If you have a job or business that is unrelated to trading, you probably have an IRS or 401K to keep for retirement. I remember no long ago, when I had a job in the pharmaceutical industry, I had a 401K to which I saved the maximum allowed. The company matched a good percentage of it. Now that was a free lunch! I did not trade with that money, I kept it in a growth mutual fund, which was a great move during the 90’s. Today, I would only do that if I was 20 year’s younger in my early 30’s and a 30 year horizon to wait for the markets to grow my capital for me.
Today, I have rolled over my retirement accounts in a single IRA from which I do not withdraw a penny. I could select stocks for the long-term and keep a diversified portfolio of at least 10 stocks from various industries. However that seems silly when you can buy indexed funds or even the Spiders (SPY) with little or no commission. If I was a young man with a 401K, I’d probably add to my position on the SPY with every paycheck and thus dollar-cost-average for the distant future. Today 10 years is a long time for me, and I do not have the appetite for another downturn in the markets like we saw in the early 2000’s and which will surely occur again, if we believe the Elliott wave predictions.
I am happy to report that I keep my entire IRA account on PCCRC positions with the occasional discretionary or experimental position. The growth over the last 3 years in that account has been great, so I intent to follow my plan for years to come, regardless of what turn the major indices take. I have lost my interest in stocks as a form of trading and in indexed funds, although I would certainly recommend that approach to the early investor and trader.
No, I am not completely mad. In fact, I have grown to trust my PCCRC strategies much better than owning stocks or the S&P 500. I understand that most traders may view options as risky, but I don’t. That confidence comes from almost 2 decades of experience trading options, and 3 years trading the PCCRC. This is not for everyone, but once you reach a point in which you are comfortable doing what I do, if you decide to copy my techniques, you’ll come to see how safe you feel with the PCCRC.
I DO have a cash account in which I trade options, and the results have been good in that account too. Which brings me to the main point of this article: how do I manage the portfolio, the account, and the profits I may have in that account:
I place 10% of that account’s liquid value (cash) into a single PCCRC. No more, no less. If the account grows, I increase the cash per trade, if the account cash decreases, I reduce the cash per trade. This assures scalability, particularly in the IRA account, which grows month after month. This way, I have to keep track of 10 positions (or slightly more — rollover and profit taking frees cash for new trades).
I limit the risk on each trade to 2% of the account’s liquid value. At any one time, I have 20% of my account at risk. If I was to have a row of 10 losers (this has not happened yet), I would lose 20% of my account. I would take a break of several weeks and try to figure out what went wrong and start over with a paper trading account. Trading the PCCRC for several years now, I have not experience a single loss of 2% of my account (20% of the cash in a trade), ever. This speaks volumes about the safety of this form of trading. Compare that to a stock that can fall 30% or ore overnight.
I pay myself a salary. This is very important for me. Naturally, I cannot do this in my IRA account, but I make a point of doing it in my Cash account. Every time my account goes up over 3% of my original account’s liquid value, I withdraw the exact 3% and wire it to my bank account. Of course, if I remained under water, then I would not be rewarding myself with any cash. This has been a very powerful approach. My spouse sees the results of my trading, I can pay for my trips abroad and actually SEE the results of my efforts.
Ok so it is still my money! so who cares whether it is in the bank account or in the trading account?
I think there is a big difference. The bank account is spending money. I subscribe to Dave Rampsy’s policy of not buying anything you cannot pay cash for. So it makes sense to separate these accounts. I still have a savings account in which I place the cash from my checking account.
I DO keep track of how well I am doing as well. I do this every 6 months. I need to see growth that exceeds the S&P 500 by 5% or more (usually a lot more), so that I know that I am running a business of trading that is making more money that having a job and putting my savings in an indexed fund would bring. Examining my growth against the S&P500 every 6 months keeps me motivated and serious about my business of trading.
If you are a beginner, don’t rush it, though, it has taken me years to come up with a consistent, non-discretionary, profitable business of trading. I am offering a huge leg up by sharing with you my techniques of trading PCCRC. Eventually, the goal is freedom, wealth and hopefully the satisfaction to know that you too can Pay it Forward! and contribute to make the world a better place.
20 comments:
Hello Juan, It's nice to see you living your dream. Those pictures from Canada are beautiful.I have only been following you for two or three months, and already I have learned much.
