The Stock Trading Reality Podcast

I know. I’ve said it about 17 million times through the history of the podcast, but I’m saying it again: iron sharpens iron. While I certainly do not proclaim to have the world and life figured out, I can say it is my personal experience that when you surround yourself with quality individuals who believe in “taking control” of whatever situation they’re in, it makes you a better person. In this episode, I bring back someone who I consider a friend, Judd. He’s not new to the podcast, but he’s someone who I feel like I could have on every other week. Judd is an extremely successful guy and although he is modest about it, the facts are the facts. The cool thing about Judd is he’s not a hater. He does not look down on people. He is not looking to kick anyone when they’re down. In fact, he’s looking to do the exact opposite. He’s looking to provide solutions and share what has worked for him in life. Judd and I do talk about trading during the podcast (as he’s entered into the world of shorting); however, I would argue the most important talking points of the conversation happen during the first half. Judd has crushed it in life and now he lives a live most dream of. How did he do it? What would he recommend to someone who wants to get to where he is? We go into all that and much more!

It’s logical. You do something really really well and your confidence explodes. There is no harm in having an ever growing confidence, particularly in the world of trading the financial markets. With that being said, there is a very fine line that is easy to cross where confidence turns into over-confidence, or in some cases, flat out cockiness mixed with arrogance. While not everyone spins into the world of arrogant cockiness, plenty of people (myself included) have experienced a slide into over-confidence. As traders we need to keep ourselves accountable and always be monitoring our attitude towards ourselves and the market. My guest this episode, Chad (”iamvol” chatroom alias) returns for his second appearance to update us on his trading journey. I’ll only offer up a small spoiler, but Chad had a... very nice... trade he was part of. One of those trades that can cause traders to quickly cross the line from confidence to over-confidence. Chad’s reaction to this nice score along with how he continues to conduct himself by staying accountable are where the true nuggets of wisdom are derived from. Chad could have gone down several other pathways than the one he did; however, he showed a huge sign of trader maturity with the choices he made. Let’s welcome back Chad and get an awesome update on his current journey!

I truly mean it when I say it, but when it comes to disagreeing on any kind of topic, I’m totally fine with it. The world would be a super boring place if everyone agreed on every topic. With that being said, if we are going to disagree on a topic or have varying opinions regarding it, hopefully we can both agree that a firm understanding of the topic would be wise. I realize I state the obvious when I say that forming opinions on a topic that is not fully understood is a recipe for disaster. There is a hotly talked about topic out there, which has a numerous amount of opinions and that’s great. Unfortunately though, many people out there (hopefully unintentionally) are framing this discussion in a way that is very deceiving and does not allow for an honest conversation to occur. My goal with this episode is to arm you not with an opinion, but with a full understanding of how this topic works so that you can form you own fully educated opinion on it. I will not be sharing my opinion on this topic. I simply want to ensure you have all the pieces of the puzzle before you form thoughts. Or, who knows, maybe you have encountered someone that is missing a few pieces of the puzzle and you can assist them by filling in a few gaps. Let’s get to it!

This is a first. Over the timespan of 7.5 years, I have never done an episode such as this. My guest and friend, Jose, is back again for the fourth time and he’s doing an exit interview. Joes has been with me since the start. He was one of the first people to join our community and invest into my training program back in the 2013 timeframe when I was just starting it all. Approximately eight years later, he’s leaving the markets for the most part and wanted to come back and do an episode to wrap up his journey. Jose lives in South America and has always had a very enjoyable view on multiple dynamics and circumstances. Both from a culture perspective and from an experience perspective developed in the corporate world. He is someone who is not afraid to share the mess-ups, but also not afraid to tell it how it is. He doesn’t mince words and he’ll hit you right between the eyes; however, he does it from a place of total sincerity and passion. So... why is Jose leaving the markets? Why would he want to come and do an exit interview? We talk about that and much more. Let’s go!

