TJ 133: The Economy and Trading For Yourself

Fear is a motivator, and there are two responses it creates: action or inaction. Action, in attempting to overcome the fear; or inaction, in not knowing what to do, being overwhelmed, or simply trying to avoid the object of the fear. When it comes to finance, curiously, many default to inaction as the default response and pass along the burden of action to those "who know what to do": mutual fund managers and the like. Thing is, mutual funds don't adapt well to tumultuous markets, and are often aggressively bullish regardless of market conditions. This causes the fund to lose value, and folks who've passed the responsibility to the fund managers take the hit. That doesn't have to be the case, though. Educating yourself about the markets and investing can allow you to manage your own finances. Even simple strategies such as covered calls to generate cash flow can have a marked effect on your portfolio and possibly even your checking account. It is absolutely doable, but it does require action on your part. As with any pursuit, it can be overwhelming at first; there's lots of jargon and terminology, and it's your money on the line. To the first point, the terminology is there, but it can be learned. As to the second point, how is that any different than passing your funds along to a mutual fund that will likely not beat the market in performance? It's all about taking that first step for yourself. It can be daunting, but it's worth it; because you're worth it. Further, you don't have to take that step alone. There's this popular misconception that it's dog eat dog in terms of the markets, and everyone's out for themselves. At the institutional level with Fidelity and such, sure. At the individual trader level, though? Not at all! Folks help each other all the time. The market is so mind-bogglingly huge, and everyone's portfolios are so vastly different, that folks assisting each other in trading just makes trading better. Get involved with a trading community (such as the one on Tackle Trading) as you take that first step, and you'll realize it's not as daunting as you first thought. In this episode, Tim and Matt discuss stepping out from the shadow of fear in handling your own finances as well as the current state of the interest rates for the FOMC, BOJ, and CEB.