If Only We Knew

Do you ever have one of those times in your life when you say, "If only I knew (blank), things might be different?". Well, I have one thing that has sat in the back of my mind this whole year that is like that.

Last September, or so, it came to light that Andy and I trade very, very, very differently. It was one of the main reasons, we feel, that caused us to struggle so much in our trading. We had thought that by pulling together and sharing our trade ideas that we would be helping each other...that we would make less mistakes with two brains and four eyes looking at a chart. But he was trading short term and I was trading long term, so what happened instead was that we'd disagree over the proper entry and exit points and invariably lose money because of it! But, here was the kicker - we'd usually both be right...but in our different timeframes. So, we brought up this issue with one of the instructors at an Investools seminar in Seattle last year and to our surprise he said it was a common problem with spouses who were actively trading together. Now, you would think that Investools would've mentioned this at some point in all of the training classes or online courses, wouldn't you? Especially since they continuously encourage you to 'bring someone with you' to join. But, we took this information to heart, and separated our account so we could trade individually...and we definitely noted an improvement.

This is why I say, "If only we knew this in 2006 when we started trading, where would we be now?"

Over the years, I've had a number of readers email me to mention that they had joined Investools or were stock/option traders. Perhaps some of the lessons we've learned can help you, too....