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Thanks, Pharoah, for bringing into focus a subject that has wandered into and out of my brain several times in recent months. You know, this isn't one of those endeavors where you clock in at 8AM and out at 5PM, with an hour for lunch, and collect a paycheck every so often - guaranteed! (Kinda) In this deal wealth accumulation occurs solely because of hard work, study, thoughtful decision-making, and a bit of luck thrown in. No guarantees. One can attribute success to those factors alone, or like me, to those factors and the hand of a higher power at work.
If you believe as I do then I suggest serious consideration to Pharoah's, and Felix's premises. We do need to contibute, or "give back", as so many folks in the charitable arena are fond of saying.
My thing is super-at-risk high school age kids. I transport them on my school bus every day. So many of them appear totally lost to a life of drugs, crime, babies out of wedlock, etc. etc. etc., if you get my drift. They're tough as nails, live on the streets and/or in run-down houses, apartments, or motels. Filthy places inhabited by adults who are parents in only the biological sense, on drugs and full of alcohol; and abusive to the nth degree, physically and mentally. These kids that live like this haven't got much going for them. And the long-held American belief that we all can make something of ourselves with hard work and perseverance has never gotten imbedded in their belief system. And 99% of the time it never will, I suspect.
However! Lucky me! (I'm not being sarcastic here) I get to be with these kids a few hours every day of the week. It gives me a chance to get to know them pretty well. Ours is a small bus, 25 - 30 kids. And thank goodness there are one here and a couple there in whom, after awhile, you begin to see a little spark, something that's there that you can't help but think would blossom into a pretty neat human being if there was just some way to fertilize it, so to speak.
It's been an intriguing experience for me and I've concluded that my trading is where I can get the "fertilizer" - money, to maybe help nudge along a dream within one or two of these kids every so often. My vision is to pick one every so often, and begin a process, anonymously, that could change a life on a grand scale.
By the way, the main school for these kids here in our county has a population close to 300, most of whom have a probation officer assigned to them. That's every year! So they graduate, so to speak, a bunch in June, and they enroll a whole new crop just as big as the one that just graduated, in August. It's been this way for almost 30 years here. And where do most of the "graduates" go? It's anyone's guess, but I suspect we'll find them in those run-down apartments, motels, etc., and prison.
But back to the one or two in whom there appears to be a glimmer of a person who just might take the reins and run for the gold. What I envision, and for a long while it will take more than just me to do it, is this: clear the idea with our schools superindendent, the school bus transportation director, and the school principal, with regards to specific kids. Once done, drop it on them in the form of a letter from the schools superintendent. "It" will be a college education at a California state university. Of course, there would be conditions to be met throughout the experience, relating to drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, grades, and general lifestyle stuff. And the degree sought would have to be in a so-called solid arena. Engineering, computer science, teaching, medicine, etc. Political Science - no; Journalism - no; drama, art, sociology, psychology, etc. - no. If a kid could or would go for it their life would be forever changed, with an enormous chance to be a truly productive American.
I suspect that even those with a spark would never believe they could make something like this happen using resources in "their" world. That kind of thinking just isn't a part of them...they are in survival mode, plain and simple!
The stunning shock of receiving such a letter from a person in authority such as the superintendent, along perhaps with his personal counsel, might just get them thinking a bit differently. Taking a portion of trading profits to help make this happen would be a good thing!
Don't think I'm all sweetness and light about having positive attitudes all the time. When I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a trade, the last question I ask myself is "Can I afford it if this goes straight to stoploss?" If the answer is "no", I don't take the trade. If the answer is "yes", then I say "goodbye" to that money and click the mouse.
Some people would think that's being too negative, but it's saved me from a LOT of bad trades. When I first started trading, even with tight money management, I went into deep drawdown on my live account. Still, I've managed to claw my way back up to make some profits. Now I just need to do a little better so I can build that school.
Actually, I think you've got the perfect attitude - when you put on a trade, whatever money is represented by the space between your entry and your stop should be considered right then "money spent".
By the way, it helps, when the market is 2 pips away from your stop, to remind God, "Come on, help me out here - I'm trying to build a school for poor children, remember?!"
Me, I always love those trades where your stop-loss on your buy of gbp/usd was at 1.4994...and the low of the day turned out to be - click! - 1.4993.8.
Seriously, it really is all about good money management - If you can just conserve your capital, eventually you'll catch a market just perfectly and hit a home run that substantially increases your equity. (And hey, it only took me about a decade and three or four wiped out trading stakes to learn that lesson!)
What do you say tomorrow morning we just flip a coin and either buy or sell eur/usd blind, right before the Non-farm Payroll data comes out? Oh, come on - it'll be exciting!
Thanks Pharaoh,
I completely agree with Felix's and yours philosophy. I was raised same way by my parent (about giving & 10%) and I can testify about blessings which comes from it.
I would like to ask anybody who reads this post - In the early days Felix send the beautiful story about how he came to USA, how he started selling different products, later got involve with real-estate, Forex ..., and how he always applied 10% principle in his business ...
