Is This a Good Way to Charge Family and Friends for Mentoring?

tradingjournals · Nov 30, 2013

Quote from StarDust9182:

I would advise caution at mentoring relatives. In my experience, most seekers think traders have some kind of magic secret and once they find it out, they will be rich too with little effort. It is a very similar expectation to socialism - I am equal (or better) to the trader and thus will make more money or I deserve equal to the trader but shouldn't have to do the supporting foundation work. That is, some pain is necessary to be successful as a trader IMO.

I have in past given fundamental principles and methods to about 8 people in 30 years and not one of the people who asked me sincerely have put the effort in to apply them and use them. (You give them magic beans and they tell you months later when you see them, I will make soup with these beans one day.) Now, I just don't waste my time. It answered the question from my past of why trading mentors were so difficult for me to find when I looked for them.

When I went to university, I was astounded to find out in my final year that the fairy rings of fellow students were working on homework as a group rather than each working on their own. I spent almost every waking hour studying and doing the work. I couldn't understand how most could keep up. I learned it by doing, they copied and learned some things by doing. Did that work out for them?

35 years later, I am healthy wealthy and wise, retired at 50 and they are .... Where are they exactly. Many washed out and were never heard from again. Some are bureaucrats and some even did pretty well overall. Not putting the work in is like the Jack and the magic bean stock story - a fairytale.

One of my engineering professors lamented to me about his poor teaching remarks during a student evaluation. I didn't mind how he taught but there was a lot of information and one had to pay attention and it was a challenge to keep up. He told me that due to the watering down of standards then (1974), in his opinion, only about 15 students (including me he said) of our 65 class actually belonged in engineering. I often think about this conversation when I look at what society has become. I often wonder if he was an optimist when I see how low some entrance standards have dropped to let in people who normally wouldn't qualify. After, somebody has to work on the problems, we can't all rely on government largesse.
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It is a click society in efforts, make money society in objectives, and fast food society in patience.

tradingjournals · Nov 30, 2013

Quote from jinxu:

I have a close family member that is out of college and is expressing interest in learning how to trade my method.

Problem is I have no idea if they can do it or not and I'm hesitant of giving it out because I don't know how dedicated they will be. I don't want to show them my method only to have them give up later on (because trading is hard and it's a skill) and then now I risk them telling other people. I trust them, but it's still a risk.

For me to reveal how I trade, I need them to prove that they are serious.

So my ideal is to charge them for the secret and mentorship. $5000 in $500 increment every 4 months. Like a classroom. If they pass each 4 months on what I want them to do then they can continue. If not then I just let it go. I won't give up the details until a year into it. At first I'll only give the materials from books and ideas that forms the basic theories to my strategy. It's homework and I want to see if they'll do what it takes first and if they'll work hard.

My assumption is that paying to learn will give them more motivation. But if later on they decide that it's not what they want to do then they it'll be just a $500 loss so hopefully no resentment.

How does my idea sound? And has anyone tried mentoring a relative before? How did it go?
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In general, if you want to regret it in the future, then do it, but he expressed interest which is a plus.

ammo · Nov 30, 2013

your system fits your personality, may not work for any of the above traders that responded,may not work for the intended student either,some folks can write computer programs, some folks can rebuild an engine,just a few of the seemingly everyone that uses a computer and or drives a car..

you could keep a diary of about 4 trades a day and the setups,winners and losers, email them to him at the end of each day for a month or more,see how inquisitive he is or if he loses interest or even opens the emails, save yourself a lot of wasted personal interaction if it wasn't going to pan out anyway

Pivotas · Nov 30, 2013

Think of it as a trade with low probability and high risk. Like being on the wrong side of a 3X ETF. Generations from now your descendents will look back on your actions as the reason for the great schism in the family.

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Is This a Good Way to Charge Family and Friends for Mentoring?

Is it a good idea?

Yes

No

Maybe

tradingjournals

tradingjournals

ammo

Pivotas