By Aussie Rob
G'day Folks, Aussie Rob here… This month's article is going to be a bit different from others that I've written, as it's not stock/option strategy specific, it's more 'life specific'. (Life specific? Gee, I hope he's not going to get all philosophical on us now.) By life specific I mean looking at generalised rules others have lived by that have made a difference in their lives.
No doubt your inbox is similar to mine. Spam, spam and more spam… some ham and eggs and then at last, some real emails buried among the trash. I was sifting through the trash the other day and found a gem. A friend of mine sent me some snippets of J. Paul Getty's Wealth Secrets. I thought, "If they're good enough for ole J.P. then they're good enough for Aussie Rob." I wish I knew the author of the 'snippet', but unfortunately he/she's unknown, but still, not wanting to be busted for plagiarism, I've added a few Aussie Rob twists. Here we go, are you ready to learn?
The late J. Paul Getty's rules for accumulating wealth were simple and straight to the point. In fact, they were so simple most who read them either fobbed them off as being too basic or believed they knew and used them most of their lives... but these people are probably not rich. So far this sounds like most traders who know all the basics but don't apply them.
We all need reality checks every now and then, don't we, so we go 'back to basics' to either sharpen our skills or find what we're doing wrong. While these guidelines may lack romance or obvious direction, be assured they are the real deal. Apply them as soon and as often as you can, and apply them with intelligence and creativity. In other words, just plain old do it!
Rule No. 1: To acquire wealth today, you must be in your own business. We're doing ok so far; trading is a business isn't it? Hang on a minute… here's where a lot of traders go wrong from the beginning. They don't treat their trading like a business.
Reality check No. 1: Treat your trading like a business.
You may think the corporate executive with a $100,000 salary is better off than a small business owner, but the executive will be pushing the proverbial uphill to double his income and, of course, taxes will eat up most of any increase. The simplest blooming onion vendor has unlimited opportunity to expand his business and his income, and even salesmen, who in most cases are able to write their own pay cheque, can control their sale increases themselves. Yes they can, you know the sales rules; the one who makes the most calls, gets the most appointments, does the most presentations and ends up making the most sales. Isn't everything in life just a numbers game? Do the numbers and the rest will take care of itself. (Again, easily fobbed off as being too basic, blah blah blah…)
Rule No. 2: You must have a working knowledge of the business when you start. Hmmm, does that ring a bell? "Yeah, I'd love to attend your course, but I want to make some money first and then I'll invest in your training course." Sounds funny, doesn't it, like putting the cart before the horse, but so many people think that way.
Reality check No. 2: Get educated! If you don't know what you're doing when you start, your mistakes will be costly and often unnecessary. (By putting your money into education first, you'll have knowledge for life. If you don't and you put it immediately into trading, the market will probably take it from you and then where will you be? You'll end up 'paying' one way or another. These people, more than probably won't be rich!)
Start smart and stay that way by continuing to increase your knowledge as you go.
Now there's a lot more I want to share with you, I just can't get through it all right now so look out for my note in the next issue.
Until next month check out www.AussieRob.biz for more great trading information.
Aussie Rob has just released a brand new Covered Call training DVD called Aussie Rob's Share Renting DVD that teaches step-by-step how to write Covered Calls. www.lifestyletrader.com.au/products
