Monday, 26 July 2010

Forex Trading New journey

Tonight me and my wife went to an introduction 2 hour Forex (Foreign Exchange) trading seminar (a form of spread betting) from Knowledge To Action (Greg Secker), the speaker Clive who came to tell us about it.

We basically learned; it is about:
  • Risk management - only risk 1% of your capital
  • Strategy & Mindset - controlling emotions (knowing when to take money, when to quit, when to trade and when not to trade)
My wife decided that she wants to learn and try out Forex trading . She has mentioned a few times that she has an interest in Forex, I think it is because she likes figures and numbers and looking at charts. Also since my wife will be starting her new journey very soon because she has taken voluntary redundancy from her job. It will be wise to learn from actual experts, before trying to trade as it can be very risky investment if you don't know what to do.

As my own main investment focus will still be property investment, but in order to support my wife's learning and her new journey, which becomes part of our new journey. We decided to use part of our cash reserves (which includes her redundancy pay) to go on the course together; my role is probably more of a supporting role but as we are learning together we should be able to discuss and make money this way as well.

Will be an interesting times ahead for us, so watch this space..!!

Monday, 12 July 2010

World cup 2010 teamwork learnings

Finished watching the world cup 2010 final last night, Spain Vs Netherlands.

To be honest, during this world cup I haven't really watched that many matches. Especially after when England lost, which they were quite disappointing as they didn't seem to have the teamwork, skills or the mindset in order to win the world cup.

But seeing Spain and Netherlands played, although they didn't score many goals but you get the feeling they do really want to win, doing all sort of tackles and wanting to get control of the ball, trying different shots. Spain won in the end, which I'm happy for them because they have repeated their success, and now as the European champion and world champion.

Watching the world cup has also made me think about how similar it relates to the business/property investment world. Because having a good team in business, it is as important as in football or any team sports, it's about having:
  • Common Goal and Mission. Eg "be the world cup winner". As you can see from the players was going full out knowing they want to win and pick up the world cup trophy. Focusing playing their part and striving towards winning.
  • Skills and Mindset- they all have to learn and train to acquire their skills and continue to practise regularly and constantly improving their skills and stamina to become the best that they can be. You can see the players played very hard, trying to open an opportunity for all sort of shots and continue playing at extra time even though some was getting tired but their minds keeps them going. In business you constantly learn to improve and seek ways to be better.
  • Knowledge and Teamwork - knowing your own and other team mates strengths, weaknesses and abilities; understanding where your team mates are and what position they can get to and skills they have. And the getting the best people possible for the team, whether it is the goalie, defender and striker, etc.
  • Coach or Mentor - to train and guide you, someone who has been there before you, someone who you can learn from and push you forward.
  • Understanding the rules of the game - in the final match quite a few people got yellow cards, players getting off-side and missing opportunities. In investment it is important to understand the rules and how to play the game, otherwise you will miss opportunities (like in football the point of getting the ball in between the goals) or you might lose like getting red card being sent off.
Think about the game of football, in your line of work or business. It maybe quite interesting if you look at it as a game.