Never too late to Get Education

I was able to make some time to meet up with my fellow Optionetics colleagues over the weekend at Suntec City as we had our first 3-day Interactive Computer Training (ICT) Class in Singapore in 2009. I met up with some old friends who started with me around the same time in this trading business, and at the same time new friends who recently joined our Optionetics program.

This friend of mine started with Optionetics in 2005. We had a drink somewhere around Suntec City and shared with each other what we had been doing over the past few years. He shared with me that over the last couple of years, he did not do much with his portfolio and he used "complacency" as his reason. The market was bullish until the financial turmoil back in late 2007. His portfolio went up and he did not see the need to do anything. Put simply, he thought that he would just let the portfolio continue doing what it has been doing.

Of course you know as much as I do what happened over the last year. This friend of mine felt the pain too. Fortunately, he told me that he was not hurt as badly as his peers. During our talk, he shared with me that he went for education with Optionetics, and he should have had realized that there are ways to protect his portfolio. This serves as a wake-up call for him to change his strategies by being more alert to what's happening in the market, and get further education in order to improve his literacy in dealing with trading business.

A lot of things happened for a reason. When we feel the pain, it's probably the time for us to change our behavior. Does it happen on you too? What I am saying is that regardless of the entry into this trading business, there is always something to learn every single day. This is because the market condition keeps changing and what we saw is not what we see now.

Several people in this ICT Class were new to Optionetics. However, they all went for the class for a common reason - to take charge of their lives and make a difference regardless of the extent to which it will be. Some of them shared with us that they wanna have more time to pursue their passions - including hobbies, families and children etc. All I can say is that these folks have made their first step (i.e. by taking action).

You will realize recently that the poor folks who bought Hi-Note and Lehman Mini-bonds somehow were promised to be compensated in whole or in part. There are ethical and legal issues involved in this saga, and is beyond my role to comment. Suffice to say this serves as an alarm bell, in particular to the young ones, that they must do something to improve their financial literacy. If I were to describe that Mini-bonds is like (and I have simplified the picture for discussion sake here) buying 1 call and selling 2 puts. Optionetics students will be able to quickly tell me that:

1. Long 1 call and short 1 Put is synthetically long stock - an unacceptable position from Optionetics' perspective

2. 1 Short Put (or naked put) - which is also unacceptable position from Optionetics' perspective.

At the end, I have yet to hear any of my students from Optionetics who went to buy these kinds of instruments. Perhaps what they paid for getting the Optionetics education save them a lot. We knew some celebrities in HK who lost some HK$20m on mini-bonds. For our Optionetics students, they paid only a tiny fraction and they are able to stay away from this saga.

So, while I understand that S$5,000 for a 2-day life-time Optionetics program may be expensive. At the same time, if one thinks of these poor chaps, spending S$5,000 instead of losing the entire portfolio is worthy.

There were also stories about brokers and remisers in Singapore who lost a lot of money on stocks. One poor chap lost $1m because he failed to acknowledge his reading in the market and apply dollar cost averaging techniques.

What I can share with these people is that

"Will they buy insurance when they buy their houses?"
"Will they buy insurance when they buy their cars?"

So,

"Will they buy insurance for their stocks?"

It's amazing that many people did not know stock insurance, which is essentially put options. Had these guys been educated to apply this very simple techniques, they might be able to save millions of dollars.

It's amazing that there are many people who are prepared to enter into the financial markets without getting education, thinking that they are able to deal with all sorts of issues. When they lose money, they start to blame themselves, blame the markets, blame the Government. Is it what you do in your life - knowing how to blame and nothing else?

Here is your opportunities -

For newbies - we have Optionetics 2-hour Introductory Seminars in Singapore from 21 to 23 March (for details: check out http://www.optionetics.com.sg).

For repeating students - sign up for the upcoming 2-day Intermediate Seminar in Singapore on 5 and 6 April 2009.

For students who decide to step up and get further education - we have the following advanced courses in Singapore

- ITT Class - 14 to 16 April 2009
- Master ICT Class - 8 to 10 April 2009.

There is always something for someone. The question for you is "are you committed?"