Get Smart About
Financial Markets Now

The Introduction

Lets be clear right off; this isnt the Holy Grail of investing and trading. Id have to be pretty pompous to think that these pages amount to such a lofty concept.

No, this is simply one mans account
of how to use the techniques of successful professionals so your financial market behavior is hassle-free. You can do so in a manner that will give you less emotional grief and anxiety when things arent working out the way youd like.

These few words and pages will enable you to act like a professional rather than an amateur. It will keep you from taking the kind of dreadful losses you may have experienced in the stock market decline that began in 2000.

As a journalist who also invests and trades, I set out a decade ago to learn how the pros excel how they avoid getting creamed in a sudden reversal of fortunes. I began voraciously reading books about the markets.and pored over such valuable material as the three dozen interviews in the Market Wizards books by Wall Street veteran Jack Schwager. I even interviewed Jack and a few of his stars for a financial traders magazine read by those in the business. I read new and old experts, attended something called Commodity Boot Camp and even obtained two securities licenses to work for a prominent mutual fund company.

I put my own money on the line from the stocks and mutual funds I had utilized for years to futures and options. With the arrival of the 1990s, there were discount brokers, special computer software, real time quotes and charts, and others tools that allowed an individual to participate in the major games.

Through it all, my journalists gift for finding the most valuable amidst all the rhetoric and also my focus on being the best trader I could directed me to what I consider the critical knowledge.

Like a complex workout and diet program, knowing what to do with this valuable information is only part of the success formula. The bigger component is whether one is committed to taking the right actions at the right time regardless of the excuses we all devise to avoid a painful moment of truth.

The secret to success is that there are no secrets, just a few ultra-simple actions anyone can follow. However, I should warn you right now that some of my points however sensible and rational will offend your sensibilities because youre carrying that awful burden of not wanting to lose in the markets. Who does? But, as youll see, the pros know how to lose, know that they will lose a lot of the time and know that losses are always part of the game.

Ive combined some of their wisdom with my own perspective to pen this simple and blunt tool, so you can have a better chance from this point forward. No matter how much of a financial debacle you may have experienced since the markets highs, this is the opportunity to assess where you are right now and choose a smart course for yourself in the days ahead.

I know that you know this one: Cut your losses short and let your profits run. Everyone accepts this in theory but very, very few can make it happen. When youre done with this little book, I hope youll know for sure how to do that. You will have read the essence of a defensive strategy a few critical methods to better protect your financial, and spiritual, capital.

Its a compact guide that can help you get smart and avoid suffering losses that you do not have to bear.