploy without hesitation. The trouble with this confidence requirement is it carries with it the oftentimes easy transition into cockiness and ego. When a trader crosses this line, the results ultimately turn out in… unfavorable… ways. Taylor was brutally honest about his ego. He held nothing back and sugar coated nothing. His experience truly represents how bizarre and crazy the human mind can be. It also prompted us to have some really interesting discussions about how society has made trading that much harder. I enjoyed the conversation and I have no doubt you will too. Let’s go!

There is nothing more refreshing than self accountability. In a culture where it seems like it is always “someone else’s fault”, it is a breath of fresh air when someone blames the person in the mirror. Trading is not easy and there are a variety of ways we can twist and turn with the blame game. My guest, Joe, does a deep dive into his journey and holds nothing back. I’ve been doing this show for several years now, and one of the excuses he used back when he was getting started may be the worst excuse I’ve ever heard. He had the courage to admit to using it as an excuse, so I have nothing but respect! I always enjoy a discussion with someone who is brutally honest about their journey and self awareness. With that being said, Joe borderlines being a bit too hard on himself! He was doing it given its part of his sense of humor; however, he did make it sound like he is way worse of a trader than he actually is. All in all, this was a fun discussion and has some great bits of knowledge in it… particularly from the “don’t do this” angle! Let’s get to it!

Are you dizzy? If you say ‘yes’, I totally understand! Every direction you turn you see headlines making a variety of claims. The problem is, these claims oftentimes are contradicting one another and seem to have no consistent basis. I sometimes wonder if this is by design? What do I mean? Does the government make the statistics it reports very broad and open ended on purpose to create confusion by allowing for a variety of opinions and theories to develop? Perhaps I am being a conspiracy theorists, but whether it’s a Republican or Democrat in office, these statistics are ridiculous when you peel back their layers to understand them better. The big talking point currently is Recession vs. Strong Economy. Some say that we have a strong economy while others say we are in a recession with a failing economy. The goal of this episode is to cut through all the headlines and apply some basic common sense that will point us in the direction of where we need to be headed. I may not have a PhD in economics, but I do have enough practical common sense with money to understand what a, truly, strong economy looks like. The good news is, none of this is complicated so there is no need for this to be some multiple hour episode. I want to keep it as brief as possible, thrown in some learning, and then apply some common sense. Let’s get to it!

The world of trading is a crazy place for several reasons. It’s amazing how much money can be made (lost) in such small amounts of time. It’s amazing how you can make (lose) these amounts of money from anywhere in the world assuming there is an internet connection. An often overlooked reason is the vast scale of strategy approaches ranging from extremely intense to extremely laid back. Our guest from the community, Robert, shares his journey and how he has ended up on the end of the scale requiring a laid back approach. Robert was not always at this point in the scale, but upon deeper reflection, this is what a trading journey essentially is, right? We are taking a journey across the strategy scale and trying to determine where our personal risk tolerance and comfort level belongs. Some people have fun going sky diving while others have fun reading a book about sky diving. Neither person is wrong, they’re both having fun; but, what it does illustrate is how we all have varying risk tolerances. Robert needed to go through several ups and downs to figure out his place on the scale, but he’s found a great groove at this point! He was kind enough to share some of his journey with us and I am confident you’ll gain great access from it. Let’s learn from Robert and his pathway to finding his “spot” on the strategy scale. 

Admitting to yourself certain weaknesses and areas that need to be improved is not always the most enjoyable activity to take part in; however, it is a required activity if you want to reach your maximum potential. In the world of trading, you must be brutally honest with yourself and admit all weaknesses. At times, you may just have to admit, “I’m simply NOT good at this…” I know we are brought up in a culture of “keep pushing and you can do it!”, which is awesome in most areas of life, but when it comes to trading, this sort of attitude can cause a whole lot of financial pain. In this episode, I welcome back Alex (”LTP” in the chatroom) and he shares with us an update on his journey. He is doing well and figuring out a whole lot. The backbone of his improvement is getting to know himself better by being honest with himself and admitting certain areas he’s no good at. By admitting this, Alex has been able to improvise and adapt to more suitable areas of the market that allow him to find comfort and success. One of the great facts about the financial markets is they are so massive. This allows for plenty of wiggle room and flexibility when it comes to finding something that works for you. But again, this will only be possible if you get to know yourself and are brutally honest with yourself. Alex is a shining example of it. Let’s go!