Hell, I'd be the first to say that the best stories are 'how I lost a million' and not 'how I made a million'. But you know what? Thats just entertaining losers. For the truth is, really, there is no glory in losing. To the big winner everything accrues. Or as Bud Fox says, 'There's no nobility in poverty'. So folks here is the answer for all those with an excuse. You don't need anybody else to kid yourself better than you already doing.
To me this is no different than a rookie at golf telling me they just bought an expensive set of golf clubs and asking how soon can they play and make a lot of money on the PGA tour. Gonna take a lot of practice on the driving range and playing a lot of holes and losing a lot of balls before you get good enough to be consistent to stay under 100, then worry about being good enough to even come close to par. Same with trading.
Dan, You said you have made money in real estate --do you "flip" houses or are you a broker (both?neither?-some other way?)
Dan, the important thing to realize is that it usually takes about 24 months of trading before you will be consistently profitable. Trading is a profession. To learn any profession, it takes time. Learn as much as you can, then get yourself a SIMULATION trading platform and have at it. Your best learning will be your own screwups, not from outside sources. In about 2 years you may be ready to start trading real money. fwiw..the best bang for your buck is in futures trading. Do yourself a favor and forget stocks.
Yeah, but w/out proper preparation (which few do) Dan will blow up a futures account quicker than playing some stocks.
I invest in WA state and VA. I live in WA and here I buy vacant land and have "spec" homes built on them for re-sale. In VA I just buy and hold rentals for cash flow.
I'm a broker/owner in IN ...I've "flipped" homes and have rentals...I've never built spec homes but others in my office have in the past ...they made 15-20%. (my area of IN is somewhat a depressed market) One used to be able to flip much easier in the past but the corruption got so bad the rules that have been implimented have hurt the honest guy so I no longer flip Again....you'll probably do better investing your money in what you already know and understand already-real estate and learn investing in the evenings. It's quite common for newbies to blow out an account before really learning to trade properly
Lt. Dan ... I was going to post a response but "Jackassery" and "Optioncoach" gave 2 great replies. I couldn't really put it any better ... I play Golf and give new traders a similar Golf analogy all the time. Good Luck. Feel free to drop me a line if you have questions. trader4life06
Well, I suggest to get in touch with licensed broker. He will be happy to assist you. Its the best way for newbies.