Money for Nothing?

Dire Straits! While I love the song, no longer do I think it characterizes premium trading groups that charge for attendance.

In June 2015, I was irked to see a new trading group for $15/meeting. I e-mailed the organizer to verify: “as in $780/year?”

“It costs $100 for a day of golf,” he replied. “This is a good value.”

Although I enjoy watching on TV, I have never been a golfer.

Charging for a group like this was something I truly despised about the financial industry. I viewed the category of self-directed traders as bifurcated between the traders themselves and the set of companies looking to profit off them. The latter sells mentoring, trader education, market software, coaching, etc.

I could accept raising funds to cover group expenses but I could not accept raising funds simply to pad pockets. I considered myself to be in the business of trading—not a business of the just mentioned that would involve marketing, sales, or advertising. As a group of equals, I figured what a trading group had to offer me was what it had to offer every member: new ideas to bolster trading income. Why should the organizer alone, then, profit from its formation and attendance?

One reason I have since had a change of heart is because this is not a group of equals. I have unsuccessfully searched for others with a full-time trading business (see here, here, and here). I have found many who say they want to learn. I have found some who describe themselves as [inconsistent and] “part-time.” I have found more stock traders who know nothing about options. If the group I form will not be a group of equals and they have more to gain from an informational exchange than I do, a per-session charge is justified as an investment for their future.

My second objection to free trading groups involves accountability. I blogged about this here but the seeds for this belief were planted much earlier. On July 19, 2015, I wrote:

     > I’ve said this recently but I strongly believe it takes a
     > lot of time and effort to make substantial money trading.
     > It takes constant, continuous commitment. I almost believe
     > one must approach trading as a business whether it actually
     > is or not. I think the time dedicated to learning and
     > practicing will ebb and flow and without a maximal
     > level of devotion, when that time ebbs much of what
     > was gained during the flow will be lost.

We hope that with experience comes wisdom. I have changed my tune with regard to investment advisers. I have changed my [Dire Straits’] tune with regard to premium trading groups as well.