Never Get A Job

If you’re like most folks considering getting into real estate investing, you’ve probably got visions in your head of hooking up with a Realtor, paying pennies on the dollar for a cute little dollhouse in a great neighborhood that needs a few repairs and a little curb appeal, and flipping the house for a tidy profit- all while having fun getting paint on your overalls. Flipping houses isn’t a terrible way to get your feet wet in real estate, but it’s not all fun and games and easy money, either. Unless you have a LOT of cash on hand and don’t mind dealing with the many unknowns that come along with investing in real estate this way, flipping houses may not be for you.
First of all: how are you going to find the property? Contrary to what you may think, you’re not likely to find that perfect little rehabber house through a Realtor. Rehab properties listed on the MLS are often bank-owned, and regardless of their condition, the bank has an amount they must get to satisfy the foreclosed mortgage against the house. So you’re not going to find much opportunity for getting a bargain there. And since everyone and their brother is flipping houses these days, good deals that do end up on the MLS are gone in an instant.
Secondly: financing. Cash is king in the flipping houses business, and if you don’t have a lot of it, you will probably miss out on the best deals. It’s highly unlikely that you will be able to qualify for a mortgage on one of these properties, since banks generally require that a property be in good condition in order to loan on it. If you ARE able to locate and purchase a property for cash, or however you’re able to finance it, you’re going to then need a lot MORE cash to fix it up. Please, don’t make the mistake that many newbies do of underestimating the costs of the repairs the property will need. It never, ever ends up being just paint and a few new doorknobs.
Even so, if you’re willing to hustle, invest a lot of time and money, and don’t mind getting nice and dirty, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that you’ll be able to make a decent income flipping houses. After all, the old adage about being able to accomplish anything you set your mind to became an “old adage” for a reason! But my question to you is: are you thinking about investing in real estate to try to work hard, long hours (oftentimes doing manual labor) to make a “decent” income, or are you thinking about investing in real estate because you want to work smarter, not harder, and make enough cash so that you and your family can live a life full of abundance? I’m guessing it’s the latter.
Flipping houses may not be your ticket to big money, but real estate definitely is. There is a much better way to find unwanted properties (and if you REALLY have the bug to fix something up- you’ll definitely find some fixer uppers), and for cheap enough that a profit- regardless of how much work is put in- is virtually guaranteed. It’s called “deedgrabbing,” and it’s a simple, proven way to get properties from owners who are about to lose their properties to the government because of unpaid back taxes (“tax delinquent properties”) just BEFORE the property is lost. You will find lots of motivated sellers who can’t wait to get rid of their properties, for cheaper than you have possibly imagined when contemplating flipping houses. $20K? $30K? Nope. You’ll often be able to get properties for $1000 or less, and sometimes people are so happy to see their property go to you instead of the “tax man” that they just give it to you outright… no joke!
It’s easy- all it takes is knowing how to find these owners, when to contact them, and what to say to them when you get them on the phone. Compare that with competing with every contractor in town for the rehab properties in your area, and I think you’ll agree with me that flipping houses may not be your ticket to big money in real estate.

Go to deedgrabber.info to learn the basics of deedgrabbing. There’s a great free email course you can get there.

Ask any seasoned trader out there what makes a strategy great, and I’m certain you’ll find many of them repeating the same things over and over again. By no means is this a coincidence, either. The truth of the matter is there are a number of time-tested techniques and methods that can be applied to any strategy in order to enhance it. It makes no difference what type of trader you are, the timeframes you use, or the instruments you trade… these five tips are guaranteed to improve your overall method without fail.

1. The Trend is Your Friend
This is probably the most overused adage in the trading world, yet it’s one that can’t be said enough. It appears to be a simple concept, but many struggle with this principle for years. There are multiple ways to define a trend (indicator based, price based, etc.). The idea here is to pick a definition that works for you, and only take trades in the direction of your “defined” trend. Countertrend trading may work at times, but it also greatly reduces your probability of survival. Just go with the flow, and keep it simple.

2. Cut Your Losses Short
If you never learn to take a loss (and quickly), then you can forget about ever becoming a profitable trader, period. This is the single most important factor in profitable trading. Look at it this way– your profit is not a product of you risking capital. It is a byproduct of capital preservation. If you haven’t yet acquired the ability to take losses, start a demo account which only focuses on minimizing loss, and NOT on earning potential gains. I think you’ll be surprised at the way your equity curve develops. Most importantly you’ll never experience another account blow up ever again.

3. Know Thyself
Ultimately, you are not trading against the market, you are trading against yourself. Make it a priority to understand what that truly means. If you understand how your psyche works, it will be that much easier to make money. This is an entirely subjective topic, and requires some serious self-exploration. A good starting point would be to read a healthy amount of literature on the subject matter.

4. Let the Market Decide
Let the market decide basically means removing personal bias from your trading decisions. Try to view a price point, or price level as a triggering ground for a trade, and not some hunch about what price is going to do next. This idea goes along with the old adage of “Trade what you see, and not what you think you see.” Be firm with your commitment to enter on specified prices. Do nothing until those points are reached, and then fire off your trade. It’s easy to lose sight of things when prices start jumping all over the place. This methodology will keep your nerves calm when that happens.

5. It Takes a Million Trades to Make a Million Dollars
This last tip implies proper use of leverage. Floor traders commonly apply this principle throughout their careers. They insist on making many small trades throughout the day, because it doesn’t require large amounts of risk during any one trade. Over-sizing positions is one of the quickest ways to financial ruin in the market. Amateurs are prone to this kind of abuse because they’re blinded by greed. However, a true professional would never over extend him or herself with that type of trading. Be the professional.

