Friday, February 06, 2009
I am Become Teaching Idiot
(4)
Morphing, for the moment, to current personal matters, I am happy to report that the 'tuition charge' for my 'Stock Trading Idiot' class is slightly positive. That is to say that I have paid the tuition and eaked out a small profit. In the meantime I have learned, in a most general way, what stock trading is all about. The process involved my particular style of learning, which is a generalized approach to a complex subject: I need a 'big picture' understanding of a complex subject before my emotional brain is willing to devote neural rescources to specific aspects of the subject. This is why I have joked about 'not reading the directions.' My emotional brain needs to 'understand' the 'big picture' before allowing my 'logical brain' to engage in further effort. A better characterization might be that my emotional brain needs to approve of my logical brain's results before it will release further neural rescources on a long term basis: Details make no sense in a vacuum. Therefore basing actions solely on theory is not emotionally satisfying. And I could go on and on as I get drunker and drunker...
But for you prospective Stock Traders out there I offer the following advice:
1. Create an account.
2. Become familiar with the account website.
3. Understand the mileau: Google Finance and CNBC are good places to start.
3. Jump in cautiously with small blocks (100 or less) of cheap (ten dollar or less) stock. Watch those stocks daily. Do not 'stop' your losses at this point: you are - until further notice - a 'long term investor,' and 'stops' will fuck you up! You are in this game from morning to afternoon and you will need to adjust your sleeping habits according. Furthermore you need to realize that this market is at historical lows and that there are only two ways to proceed.
4. Do not hesitate to take a ten percent profit after expenses. You can't go wrong making a profit unless you see yourself as more of an investor than a trader in this particular market.
5. Do not commit more than 25 percent of your cash to this venture. Cash is King at this time. But stay tuned!
Morphing, for the moment, to current personal matters, I am happy to report that the 'tuition charge' for my 'Stock Trading Idiot' class is slightly positive. That is to say that I have paid the tuition and eaked out a small profit. In the meantime I have learned, in a most general way, what stock trading is all about. The process involved my particular style of learning, which is a generalized approach to a complex subject: I need a 'big picture' understanding of a complex subject before my emotional brain is willing to devote neural rescources to specific aspects of the subject. This is why I have joked about 'not reading the directions.' My emotional brain needs to 'understand' the 'big picture' before allowing my 'logical brain' to engage in further effort. A better characterization might be that my emotional brain needs to approve of my logical brain's results before it will release further neural rescources on a long term basis: Details make no sense in a vacuum. Therefore basing actions solely on theory is not emotionally satisfying. And I could go on and on as I get drunker and drunker...
But for you prospective Stock Traders out there I offer the following advice:
1. Create an account.
2. Become familiar with the account website.
3. Understand the mileau: Google Finance and CNBC are good places to start.
3. Jump in cautiously with small blocks (100 or less) of cheap (ten dollar or less) stock. Watch those stocks daily. Do not 'stop' your losses at this point: you are - until further notice - a 'long term investor,' and 'stops' will fuck you up! You are in this game from morning to afternoon and you will need to adjust your sleeping habits according. Furthermore you need to realize that this market is at historical lows and that there are only two ways to proceed.
4. Do not hesitate to take a ten percent profit after expenses. You can't go wrong making a profit unless you see yourself as more of an investor than a trader in this particular market.
5. Do not commit more than 25 percent of your cash to this venture. Cash is King at this time. But stay tuned!