Happy New Year everyone! I wish you a prosperous 2022 with whatever you are chasing after! No matter what you are chasing after, a great way to better the odds you capture your goals is with a plan. The more structured a plan, the more likely you are to make your goals a reality. I’m assuming for many of you, your goal has something to do with finding success or improving upon successes you’ve had in the markets. My guest from the community, Cameron, is in the same exact boat as you. He’s been in the markets for a while now and has been trading with real money; however, he’s still not where he wants to be. He’s still striving to give himself a complete picture of trading and take a firm hold on trading for consistent profits. The good news is, he’s got a plan and now he just needs to stick to it. This is the part that separates the “talkers” from the “doers”. Anyone can sit around and “talk” about goals and their plans on how to achieve them, but when it actually comes to “doing” what they say, this is where many people fall to the waste side. I look forward to having Cameron back on the show someday to hear if he stuck to his plan (which I’m confident he will), but I enjoyed the timing of this interview with it falling right at the start of a new year!

My guest on this episode is no stranger to sharing his story. This is his fourth appearance on the show and, like usual, he crushes it with the discussion. Mike ('HeyFordy' chatroom alias) has taken many punches to the face. Both physically (he's a former boxer) and financially within the world of trading. This is why I want to surround myself with him. When you find people in your real life like "Fordy" (what I call him), be sure you keep them in your life. As the saying goes, "iron sharpens iron" and when you can there is no doubt that Fordy is a piece of iron. Fordy has been in the trading game for several years now and he's someone that has survived and continues to thrive. He has found what works for him and he understands the value of being very self aware and not trying to push the limits beyond what is required. Like all of us, he has done several boneheaded moves over the years, but the difference is, Fordy is nice enough to come and publicly discuss them so that you can avoid the same things, or at least receive a full warning of them! I really enjoyed my talk with Fordy and I'm sure you'll feel the same. Let's get to it!

While it is a great sale’s pitch to tell someone “I have the strategy that works, come follow me!”, unfortunately, that’s just not how the financial markets work. It would be great if there was a “one size fits all” approach and strategy that everyone could use to make money, but... yeah... that’s a fantasy land. The fact of the matter is we are all different creatures when it comes to risk tolerance. We all view the world a bit differently when risk enters into the thought process. My guest is this episode, Joe (’JoeK’ in the chatroom) shares with us his journey that does a fantastic job of illustrating this very point. Joe is a very solid individual who illustrates just how important it is to work hard and be persistent with the choices you make. He of course has not been perfect in his journey, but he was kind enough to share some of “the stupid” he experienced with the hopes that you can benefit from his mistakes. I really enjoyed my talk with Joe as he just shot straight and held nothing back. He’s doing very well within his trading and is someone that needs to be molded after. Let’s get to it!

I truly hope this entire podcast (which is pretty short and to the point) is something that leaves you saying, "Thanks Captain Obvious!"; however, I've learned that human emotions can be a very bizarre thing to understand and control. We are living in a new day and age it seems where information spreads so quickly and it is very easy to get caught up in the emotions of the info! I would hate for one of you to do something that you'll regret later on, so that's the main reason for discussing a thinking strategy that hopefully you're already on board with. I have no problem admitting that, at times, the world can become a crazy and unknown place, and the temptation to listen to your emotions and behave in certain (irrational) ways becomes very possible. Because of this, I want to bring your attention to the question of "Do Zombies Care About Investing?". By doing so, we're going to take ourselves on a little thought journey that will help ensure we behave rational when the temptation to behave irrationally arises. Let's talk some zombie investing!

For me, it's easily in the Top 3 Most Admired Professions in the world: farming. Without farmers, there is no "us". I was honored to talk with a Lance, a member of our community and yes, a farmer! I admit that some of the conversation went a tad off topic into the business realm of farming; however, it is my hope that those of you listening enjoy the business attributes of things given you are trying to start, maintain, grow a business of your own... trading itself! So on that note, a friendly reminder that if you are not treating trading as a business, you are not taking it to the level of seriousness that it needs to be in order to have success. Yance and I discuss a variety of issues regarding trading and he's got a few very very unique dynamics in his life. Particularly when it comes to the futures market. I know many members trade futures, and so does Yance... kind of. His involvement in the futures market is unlike 99% of people and it is fascinating to learn about! He also does "normal" trading on his own which we discuss. Bottom line, this was a great conversation and there is something for everyone here, so let's get to it!

