Background: I have been involved in the markets, especially forex trading, for about 8 years now. Over the past year I have finally become consistantly profitable. It just started to click with me. My tentative plan: I want to continue to trade my money for 6 or 9 more months. I want the track record not really to prove to anyone else, but to prove it to myself. Once I am confident I plan on raising money from family and trading it. I think I can raise 7 figures. I know that trading others people's money, especially family, can create a lot of stress and bad feelings. This is why I dont want to start until I am confident in my track record. For this plan lets assume I can trade profitably and consistantly. After that I was thinking I could expand to trading other people's money through a small fund I create. I know this is really forward thinking but I would love to hear anyone's thoughts. I am would like to hear suggestions on things I need to do in order to make this happen. Are there specific certifications I would need to have better success? Any advice would be great. Again, I hope this doesnt turn into an arguement about trading or not trading family member's money.
I don't think overall profitability is the only issue. No matter how successful you are, you will have some days and or months with negative return. If you are a successful trader, then you already have the temperament and the patience to get through these times and the faith in your system to keep on following it through thick and thin. But your investors are not so well adjusted (or they might be successful traders, too, right?) I think it is essential to explain your methodology to them consisely, and to be consistent about it. Put together one paragraph that clearly expresses your approach. Then when they (inevitably) complain, point to the paragraph that you have already provided them with. You can say, "This is how I trade our money; this is my methodolgy. If you like this approach, stay in. If not, you are welcome to go." Credentials and degrees look nice but are worthless in this arena. Experience is everything.
Thanks for the reply. That makes sense. I would want to have a long conversations with family members and tell them what to expect. I guess I was concerned about certifications and such for the future. I would think that outside investors want to see something other than a track record for a few years. Maybe Im wrong though