As a response to this thread, it seems quite a few are asking, some wondering, some doubting. How do I do it? The following paragraphs are thanks to a couple of people who PM'd me regarding how I build wealth. What follows is a summary of thoughts, tips & tricks, which should explain quite a bit, alleviate some doubts and get inspiration as to what is possible. Quotes from GG are used to illustrate how 'inferiors', ergo people with limiting beliefs think, and why they are doomed to be trapped in the 'rat race' forever. Those people are the ones that create wealth for smarter people;
Quote from Gordon Gekko:
let me guess, back then you had $50k. bullsh!t you were trading at 7. maybe baseball cards...
In case you can't read, I put the word into inverted commas. I wasn't "trading", I was "investing". $50 isn't actually too far off the track, good guess. It didn't make me rich, but it was a branding experience. Rene Rivkin, Australia's stock billionaire, started a lot earlier than that, though (!) - I'm not really a prodigy. And FYI, I wasn't a wealthy kid. I had a rather humble childhood. Most of our money went for expensive schools etc. I was always the kid with $5 a week pocket money, who couldn't buy cool clothes or had to wait till Xmas to get a computer. I was the shortest kid, too, and weak. But I always had dreams. I had enough of being bashed, so I learnt martial arts. I invented small ways of making money to get what I wanted. And when I was almost "adult", I had a huge growth push. My mum always encouraged me saying that time can do anything, if you plan and let it work for you. Now I'm ~6", have a good collection of gi and belts, and I can buy as many video games as I like. All the kids that hassled me at school (people like GG & LongShot) are now working in boring part-time jobs, for some stupid boss, living in some grey place, or at least studying to do all of this. Somehow they seem to envy me now. "Who last laughs..."
It is breast-feeding people like GG who make wealthy people wealthier. Observe carefully the behaviour of "tenants", "loan clients", "employees", people like him, because it's them you will inevitably deal with at some stage, if you're planning to build wealth.
you gonna be a billionaire next month, clown?
That's a question. It might take a little longer than that, but isn't impossible. "Possible in the world - possible for me."
Interesting, the net worth thing. A nice reminder of 'yesterday'. I'm a bit ahead of a coupla hundred now...
I think you're forgetting something: Short-term futures trading. It can be nicely profitable.
What looks "small", can add up very handsomely, if you're consistent, and don't p*ss your money away in drugs and rock'n'roll. Let's do a little lesson of cumulative finance for little Gordy:
Let's just assume someone:
- Started with a meagre 50K account, working his way up to reasonable margin ($5K/car on ES/NQ, so 10 cars)
- Adding another contract only every 5K
net equity gained.
- Averaging only 3pts/day (ES). This is a modest performance, but we'll take it just for the purpose of illustration.
- At 10 cars, one would be grossing 30pts/day = $1.5K
Doesn't sound like a lot? Nope. But sure adds up if you don't spend it all. Look at it in time. Do the maths on a calculator.
180K would be your sole non-cumulative gross for 6 months, on merely 10 cars.
Now do that on 20 cars. = 360K
Do it on 25 cars. = 450K
Do it with more points / more size / & cumulative ...
There are much better traders out there even. NihabaAshi, as an official example, has been averaging over 7pts/day over the last 3 months (trades posted & recorded live), other traders, like AMT4SWA even beat NihabaAshi all the time. My mentor also does. So does T-REX and some other ET'ers, Cutten probably, too. There are quite a few traders that consistently bank over 10K a day on the ES.
There's some maths you can do, to see where I was ~6 months ago, with 'a coupla hundred' and where I could be now. Just remember - It takes a lot of size on ES to become 'disadvantaged' in terms of liquidity. I consider the ES a gold mine with almost unlimited potential. And then also, please remember that trading isn't my sole source of income.
And there starts the next lesson. How to create wealth? Wealth is created primarily by
what you not spend rather than
what you earn. Sounds ironic, but most people fail on this point. If you only save $1K a month, without spending it... With ~5% interest (assuming longer-term deposits etc), you will have... Surprise!
10 years = $ 158.5K
25 years = $ 601.4K
If you assumed even 10% return (which any half-dead trader could do, with any size), the cumulative would be astronomical. How come so many people retire poor? Because, ironically, they tend to do the opposite - for the bank. Does above example remind you of your mortgage? If it does - think about it. That's how banks make money. The word 'mortgage' comes from the old French words "mort" and "gage", which essentially means "death pledge". You can think your own part. Very appropriate naming indeed. Lesson: Don't take a mortgage unless the cashflow of the house pays for it. Rent your own place, and deduct all rent for business, while using equity for gearing into positive-cashflow properties, residential if possible, yet commercial is (potentially) more lucrative. This way, in what insiders call
positive gearing, you can use minimum initial deposit (5-10% or less for res) and still make money from day 1 - given you find these properties. If you do your COCR (cash-on-cash-return) and pick the best deals, you can make over 100% a year on real estate. Here in Cottesloe Beach, had you bought a place 2 years ago, it would be worth 35% more now. Putting 10% down (1:10 COCR leverage), you would have had a 350% gain in equity. Don't believe the real estate nay-sayers. They have just as little idea as the "smart" ET'ers who claim that more than 2pts/day on ES isn't possible. Anything is possible. It's up to you.
Next step, you can get "free capital" from your real estate, or even trading or savings equity, for example setting up a trust and raising a mortgage against the available equity, then investing these funds in a fixed-term deposit, which you then use as a security for the bank to provide a larger mortgage. This way, you can do "higher risk" (=more lucrative) investments, yet not risking more than is in the fixed-term deposit - So by using a mortgage on a fixed-term raised through a mortgage, all supported by a trust, you 1) Get more free money, 2) Your risk is substantially limited (to all of what's in the fixed-term, rather than your total or even private equity!) = You're basically firewalled.
So how do I build wealth? Well, first I set up a business (JD), starting with simple silver jewellery. Let that business earn enough to pay all the bills and build equity (tax-deferring gems&metals), meanwhile stacking capital for trading and learning to trade. Slowly step up in size in trading business, while (back in the JD business) building a good range of castings to reproduce your designs with less work = Leverage. I set the castings up to be cast in gold as well, plus suitable to flush-set diamonds into them - takes little time = more leverage. Not too much earnings, yet it's all leverage and cashflow. Use the leveraged time to look more into building cashflow, trading and expand your horizon there. As profits grow, keep reinvesting, using all of trading capital, business capital & equity, turnover (as a capital lever) and look at real estate. Keep the money circulating, and make sure that preferably "passive" (=leveraged) income pays for the bills and lifestyle. It's all about leveraging time - And as you grow, you can also get into better and better deals - Plus, the bank manager is more and more eager to help.
Just a few little stories for you, take it as an 'inspiration' to wealth. It sure works well - Combing real estate, business and trading - Also from a spread-risk point of view. Similarly to many prop traders, I consistently sweep out my trading accounts to put money into other places. Don't put all your capital at risk in the futures markets! Finance isn't about making the most in the shortest time, it's about living another day.
My secret to wealth isn't superior trading performance. Trading needn't make you rich. It's leverage, superior capital application and circulation that makes you rich. Wealth can be an easy game, once you throw all the "prejudices" away and get going. Anybody can do it. No, I'm not a trillionaire yet. But I know I can get whatever I want. And as long as that's what I believe, this will be truth. I pick up a dollar, and by the end of the year I'll make a few more out of it. I have a new money idea every day.
The world is my oyster.
Your world is whatever you believe it to be.
Scientist.