I lost that story. If anybody still has it, could you please send me a copy to bbujok@gmail.com, I would appreciate it. I can't sometimes explain this principle as well (because of my English), but definitely I can give them to read Felix's story
Thanks
1) I donate 10% to charity for the most selfish of all reasons.... because the thought of making a difference in someone elses life makes me feel GOOD!! (Nothing wrong with being selfish)
2) My belief is that if you wait until you have enough money before you start to donate then you will never have enough money. For some reason your trades and biz endevours just wont work out.
Donate 10% NOW of whatever you do earn and get the ball rolling so the 'miracle' of tithing can start working in your life. (If you currently don't tithe because you don't have much money then just try it for a few weeks...it wont kill you...you might just be amazed at the difference it will make to your life).
And the degree sought would have to be in a so-called solid arena. Political Science - no; Journalism - no; drama, art, sociology, psychology, etc. - no. If a kid could or would go for it their life would be forever changed, with an enormous chance to be a truly productive American.
i followed you until i got to this point. part of being a productive american includes a solid belief that people have choice. who are you to tell a swan he should be a duck? a healthy society is diverse.
Too much of a control freak? -
05-08-2009, 04:28 AM
Photi...you're right - mostly. As I was hauling my grandson to his Boy Scout meeting after my post I began to regret suggesting that psychology studies might not be considered "solid". That actually is a tough discipline to complete at the college level; and it does prepare one to be of a lot of help to others. It might also be very attractive to these kids for they might think they could contribute to the betterment of others using the knowledge acquired in their studies.
Unfortunately, or not, I don't think too much of folks who spend 4 years or more in college getting a degree in some area that is dominated by folks who don't like my country, or folks who preach that we are the world's evil incarnate...all in the name of the free flow of ideas. Anti-traditional American values (you know, the ones upon which our country was founded) are everywhere on American campuses, but not as pervasive in the disciplines I mentioned.
I guess that if I'm providing the money I can have a pretty strong say in what areas I want it spent. What say you? Must we always give the kids free rein? Isn't that part of the problem today? I would want to see a committment to something and a good old nose-to the-grindstone effort. And, OK, if one of the more liberal, liberal arts venues is his or her passion, then I say, Let's talk about it! Fair?
I remember when Felix mentioned about giving to charity and that you will receive much more in return. I can tell you that once I started giving to charity and sharing, my whole standard of life dramatically improved and I received much more sometimes one hundred times what I gave and more. All from making more money through trading of course. But somehow I think this is linked together, giving and receiving. Someone, Somewhere takes notice of all these things, He is God. Not that I ask to receive in exchange for my donation, but I'm glad God does it anyway.
Forex trading provides a real service -
05-08-2009, 05:09 AM
I'll echo a prior poster on the original questions:
1. What do we, as forex traders, accomplish?
2. Do we build things?
3. Do we contribute anything to the world economy (other than keeping forex brokers and other forex produce sellers employed)?
4. If the world banks locked all exchange rates tomorrow, would anyone (besides the brokers and product sellers) even miss us?
5. Is the world a better place directly because of our forex trading?
#1) As I understand it, forex traders provide liquidity to the finance markets. It is a *real* financial service much like any other you could think of.
#2) No, but neither do many other professions that nonetheless provide a real value to the economy & society.
#3) Yes, most definitely. We help ensure prices remain fair between international entities.
(At least we do if we make money. If we lose it, we do the opposite).
#4) Yes, they would. If exchange rates are locked, it would adversely affect imports and exports between countries with different economies, and that affects employment and standards of living. Constantly changing rates reflects changes in economies, and helps keep things fair and balanced (and not like a certain TV network likes to claim).
#5) It is, albeit measuring it may be difficult to do.
Really, since you concede that the world is a better place indirectly with forex trading, then it means the answers to #2-4 *must* be "yes".
It's an excellent set of questions to raise though and I'm glad you did since first timers coming to forex are not used to making money without having a boss and all that. To them (all of us, really) making money this way almost defies logic. But any and all forex traders should be fully convinced that forex trading DOES provide a valuable service to the (very big international) community.
I also don't quite buy the idea that for you to make money on forex, another forex trader has to lose it. I think there is much more than forex traders that in the markets. On the small end there are tourists from one country visiting another and withdrawing yen out of their dollar based account. They are not looking to make money like we are. They simply need yen and are willing to pay forex traders for the service of helping to provide a fair exchange rate. That's a small example but certainly there are many others.
On the donation of 10-15%, that's wonderful and very mentally healthy as it helps keep things in perspective.
no doubt kids need discipline, some more than others. i think it is great that you have the intent of helping out troubled teens. it is not always apparent, but our lifestyle today more or less determines our lifestyle tomorrow. some kids are waiting to be saved and they need people like you.
back to the general discussion, count me in for the 10% rule. highly important.
many people think badly about wealth, even if on the surface they dream or imagine how great it would be to be rich. i am sure there are many reasons for this, one being the belief that money is something finite (zero-sum) and if one person has a lot then there must be several more without.
for anyone who is trying and not succeeding, i highly recommend Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
05-08-2009, 12:52 AM
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