I received your DVD set about three weeks ago, and have been busy watching them. There is so much information there, I need to watch them many times for the info to sink in. Not only do you lay out in plain language the PCCRC concept, but also how to place the trades on TOS, which is an added bonus. Also your access of scanning websites, and knowledge gained over so many years has helped me now to the point that I have opened a Think or Swim account and am paper trading my own PCCRC candidates. There is still much to learn, and I need patience, in order to not run before I can walk!
Buying your DVD's is definitely the best value purchase I have made in a long time.
I also have made the decision to go with the new look Elliottician for the time being.
Thanks once again for your unselfish sharing of your trading strategies, and your life philosophy in general. To my mind you are an inspiration.
Thanks again, Rob
Hi Rob, thanks for the complements. They keep me motivated.
Indeed the pictures are from Lake Louise in Alberta, CA. One of the most beautiful little corners of the world surrounded by the majestic Canadian Rocky Mountains.
The big building is the exclusive Fairmount hotel
http://tinyurl.com/5kdeec
the bear is a Grizzly from the Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge in Bristish Columbia, just a few miles away from Lake Louise.
http://tinyurl.com/55jn6k
People that sells systems or trading education try to keep it simple to make sure that the uninitiated buys them. The truth is that trading is not easy or based on luck. So long as you keep a set of rules to deal with the unexpected, you should be able to trade profitably. But more often than not, those that teach you how to trade keep it so simple that as soon as you begin emulating their system, you quickly give up as you realize that much has been left unexplained.
My point is, you cannot be superficial. Fortunately, I have a simple set of rules to follow and the videos simply enforce those rules or show you little tricks for using the TOS platform, web sites to find candidates, etc. All meant to show you exactly what I do personally.
Participating in the Stock-of-the-day e-mail group allows you to ask questions, post examples of your own and share with other traders.
Rob! don't forget to Pay it Forward!
Hi Juan,
I am very shocked and disappointed that you have already risen the contribution to $200 without mentioning it on your blog. As I came across your blog recently. I was impressed with your honesty about your trades. Hence I signed up for the PCCRC membership yesterday, thinking that the 100 membership limit has not been meet. Now, I feel stupid that you have accepted my payment w/o even a simple email to inform me that I should be paying $200, not $100. It may be peanuts to you since you earn $215/hr but it is not a small sum to me. Still, it's not the money but the principle and basic courtesy. So much for paying forward eh? Well, I accept that I was a fool to part my hard-earned money away like this but I'll never forget such a painful lesson from you. - David
David
I am sorry for the inconvenience to you. You will have your money back immediately.
I am disappointed that you have not found the value in what I have done. In fact, you do not need to participate in the private group to be able to trade my system, I have written hundreds of articles with more information that you'll ever get from anyone in the internet or in paid courses. My Pay it Forward still stands on that effort alone, after countless hours of my time and effort.
Think of what you are saying, though, you are complaining that you have to contribute with $200 to this effort because you don't have that much money. Yet, the average PCCRC will cost you over $1,000, yet each PCCRC should be a minimum of 10% of your account. So the minimum you should have in your account is $10,000 to $15,000. If you don't have that capital, you should not be trading any PCCRC.
I am more than sympathetic to people with low resources that want to trade. Consider what other courses would cost you!
Compared this with other programs such as McMillan's Mentoring program ($10,000), DTI advanced training ($10,000), Optionetics can easily
cost you over $10,000 when all is said and done, Elliottician Mastery program ($10,000). Yet none of these programs show the kind of returns I have shown here, nor do they give you the kind of comprehensive tutorials, and follow up questions-answers that this group provides.
David, I am a trader, and not a business man. I am not here to make money, and frankly if I were, I would be charging $10,000. But I don't need that money and I don't want to have to deal with unsatisfied customers, or chronic complainers. I am sharing my knowledge freely and selflessly.
My recommendation is that you read this blog from the early 2005, and you will make money without having to pay the $200 fee. I am positive that you will become profitable, if you put the time and effort. After a while, then, the $200 fee will appear to you like a joke, when you begin to make 30% of your account, which is my experience.
So yes, I DO expect YOU to Pay it Forward, and trust that if you do, you will receive profits out of all proportion to your expectations. But if you don't Pay it Forward, and commit yourself to the effort necessary, then you have to blame no one but yourself.
