Living off book proceeds?? Yeah right! Under $1000 cumulative royalties over the past five years. I quit promoting myself long ago. That is for the crooks, con men, and pretenders. My goal was to retire with $2,000,000. Mission finally accomplished. It took me awhile because from my trading I had to pay cash for my home, cars, and fund my living expenses, taxes, for the past many years. Oh yes, and had to pay for a divorce - a real millionaire killer. I am finding though traders never retire. At least it is proving difficult for me and doubt I will ever leave the game completely. But next year will be 70 and better get to spending some of my money before it is too late.
While $2,000,000 is not the stuff of legends not all that bad considering what I had back in March 1985 ($2200) I now trade open end junk mutual funds - primarily junk corporates, junk munis, bank loan, and preferred. A penny here and a penny there really adds up plus the dividends. Not recommended unless you have at least $500,000 or more, albeit traded them some in the 90s when I had less. I am attracted to this category because of their peristency of trend combined with their low volatility. That way you can trade them with *all* your nest egg - something that would be suicide with equities, equity funds, futures, and more.
The way I found this thread was I was working on a free online update about whatever happened to Gary Smith. A bit about trading, trading philosophy, and motivational books that helped me along the way and more. Since my book came out just a few months before the tech crash, many assumed I was just a one hit wonder and never to be heard again. But because of the compound effect have made far more since my book was published. As for pandering books, I tell traders buy a "used" copy on Amazon. That way neither I nor the publisher gets enriched - not that it was an enriching experience for me anyway. Plus, the book is getting real outdated anyway.
What has surprised me is how the same crooks and con men who were out there pandering worthless trading systems, seminars, tutorials, etc 10 and 25 years ago are still hard at it. The one commonality they all share is their inability to provide multi year real money trading statements to validate themselves. It's a sad commentary to see so many Dream Merchants in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s still trying to bamboozle the public with their claims of having the Holy Grail. There is no Holy Grail or trading secret out there.
While $2,000,000 is not the stuff of legends not all that bad considering what I had back in March 1985 ($2200) I now trade open end junk mutual funds - primarily junk corporates, junk munis, bank loan, and preferred. A penny here and a penny there really adds up plus the dividends. Not recommended unless you have at least $500,000 or more, albeit traded them some in the 90s when I had less. I am attracted to this category because of their peristency of trend combined with their low volatility. That way you can trade them with *all* your nest egg - something that would be suicide with equities, equity funds, futures, and more.
The way I found this thread was I was working on a free online update about whatever happened to Gary Smith. A bit about trading, trading philosophy, and motivational books that helped me along the way and more. Since my book came out just a few months before the tech crash, many assumed I was just a one hit wonder and never to be heard again. But because of the compound effect have made far more since my book was published. As for pandering books, I tell traders buy a "used" copy on Amazon. That way neither I nor the publisher gets enriched - not that it was an enriching experience for me anyway. Plus, the book is getting real outdated anyway.
What has surprised me is how the same crooks and con men who were out there pandering worthless trading systems, seminars, tutorials, etc 10 and 25 years ago are still hard at it. The one commonality they all share is their inability to provide multi year real money trading statements to validate themselves. It's a sad commentary to see so many Dream Merchants in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s still trying to bamboozle the public with their claims of having the Holy Grail. There is no Holy Grail or trading secret out there.
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