Everyone has to start somewhere, even self-made millionaires. Rather than be envious of their success, strive to learn from their experiences and perspectives. Just in case you don’t personally know several multimillionaire traders, summarized here are the philosophies of four such individuals who’ve proven their winning outlooks.
“The key is consistency and discipline. I don’t think anybody winds up making money in this business because they started out lucky.”
Legendary trader Richard Dennis, has proven in practice the importance of being consistent when involved in the stock market. A 1984 bet led to Dennis training 23 people randomly off the street to strictly follow his set of trading rules. His experiment proved discipline was the key to trading success when all but 3 of those newbie traders made an over 100% return within their very first year of trading. Dennis, meanwhile, won the $1,000,000 bet, establishing himself and his pupils as winners all around.
“It’s perseverance. You don’t need any education at all to do it … because it is like any job. If you stand there long enough, you have to pick it up.”
Tom Baldwin started out with just $25,000 and, yet, ended up making millions trading upwards of $2 billion dollars a day in T-Bond futures.
In fact, Tom Baldwin may be the single largest individual trader in the T-Bond sector; he attributes his success entirely to perseverance. According to Tom’s philosophy, you need no special education or even really a specified skill set to become a tremendously successful investor. All you need is the kind of tenacity which keeps driving you forward.
“It is a happy circumstance that when nature gives us true burning desires, she also gives us the means to satisfy them. Those who want to win and lack skill can get someone with skill to help them,” Baldwin elaborates on how perseverance is key.
“Always use stops. I mean actually put them in, because that commits you to get out at a certain point … to be a competent trader and make money is a skill you can learn.”
Michael Marcus managed to turn $30,000 into $80,000,000 in his career as an investor. His advice to “always use stops” is as straightforward as possible.
“Get someone with skill to help.”
Ed Seykota was able to turn $5,000 into $15,000,000 trading commodities. His gorgeous house on Lake Tahoe and the resulting view from his home office where he trades now is a testament to his success. For him, the best trading advice is fairly simple: if you have a true passion for investing, but, not much know-how, get someone with skill and experience to help guide you.