Juan
Hi Juan,
I applaud your efforts. I have been a member of your private blog since inception and recognize that the value is many times the initial $100 paid for the upkeep. Unfortunately David is off base and such negativity and sarcasm regarding your 'Pay It Forward' is unwarranted. But the positive side is that he is not a member of the private blog where he can constantly bicker. I believe that attitude is very important for trading and we need the blog members to have an open positive attitude so that they can get the maximum from the blog. I wish all the best to David in his trading!
David,
I am a $100 member. I think at one time he did charge $50. You need to understand this takes effort. Run a blog or newsletter yourself and see type of commitment it takes. Juan takes time out of his personal life to do this, true he enjoys it but that doesn't mean he has to detail what he does and share it with the rest of the world. If the money he asks for keeps him motivated to continue his efforts then we are the beneficiaries, not him. Juan is very sharp with option strategies and market sentiment. I have learned much from him. When he brought up the increase on the blog there was talk from the other members to make it a subscription service, but Juan shot that down. He is not motivated by the money but instead hopes you will be motivated by parting with it. He is trying to keep the membership small so as not to be overwhelmed with questions about how to play videos and such.
It sounds like you maybe disappointed if you pay the $100 because he never recommends positions to take, or give investment advice. He only shows his papertrading account and details his thoughts on why he entered certain trades. You have to try and duplicate his efforts with your own candidates.
So if you think $200 is too much for a lifetime access to his blog then, I feel, you are the type he is trying to filter out.
My issue is that as the group grows, I have made a larger and larger commitment to the group in time, effort and yes, cost.
My other option is to close the access to the group for now, until the recently joined members become more skilled in trading the PCCRC, and then either leave or actually help answer questions.
The earlier members are helping a lot, but the membership has exceeded 100 recently.
The Pay it Forward philosophy calls for helping 3 other people. I believe that I have exceeded that number. Yet asking for a $200 assistance to maintain the effort is still just a small token.
I would think that people like David can still greatly benefit from the articles I have published in this blog. It requires more commitment on his part, but surely that is a very small price to pay for all the effort I have put in publishing my thoughts and trades in this blog.
Earl Nightingale says: You cannot please everyone all the time. One have to accept that not everyone is going to love you. This is ultimately liberating. Against my first instinct, I must keep my mission to share what I know in the hope that others would understand what I have done and also Pay it Forward!
Juan & Group:
I just read about the unsatisfied member and thought about my first
meetings with Juan's other blogs. I first read those two and thought
the idea was great but after several times not seeing any new posts I
thought the group was may be inactive or just not going over too
good. So I quit going to those two blogs and forgot about Juan and
his play it forward. Then by accident I found his blogs again and
this time I took a chance and sent him my money. I really did'nt
think much would happen but I was so surprised at the amount of
knowledge and help of Juan's DVDs and his groups help with questions.
I don't think this unhappy guy is even aware of your Google blog and
all that your group offers. That is the only explanation I can come
up with that would explain his not seeing your discussion of
increasing prices. But there is always someone that is not happy and
you can't please everyone.
Regards,
Gary
Gary said: I just read about the unsatisfied member
Juan said: David was never a member, he was just not happy about having to contribute $100 more than older members.
Gary said: and thought about my first meetings with Juan's other blogs. I first read those two and thought the idea was great but after several times not seeing any new posts I thought the group was may be inactive or just not going over too good.
Juan said: Gary, there were hundreds of articles in this and the other blogs, and I responded many questions. However, to distribute video tutorials, I was forced to create a private blog, knowing the it was going to cost me much money to distribute the material, and I was not willing to cover the cost in addition to the time investment I was putting already. Since I started with the $100 fee, dozens of video tutorials, and .pdf's have been added to the group's web site, and are available to download by any member.
Gray said: So I quit going to those two blogs and forgot about Juan and his pay it forward. Then by accident I found his blogs again and this time I took a chance and sent him my money.
Juan said: It is true that I have spent most of my time in the private group, and as a consequence, the frequency of my posts in the public blogs has been reduced, but think about how much information is already here. I have close to 400 articles explaining my PCCRC and Elliott strategies!! That is no reflexion on the number of visitors, but somehow people prefer to read and learn and not ask many questions. The Private group appears to facilitate the exchange of ideas. Only in early spring was I asked to form a group and discover that people enjoy that format a lot more.
People just like you have come from my interviews in the TradersInterview.com, from the Moneyshow.com, from the L.A. Trader's Expo where I introduced the PCCRC techniques, and from the Elliottician and Optionetics' web site where I have contributed my thoughts. Many more have come from word-of-mouth. As they say, you can bring the horse to water but you can't make him drink!
