To our growing list of subscribers who have been through the trading-seminar mill, add Eric O., who offers some tips below that could help to shorten your learning curve. Eric writes as follows:

“Your comments concerning gurus and seminars were right on. I'm as cynical about both as I am about Western medicine, another topic you touched on not long ago. It seems that all of the celebrity gurus are multiple-income-streamers by default. How can you be a guru without the books, advisory services, hotlines, newsletters, seminars, etcetera? Boy, would I love to be a fly on their tax returns to see which income stream was the biggest.

“Like your reader Joseph S., I too spent a few quarters on the seminar merry-go-round. Slow learners would have to attend a few of them to attain a higher level of cynicism, or what some might call enlightenment. Here are some of the things I’ve learned: 1) Guru instructors are meeting demand from a never-ending supply of greedy suckers looking for a ticket to East Street; 2) If you really want to learn how to make money from a guru, study the marketing that got you to pay up for the service or event, then expend your efforts in the field of marketing.

Why Traders Fail

“Most traders fail because: 1) they're under-capitalized (which churns emotions and resulting decisions); 2) they don't know of or don't practice sound money/risk management; 3) they haven't defined their edge/method, d) they overtrade, have no plan, keep no records; or, 4) they perhaps know the ‘how’ of trading but sabotage themselves for psychological reasons; 4) successful trading in itself is simply too boring for the impatient, bright types who try it; 5) deep down, most people pursuing trading don't really want to do what it takes, but rather cling to a fantasy of having their own desktop money machine to crank out Ben Franklins whenever needed (“Hey, others do, why not me?" 6) Remember that our entry signal was cervical dilation, our exit objective is good health to age 100 and our stop loss is to savor the moment.

The Perfect Advisory

“Here is what my version of a perfect guru advisory would be like. It would have full disclosure of subscriber stat' on average subscriber longevity and turnover. It would have a track record showing all trades for at least the last two years (real, not hypothetical), so the data of average win size, longest losing streak etc. could be determined. It would give information on how to determine trade size for a minimum size recommended account to participate in all trades. If the two-year track record showed an average. monthly gain of $1,100 by taking all trades at recommended entry and exit targets (requiring a 30k account), then at least the subscriber would have some point of reference on what to expect. Oh, and the perfect advisory would be published on weekends only, with recommendations for the following week. Orders could be entered prior to Monday’s opening and life could be lived away from the market. And, yes, we're all aware of the government mandated disclaimers of "RISK OF LOSS," required by our greedy and litigious society."

A tall order, Eric. Would you be willing to settle for forecasts that are pretty darned accurate, served up daily with a dollop of common sense and a dash of good humor?

“Here's an interesting link for those who fail at trading their own account for whatever reason to ponder: click here. PS: Like you, I’d give Larry Williams a clean bill of health on the guru-rhea test, although in my opinion he's ventured to the edges a few times marketing his ‘one trophy’ launch to guru status. He's definitely in the top ten of those selling the illusion of being a ‘common folk’ trader, multi-millionaire with the same hominess of a Ken Roberts or Wade Cook.”