If you take time to memorize these five tips and apply them to how you currently trade, a turning point should occur. You will have a higher state of consciousness while looking at charts and interpreting price data. There will also be a state of calm while trading, because many “unknown” variables will now be clearly understood. It may take a little bit of time before all five concepts are truly mastered, but once they are… it’s a whole new ballgame.

Want to perfect this and other trading techniques? Go to Surefire Forex Trading to learn how successful traders make their money.

There’s nothing that drives a trader crazier than patiently waiting for a set-up, pulling the trigger, and getting stopped out- only to have the trade immediately reverse, and soar in the direction you knew it would all along. I’ve been a trader for a long time, and it still drives me nuts! Not to worry though, there is a neat little trick you can use to spare yourself this all too common frustration- and not only that, but also take your equity curve to some really impressive new highs.

Dollar cost averaging is by no means a new technique. As a matter of fact, most mutual fund managers use this technique exclusively. These guys don’t even look at charts! As an example, they may buy X amount of DJIA shares every 1st of the month for the next 2 years. They are primarily dealing in stocks, however, so this is a little bit different, since we are talking Forex. The mutual fund manager assumes that companies like GE or McDonalds are not going out of business any time soon- and he can also expect the overall value of these stocks to rise over time. He’s correct on both counts. Forex, on the other hand, is a derivative product, and such assumptions are foolish at best.

Dollar cost averaging can be utilized in Forex effectively if you know how to go about it. The most important aspect of cost averaging in Forex is having a defined maximum loss value. Using a traditional stop loss when you’re applying cost averaging is counterintuitive, because it defeats the entire purpose. We must monitor our losses by means of equity drawdown. A trader must make solid, unbreakable rules if he/she plans on having any type of success utilizing this method. Know your maximum loss value for the day, period.

The next obvious question is, “how do I know where to enter additional trades?” This can get a little tricky because it is somewhat of an art form, but I will share a personal method to help get you started. If you trade a pair that has a daily range of 100 pips, then you would add to the position every time it was down -50 pips; basically, half of the daily range for the pair. You must exercise caution because at times you may be face with a trend reversal, as opposed to a pullback. This is precisely why I had mentioned having stringent maximum loss guidelines. It may also make sense to set a limit on the number of total orders allowed- say, no more than four open orders at once.

Regardless of how one chooses to go about it, averaging positions can be a powerful technique. It is dynamic in nature, and precisely the kind of creative approach necessary to provide a trader with a real edge. When done responsibly it can transform your trading, and impact your bottom line in ways never imagined. Treat the technique with caution and discipline, and it will provide the rewards. Go about it in careless fashion, and it will clean out your account. Always remember that any method that promises huge gains can also cause huge losses. As always, cut the losses short, and let your profits run.

Want to perfect this and other trading techniques? Go to Surefire Forex Trading to learn how successful traders make their money.

One of the biggest mistakes for new struggling traders is having the idea that Forex is going to make them rich in the next few weeks. I don’t blame them entirely for this way of thinking, because many of those ideas are disseminated to them every single day via internet system marketers. The truth of the matter is that Forex, or any other market, will not make you rich over night… although it can put you into the poor house rather quickly. One needs to understand the inner workings of proper leveraging to truly grasp why this happens to be the case.

When we first fire up our demos, we are excited and salivating from the visions in our minds of cruising around in our new BMWs. We push a few buttons, and we’re hooked. I can recall my first experience on a Forex demo. I put on a few trades in the first half hour and made a whopping $300 profit. Not too shabby, I thought. I left a trade open and closed the platform to go about my usual business. By next morning, as I was opening the trading platform I was in awe of what my eyes were seeing – a whopping $1,700 profit on a $2000 initial balance within 24 hours. That’s when I realized that this was going to be like taking candy from a baby. Of course, we all know what happened shortly there after. I opened up a live account and lost all my money within the same 24 hour period. So what exactly happened? Here’s what happened: I got lucky (on the demo that is).

Let’s look at my example to figure out what happens to many traders that are lacking a robust comprehension of how leverage really works. As you may have guessed, I was using standard 100K lots on my demo account. So my first $300 profit was worth approximately 30 pips (acquired purely from luck). Leaving the open trade overnight yielded an additional 170 pips or $1,700 (again, pure luck). The problem here is that on an initial $2000 balance my sizing was overly aggressive. Granted, I didn’t know the difference at the time. So when it came time to open up a live account I simply continued with the same formula. However, luck was no longer on my side and as I lost my first trade worth about $500 (or 50 pips), I began worry. Like all new traders I panicked and tried to claw my way out of the initial loss by placing orders on everything that moved. Long story short – 24 hours later I was out $2000 worth of “real money”.

Bottom line, a trader must learn to understand how leverage works. I was trading at 100:1 leverage – in other words “pure suicide”. What this means is that I was borrowing $100 worth of credit from my broker for every $1 I had in the account. It’s great when you win, but an account killer when you lose, as I later found out with my real account. These days I trade with a standard 1 to 1 leverage ratio. In other words, I don’t borrow… unless I have to. When I do up the leverage it typically does not exceed 10 to 1. Anything beyond 10:1 leverage and I start feeling a bit uncomfortable. Of course, if I were using 1:1 leverage on my demo I would have only yielded a $20 return, instead of a $2000 return. Not as exciting, I understand. However, I would have also had $1,980 left in my real account instead of blowing it all out in a 24 hour period. The choice is yours.

Go to Surefire Forex Trading to get some good info and tips on forex trading strategy.