Gary said: I really didn't think much would happen but I was so surprised at the amount of knowledge and help of Juan's DVDs and his groups help with questions.
Juan said: Gary, you are absolutely right. I have not advertised all the features of the private blog, but those who ask have a good idea what they would find in my group because I send them detailed information when they ask for it. Unfortunately, David sent me $100 before requesting further info, so when I sent it the info, including the $200 contribution, he was unhappy. I have already refunded his $100. Fortunately for him, he can learn all about the PCCRC without ever investing 1¢. It is all in the blog, and those who want to see the video tutorials and then learn by asking specific questions have to contribute to the effort. Now I am sure that David's attitude is probably not that of someone willing to Pay it Forward, or that would value my effort enough to do so.
My point is that limiting the group to the very committed may not be a bad thing! My alternative is to close the group for a while until the current members can help teach new comers to trade the PCCRC strategies I have created.
Gary said: I don't think this unhappy guy is even aware of your Google blog and all that your group offers. That is the only explanation I can come
up with that would explain his not seeing your discussion of increasing prices.
Juan said: He did receive a detail explanation for my reasons to increase the price. If you joined last year, you may have seen how many dozens of new video clips I have added to the blog. Not to mention, how many examples of the PCCRC have been added to show a profit of 75% over the 13 month I have been keeping the paper trading account.
Gary said: But there is always someone that is not happy and you can't please everyone.
Juan said: On this, we can agree entirely. Your point, Gary, is well taken, that the PCCRC and the group is a well guarded secret, although not intentionally so. If it was a business, I could spend the money in promoting it. As it is, I have already spend time in interviews and the LA Expo. I have been asked to speak in N.Y. so I will keep spreading the word, reminding people that all you need to trade the PCCRC is in this blog and everything else (the group, the videos) is icing on the cake. People can still ASK any questions in the blog, and I will reply. Either way, what I have done is so that people will pay it forward. This is why it is so shocking to me that someone would protest about my policies, which are exceedingly generous, I believe, with the objective to motivate others to make the world a better place.
Thanks for your input Gary. I will take everything you said into consideration in the future.
Hi Everyone,
I'm a $100 member but without any doubt I can announce that its worth much more. If someone is ready to pay $4000 to optionetics in the hope of getting rich and improving their trading they should not even think twice to pay the $200 for this amazing group.
I may not have made any money yet, but am happy not to loose too much either, which I could have easily done with other systems. PCCRC is surely a system where there is peace of mind even if the trade is not going your way. I'm positive that I'll get the 30% return soooooon.
Prashant
Prashant,
Thanks for your comments.
I am glad you have this positive attitude. I too believe that you will make 30% and a lot more, eventually.
You have been paper trading until recently, right?
BTW, you have seen the number of video tutorials and .pdf's increase since you joined, right?
Glad you are part of the group.
Juan
Hi All
I started with optionetics around 11 months ago and have spent 18k on learning the basics of options and would have probably spent more if I hadnt come across Juan and his group.I know now that I could have learnt most of the initial cost out of books. What Juan and his group has done for me is keep me in touch with other traders that offer advice on how to trade a system and to know that system so that when a curve ball comes along you know how to deal with it.So after spending $200 to be with Juan and his group,is helping me with my trading goal of success.-Des
Hi Juan,
Yes I've been paper trading since March. have had good results so far. But my real account didn't work well but the loss was not high at all and never once I paniked that the trade is going against me, as the loss used to less. The mistake I did however was that I rolled over my loosing trades, ACN and APH recently and they're still loosing money. But that's the decision I made hoping that if the stock did not move in the first month, and since they were high fliers they should move soon. There is still 25 days to go before expiration and I hope they move strongly in either direction.
Yes the number of videos, pdf's and the number of responses in the group has increased a lot. Everyone is chipping in with their experiences and that helps a lot.
I still can't get consistent winners with high fliers strategy in my back testing.
Prashant
The $100 membership I paid in Apr 08 would make me a free loader if I dont honour the commitment of paying it forward.
After spending $25K in education/ software with Optionetics, my Greeks only just became my friends with the concise explanation by Juan and the application in pccrc. Whats more - the support is solid and untiring coming from Juan and other members.