I suppose it depends on who you talk to, but have you ever talked with someone and they are under the impression the world is doomed because of the "younger generation" coming up behind us? I know I have. And to be fair, there certainly are lots of self entitled and lazy people that are part of the younger generation. However, there are also people like my guest Daniel. He's a 23 year old guy who is crushing life and now he's brining that into the world of trading. He is a text book example of "iron sharpening iron" and someone that you need to find within your everyday life to surround yourself with. Like everyone, Daniel had some rough times with his trading and he was kind enough to share those with us and the numerous lessons he has learned. He held nothing back and was totally open in sharing how his journey (bad included0 has been unfolding. One thing I can say with full confidence is that if he continues to employ his approach to life in general to his trading, he will continue to have a bright future ahead! Iron sharpens iron. Let's go!

While trading has a variety of upside benefits and potential, there are also many challenges that make consistently performing the skill a huge hurdle. The problem in many situations is people only focus on the positive sides of trading. From a business sense, I can understand their model. It sure is easier to sell a product or service when you give off the impression trading is easy and money making can happen quickly. However, all that does is set people up for failure due to a lack of alignment of perspective and reality. Thanks to our guest, Michelle ('MichelleS' in the chatoom), we have a very open and honest insight into some of the various challenges that traders face. She has a nice knack for creating analogies to explain things, so I thoroughly enjoyed talking with her and understanding her journey. In fact, be sure to stick around until the very end as she was so honest that she totally revealed something near the end that sparked a whole new discussion (and an important one!). Michelle is a great asset to our community and this episode is certainly going to be worth your time. Let's get to it!

I welcome back long time member, and close personal friend, Nate Wilson to the show. He's been on the show numerous times and as creepy as it sounds, he's a good friend of mine. It's always a bit odd to tell people I met him "in an internet chatroom", but, that's the truth! For those of you who have been around the community, you know he's never been afraid to tell it how it is, including some of the struggles he has gone through. Nate's advantage comes in the form of being resilient and not giving up. He's been punched in the face on several occasions but his has continued to fight forward and adapt within the ever changing landscape of the markets. In this discussion we talk about a new way he is using the strategy that he's been using for years. That may sound like a contradiction, but, it is still the same strategy, just within a different asset market place. He was kind enough to explain what he's looking for and what the various requirements are for his strategy to go into motion. If you are someone who is looking for a very different angle to the market, then I'm confident you'll want to hear what Nate has to say. Let's get to it!

I'm sure you've heard it. Warren Buffet's secretary pays more in taxes than he does! It's a very popular (and powerful sounding) headline that the media loves to use. Let me start off by saying, first off, if you are lookin for some kind of political tirade, you will not find that here. I want to approach this topic in a very logical and reasoned way. You are more than welcome to disagree with the reasoning and logic behind this topic (and we can still be friends!); however, I'm sick and tired of the media twisting and turning some very basic business and general math principles. My goal with this quick discussion is to hopefully help you speak clearly about this topic the next time it may come up in your everyday life. Or, maybe you never speak about it at all, but at least being able to listen to the discussion in a more informed way I would argue is a good thing. Putting all politics aside and looking at this topic through the lens of "why" and "how" is this possible, let's dig into the reason the rich are paying less in taxes that many middle class Americans!

I suppose it's a pet peeve of mine. But I really can't stand it when people who are making good decisions use the word "luckily" or "luck". No! It's NOT "luck", it's you taking action and doing something with good decisions that is the cause. We have a great example of that in this episode with community member Steve. I found him very motivating in regards to "let me do what I gotta do to make things happen", part of which included willing to move to Alaska for work! How crazy is that? Steve has been on a trading journey that, like many, has included several ups and downs. The big difference with Steve though is he looks in the mirror and points at himself. By doing so, he's been able to identify key problems and then make the proper choices in order to correct the problem. Steve is one of those, "I have no excuse" kind of people, so if that sounds like the type of person you want to be surrounded with, then you'll love this interview. Let's get to it!

There are many ways you can go about learning how to trade and be consistent. I would argue that some ways work better and are more cost effective than others, but those are just my personal theories. In this discussion, we are actually making a bit of history. How so? Well, Chris somehow slipped through the cracks and is currently not a member of the community. For those of you newer to the podcast, I try and make it only with current members. I discovered half way through that Chris was not a member, but at that point, we were already so far in, him and I still went with it. Chris is choosing to go on his journey alone, and that brings up some interesting talking points. He has his theory on why this way will work better for him, which while I don't agree with, I do respect. Although we both have different viewpoints on several issues, I will say that he was able to remain an adult the whole time and we still had a pleasant conversation! In fact, I think there are several great learning opportunities for everyone that come from the conversation, so let's get to it!