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Mid 2001 to 2002 were terrible times for me as a trader. Back then I was a rookie trader who got cocky and temporarily rich on the dot com explosion only to let my ignorance and stupidity bankrupt me during the dot com implosion. Not only did I obliterate my savings account in the stock market, a few months later my motorcycle store went down as a casualty due to my absence of a financial back up and just like that, everything I had worked for since high school was gone, I was broke! I tell you, the word angry doesn’t do my emotions justice, it was way beyond that, my life got real dark.
It would take a good year plus to process all my emotions, admit to myself that I was wrong and make a plan to reclaim my livelihood. The road from 2003 to 2005 was tough but to make a long story short I would turn things around . The year of 2005 would mark the last year in which I had a losing trading month and soon after I would be more flush with cash than ever before. Now that it has been 10 years since I have had a losing trading month , 13 years removed from bankruptcy and a few million in profits, what have I learned.
The answer is a lot but 2 things stick out the most. One, never take anything for grated and two your wealthiest possession is your true friends. Lets talk about the first one. I had done well for myself as a Financial Adviser in the 1990’s I average a good 150k income back then which was real good. I had come from a low income family so to me I thought I won the lotto. At my young age then (22) I was not thinking about the future. I was partying like Charlie Sheen, taking full advantage of my income level and status ( code word for douche bag). I thought making money was easy and I would always have it. So when it came time to transition to a trader I thought it would be easy and at first I was right. Like so many who started trading in the dot com era the money was flush and trading really was easy but as they say ” All good things must come to an end” , and boy did they ever. As fast as my rise was to wealth my decent back to poverty was faster. Going back to poverty really sucked. Its true when they say its better to be poor and dream of being rich instead of being rich and ending up poor. Once you get a taste of the other side its hard to go back.
I really thought at one point I would never get back to where I was financially. During that time of poverty I had a lot of time to think about things like who I truly was as a person, what I wanted my legacy to be and many other things. Once I started to regain wealth I swore I would never live a life of excess and stupidity. I would never act cocky or take things for granted. I promised I would get up and trade everyday like I was flat broke with no savings to fall back on. To this day, even after making millions, I will not say to myself “I made it” . To me each day is a new day, a day I will have to learn and grow to stay on top and I can not get complacent or rest on my past accomplishments.
Now on to the second. Your most valued possessions are the people around you or I should say the true people around you. I had a lot of friends when I was buying but as soon as I fell flat on my ass there were very few left. It would be the few that were left , most notably my girl friend, who would give me pep talks, listen to me complain and comfort when I wanted to quit. It would be these few that never judged me or told me to get a real job. It was these few that kept me in the game and it is because of them that I am where I am at today . I could not have done it alone. I truly owe these people everything.
I believe whatever path in life you choose to take these two examples are a must. You will need to stay grounded and you will need a strong support system to be successful. This journey of trading has taught me a lot about life and what it means to be a survivor. Its also taught me that not only can you quickly fall from grace but you can reinvent yourself just as fast and as long as you are alive its never really over for you. The next great opportunity can come at any moment but to seize it you will need to respect the situation and opportunity that you have been given and you will need the support of your loved ones behind you. If you have those two everything else should fall in to place
Till next time
Doug
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