2006/07 was highly profitably till the volatility kicked up in mid 07. Joining the group virutally sustained my enthusiasm and guess what, I have just spent another $4K for 3 days education with Optionetics learning a few of their trading systems which offer similar ROI as the pccrc. Mind you, the $4K does not include round the clock free tutorial / personal analyis.
Perhaps, the disgruntled member would like to check out how much trading systems actually costs in the real world!!
David,
As one of the earlier members joining the Juan private group, I could tell that Juan is not going after money in the sharing of information.
In the world of investment and trading, $200 is a nothing. If you are so concerned about this amount of money, I feel that you are missing out a lot of your energy and effort in an unproductive manner. We should go after risk reward. For a sake of $100, you are insulting our menthor in this process. Probably you are not the like minded person, a lot of us will be just too glad for not being one of us.
But I am sure that you will be missing out a lot more as a result.
If you could find something equivalent in the net, do share it with us.
In any case, good luck to you.
chiu
Hi Juan, I hope you wont be too affected by what was posted by David. I'm honored to be part of this trading group and learnt loads from you. Even though I had joined you in the earlier days, i still learnt new things from you til now.
To David, you may be annoyed by the uninformed increased in price, but do look at the bigger picture. even a simple long call can cost you in excess of $200. We (me included) had spent thousands of dollars educating ourselves to trade and hopefully trade well to be financially free. The effort by Juan is selfless and inspirational, Juan does not need the $200 form you, the promise to pay it forward and the bigger picture of this philosophy is what gratifies him the most. So do spare a thought before you criticise him.
rgds,
sweeleng
(singapore)
Juan,
First of all, my Deepest and Unreserved apologies to you for my emotional and offending post! After reading your replies to me and other commentators, I couldn’t agree with you more and I stand fully corrected.
I had been swindled before. My former trainer preached about sharing freely but only his students shared freely. He didn’t. Instead, he took their ideas and charge others even more for his enhanced course. Unfortunately, his trading strategy was still flawed and many continued to lose money. Hence, I told myself never to be swindled in such a way again.
Scanning a couple of your recent posts renewed my confidence in integrity and reliability. Imagine my shock when I had to read from a pdf file that membership has risen and my a/c already debited by $100. I didn’t think much of it and wanted to pay the remaining amount. But I stopped myself and re-read your posts about membership and payment. No updates were mentioned and I thought it was highly unusual to hide this fact since no one, including me, would mind paying the new fee. My suspicion arose and the thought of untold number of novice traders like me being fleeced so quietly greatly alarmed me. Hence, the unwarranted angry and sarcastic outburst.
Juan, I am wrong in jumping into conclusions and doubting your efforts. It reflects poorly on my attitude and I must work on it. The fee you request is indeed a drop in the ocean because I now realise your integrity is priceless. I’ll take your advice to read your posts from the beginning and learn to pay it forward. Once again, my sincere apologies to you in every way!
Tony, Gary, Prashant, Anonymous, Purple Onion, Chiu and Swee Leng,
I am thankful for all your comments and also wish to apologise for any offence from my post.
Good trading to all!
David (also Singapore)
It is truly sad that a few bad people make us so CYNICAL. I am glad you have recognized the difference.
Here is what I suggest: Take the time to go through the materials in this blog, there is a lot just in there for the taking. Once you are familiar with the strategy, and have tested a few cases, then consider joining the group, but only if you are having difficulty but see the value of the PCCRC and strategies I have laid out.
You'll find that my strategy is easy on the stress and quite profitable after you become skilled at it. Then, consider paying it forward, because what I have placed in this blog is nothing short of all that I know.
Thanks for your last message. It is a measure of the integrity of a man, his capacity to recognize where he might have gone wrong and make amends. That is a lot more than I can say for a lot of people I know.
Juan
David,
I feel good that you have made effort to check into more detail and corrected the mistake.
When the market is behaving well, many strategies work, buy on pull back. When the market is volatile and difficult to predict the trend, like now, very few strategies could perform not to say to worry about position. PCCRC is one, I have yet to find another one yet.
It is very couragous to admit a mistake. Hope you will join us, learn and see it for yourself over time.
chiu
I was member #85 when I joined less than one month ago and contributed $100. Juan always said that the contribution would go up to $200 once the size of membership exceeds 100, in order that he could better look after the existing members, but yet without excluding future members who were willing to pay a bit more. There has been a surge in membership in the past few weeks. Juan is just doing what he said he would.
In my short time with the group, the information I am getting is outstanding.
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