Last Updated on May 2, 2022 by Chin Yi Xuan
Have you ever attended any of those investing or trading courses out there, and yet not getting the returns you expected?
Even worse, you paid thousands, and sometimes millions for those damn courses!
Hey wait, if this is not hurtful already, those experts even promised you a ‘consistent’ return if you learn their strategies!
If that’s the case, why are you – in spite of the hope and promises (not to mention an initial burn to your pocket) – still not making any money out of what you’ve learned?
Table of Contents
Yup, You Are not Alone
I was there.
Sometime before graduating from university, I enrolled in my first ever 3-days investing course (in thousands). Just like many paying for these courses, I thought I will be able to make damn a lot of money (read: immediately) with my initial investment into my investing education.
You bet I was wrong. Super, duper wrong.
Instead of starting to make money from the stock market, I lost money instead. What the hell?
Can you relate?
Then, after losing money with the strategies that we paid thousands to learn, we embark on the journey to look for another course that could promise us a strategy that could provide us consistent and high returns.
Sounds familiar?
The irony is, for most of us, the cycle will continue to roll, and yet we will never find the one holy grail strategy that will make us huge and consistent returns.
Seriously, why is it so? Why do we pay that bloody money and yet not getting the returns we are promised?
‘Experts’ Overpromising Is Real
If you resonate with what I’ve written so far, I bet you will find what I am going share next even more relatable:
Firstly, there will be testimonies of students making X% within 3 months after attending the course. This gives people hope (the most important element in marketing courses).
Then, there will be a pitch to for you eventually quit your job through your returns from the market. This touches the soft spot of most people nowadays.
Wait, there’s more.
How about for everything above, you only need to ‘spend 5 minutes in front of the chart every week/month’? Or ‘get a sure-win stock-pick with a click of a button’ with their trademarked proprietary investing system (or some premium strategy with macam yes bombastic name)?
“Holy sh*t, this looks like something that I could sign up to I fire my boss sometime soon!”
Sounds like something that has slipped through your mind before? Well, it certainly did for me.
Marketers Tell Stories their Customers Want to Listen
Give what you’ll be reading up next a thought:
A weight management company will NEVER market their product as something that’ll produce results slow.
A hair-loss control company will NEVER market their services as something that’ll take a long time to see any effect.
However, we all know that both weight management and hair growth doesn’t happen overnight! In fact, it takes a grueling commitment and dedication to really get the results that you want (depending on your condition too, of course).
In short, a lot of marketing materials are likely not a reflection of the real deal. Rather, those are stories that leverage consumers’ emotions and desires in order to convert them.
It could be a ‘true story’ though. But it is likely not the WHOLE story.
Now, think about how an investment ‘expert’ that is real good in marketing would market his/her expensive courses:
Would you rather sign up for a course that claims that their students make 30% return consistently?
Or would you rather sign up for a course that claims that their students make 30% return consistently, BUT you will need to put a lot of practice and time into the system?
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‘Experts’ Marketing Stories is NOT the most important reason WHY you still lose money in investing/trading
Humans are naturally born to the desire for instant gratification.
If any, I am willing to bet that 95% of the people sign up for investment/trading courses as a means to learn how to earn money – fast.
And again, I was there as well. The idea of seeing the ‘experts’ flashing their Ferraris, luxury houses and cash is simply too irresistible in a time where most people hate or dislike their jobs.
As a result, people are more inclined to succumb to too-good-to-be-true money games and overpromising marketing ads for investment courses.
The idea of earning money easy and fast from the market touches all our desire for an easy way out.
You may not like what you have been reading so far, but you know there is certain truth to these words.
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Investing & Trading is a Skill That Needs to be Built Over Time and Practices
Now, think about one of your biggest achievement in life thus far.
It could be your piano grades, your career in consulting or a sports achievement. Did you achieve them by just spending ‘5 minutes’ honing your skills everyday?
Hell no!
The skills that you have today, is a result of the time and effort that you put into building that particular skill. It is the practices that you’ve poured whole-heartedly into your work that led to your mastery in that particular skill.
Becoming good in piano is a skill. Mastering the art of consulting is a skill. Becoming a pro in football is a skill.
If that’s the case, what makes investing and trading any different?
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There is no Holy Grail in Investing & Trading
It took me a long time, but it eventually hits on me that there is no shortcut to investing and trading mastery.
They are skills that need time, discipline and practices to develop. They require passion so that you can persevere through the steep learning curves and losing streaks.
More importantly, no one strategies taught by courses out there will bring you results unless you are patient enough to allow for your skills to catch up to what you want to achieve.
If you haven’t got it by now, there is no holy grail to quick wealth in investing or trading.
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The Takeaways
There are many factors that led to us not making any money from the market, even after signing up for expensive investing or trading courses.
If there is one key problem, though, then I would say that it is unfortunate that most of us that signed up for investing or trading courses started off with a wrong mindset.
We wanted to profit from the market quickly, and we thought it was easy. Then, course marketers make it seems like it is really that easy with stories we want to listen to.
But here’s the thing:
Investing and trading are skills that need to be developed over time, practices, consistency, and discipline.
Until we can accept this fact, chances are we will still see people jumping over courses and strategies, in hope to look for the quickest way to well, lose their fortune.
Disclaimer: The article above is not by any means a suggestion to sign up (or to not sign up) for any investment courses out there. It is just a personal opinion on the stated topic and does not reflect any interest in any particular party.
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Chin Yi Xuan
Hi there! I am Yi Xuan. I am a writer, personal finance & REIT enthusiast, and a developing trader with the goal to become a full-time funded trader. Every week, I write about my personal learnings & discovery about life, money, and the market.