I started the year with around 15.5k and traded it up to around 53k, a 240% return. This was the year I had and I felt confident that this trading system is robust enough to allow for more funds. I then got permission from my wife, aka the Boss, to borrow another 50k from my 401k. I highly discourage this, but since my 401k has brought in about 20% last year, I could use those earnings for trading.
I have already deposited 20k into my trading accounts and have another 30k sitting on the sidelines ready for action if needed. It's good to have extra money in the emergency fund, just in case.
Here's a brief description of my trading history.
My dark decline in the stock market started even prior to 2010, but I can't seem to access my records for Scottrade and Etrade. I started with about 7k plus another 27k transferred from my other accounts. This included IRAs and taxable accounts. In 2011, I was able to lose 30k in some Chinese company I never heard of. I was making money left and right and ended up with WAYYY too much into this one stock, only to see it be involved with some accounting discrepancies, then having the stock delisted. Needless to say, I lost a load of money and it was quite demoralizing.
I had a couple good years in 2012-2013, but again, I fell into the trap of being too cocky with my positions and was WAYY committed to some lousy stocks. I started dabbling with covered calls, and cash secured puts, and was up on some cheap companies with large premiums. Then things turned south and my large premiums turned to large losses. 2014 was a bad year. I had no idea how to manage my losses, nor did I know how to manage my own impatience and emotions. Needless to say I lost a load of money and it was quite demoralizing.
Then came 2015, I wanted to test out a new theory. I was trading options around earnings. I started off making lots of money, but then got greedy. Of course when you make some, you want to make more, and I started being risky again and that was when things fell apart. I needed an intervention. I realized that I didn't know what I was doing. I was losing again.
In 2016, I wanted to retest my theory again, this time I still made the same mistakes. But, I did learn something along the way because I was losing less. Even though I was still losing, I was losing less.
Then came 2017, my watershed moment, when everything changed. The clouds departed and I was no longer losing. Instead I was able to stick to my plan, more or less. I made money. And I was able to keep that money. I was able to buy a car, I was able to buy my kids new furniture, I was able to pay the kids tuition, I was able to buy my wife things without complaining that she spent too much, I was able to give to charities and people in need like never before. It was a nice feeling to have money. I was finally winning.
And then came week 1 of 2018. My portfolio was up almost 25%. My Total Portfolio. UP. 25%. I don't know what else to say, but i was able to finally crawl back out of that dark, dark place of shame and punishment. I finally broke even after all those years of losing.
How did I do it? Well, this is what this site is about, I hope to share my plans and goals throughout to as I begin harvesting my options. May God bless you this year and beyond!
