The last statement is most certainly not true. I am still new to finance but throughout the years have seen too many shams promising a bunch of BS in the education/strategy space that I have built a bit of skepticism in me, which admittedly can go overboard. I always ask questions like this regarding education/resources because I don't like wasting my time and want to vet what I will be venturing into, but yes it is the case that it's often a process of elimination that one has to go through and see what works best for he/she, and too much skepticism can stop this.
In no way am I saying to spend 5k on a Minervini course/seminar.. But Minervini,Ryan and Kullamagi are as good as it gets..I hear Stock Bee is decent as well..And that's thep tip of the iceberg..you have a long journey ahead .
Larry Williams has also many successful traders created. He is one of the more successful ones in his entire trading career. If one is really looking for successul traders educating others this is one trader Larry W. needs to be considered too. (But this is not for me). He has also published many books, indicators and some strategies too.
And Minervini won in the $1MM+ verified starting equity category with a 334% return. And unlike the Robbins Cup contest and at least one other contest, if you nominate multiple accounts in the USIC, they are all counted as one, i.e. you can't compete in the contest with multiple separate accounts and then rest your laurels on the best performing account and not mention the others. You enter as an individual, and whatever account numbers you nominate will count for or against you in total. However, you may be able to enter two different divisions with separate accounts. For example, you could probably enter one account in the Money Manager Verified Ratings Division and one in the USIC proper, which is for accounts $20K+ but less than $1MM. Also, I would think you could enter an account in the stocks only division and also the enhanced growth (futures and options) divisions. But regardless, you enter as an individual in each division, and your performance is your performance. You can't enter multiple accounts and then cherry pick the results. That 334% return was his actual return.
That is where you have things backwards: Darvas, O'Neil, and Minervini all bucked the vendor trend by writing and publishing their books only after each made a fortune in the stock market. How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market, Nicolas Darvas How to Make Money in Stocks, William O'Neil Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard, Mark Minervini Like @deaddog said, I'd like see someone read, study, and put into to practice what is taught in those books and fail as a trader. It would be nearly impossible.
He has all the earmarks of a great trader and a great faker. I follow him closely and still can't tell the difference. But the fact that floors me is the claim that he's made a 120% return annually for at least the last twenty years. If he had just $1 mil twenty years ago - and he had $10 mil at the time - that compounds to $7 trillion. ($1 mil * 2.2^20.) That's enough money to fill anyone's convertible with blondes. Even accounting for the capacity of his trading style, you'd think he have at least $1 bil by now. And he don't.