Trading for a living.

There are only three ways to make a fortune without capital or connections. The first is to answer the advertisements that abound on the Internet telling us about ‘sales funnels’ and residual income for life. These usually show a young man looking very fit and pleased with himself while sitting on a beach in Thailand with a laptop.

Upon examination we discover the business opportunity is selling the dream on to other suckers who hate their jobs as much as we do. This involves going to Thailand, taking selfies and telling the world we have the secret to living the dream- and so it continues as a chain until the last sucker is drained of the last penny. When this happens things go bad very quickly. The selfie loving scam artists are already desperately poor and working 80 hour weeks promoting themselves. When the sales dry up they may find themselves without the funds to return and without a work visa. Many become drugs mules simply for the funds to return and this is a very bad idea in Thailand.

Another bad idea is to play games of chance with a 'secret' system to improve the odds. Needless to say all of these are nonsense. Chance has no memory and cares not if a number is 'due' to recur according some invented system. The most credible betting system is Martingale which simply asserts that a run of bad luck can be overcome by doubling the bet each time. This assumes a limitless line of credit and that the counter party will never leave the table. Neither is true.

Finally we have financial trading. This can be done on credit so little real money is needed. CFD and Spread Bet companies are obliged to tell you that 75% of all speculators lose money. This seems terrifying when we first here this but not so bad when we consider the slapdash way that most people play the game. People who play the markets as a flutter will always lose but there is no reason for us to do the same.

It is possible to trade for a living. I have met people who do this, but it must be treated as a job.