INVESTMENT:  THE BEGINNING

 

Dawn  -  黎明 - Bình Minh    *    Photography by H.L.X.D.

 

 

 

请阅读潘家墉作品 * Xin mời đọc một số tác phẩm cuả Dennis Phan.

 

 

The date was Thursday Feb. 17th, 2005 when I attended a marketing seminar in Pasadena, California. I received numerous invitations to similar seminar in the past but I ignored them because I thought they were gimmicks and not worth spending my time to attend. However, I decided to attend this seminar just out of curiosity to see what they have to say. It was free of charge anyway.

 

There were four speakers in the seminar. The Investools speaker caught my attention right from the beginning. He demonstrated how his company software will help investors getting in and out of the market profitably. However, I was still skeptical about the software because it sounded too good to be true. Besides, the price they charged for 2-day stock seminar was out of this world. At least, that was what I thought at the moment. After the Investools speaker finished his presentation, the audiences were rushing to register for the program but not me. I was still thinking about the price. It was way too expensive for a short 2-day seminar, I thought. When the break was over, I was inside the auditorium and waited for the second speaker. I did not remember the details of his speech because I was still thinking about the Investools program. However, one of his remarks was interesting. He told us not too long ago, we were all celebrating the New Year with party, food and champagne. Then what, he asked. We all drive the same car; take the same route to and from work; and work for the same company. He jokingly said it seems to be the number of the year was the only thing that changed. He then challenged us to do some thing different this year. His statement woke me up and I decided to try something different. After the second speaker finished his speech, it was my turn to rush to the register table and signed up for Investools 2-day stock seminar to be held one week later. I was given the workshop manuals, a set of DVD and an account to use the company software for six months.

 

When I got home, I read the manuals and watched the DVDs to get an overview of what I would be learning in about a week. I was amazed of how straight forward the material was. The manual is designed in a way that note taken is not needed so student can focus on what the instructor has to say.

 

On Feb. 24th and 25th   of 2005, I attended the 2-day stock seminar taught by Mr. Mark Larson on the first day and Mr. Mike Coval on the second day. I was so excited about the seminar I was the first one to show up at the hotel conference room, even before the Investools team. The registration table was not even set up when I arrived. I took my time to relax and read the course manual again while I was waiting.

 

Needless to say, I was one of the early birds to register and got in the conference room. As expected, the seminar was not a college style lecturing class but was an interactive seminar with live market examples and analysis. Mr. Mark Larson did a good job introducing the program on the first day. He went over the green & red arrow system and talked briefly about the covered call concept. I was so exciting about his lecture I did not take a restroom break until he gave us a break. I did not want to miss a single word or slide from his presentation. On the second day, Mr. Mike Coval went into the details of the system and introduced us the spread trade concept. It was an interesting concept but I was very confused about the terms “buy to open”, “sell to close”, “sell to open” and “buy to close” he was using. However, I had fun watching Mr. Coval searching for stocks using pre-built search and custom search system. I was even more excited listening to his analysis of the covered call examples. All were done in front of my eyes while the stock market was in session. I realized I was wasting my money down the drain by not utilizing the covered call strategy. I owned enough shares to write covered calls but I was not aware of this simple option strategy before I attended the seminar. In fact, I was naïve to think with the green & red arrow system and the covered call strategy alone; I could make easy money in the market.

 

At the end of the seminar, I declined to sign up for further education program because I thought the system was good enough for me already. There was no need to go further. I remember Mr. Bruce Dinger, who was a helper at that time, looked at me in the eyes and told me I made a terrible mistake by not signing up for further education, especially when I am already a full time trader. I was not convinced though. I went home excited about the program. In fact, I was so excited about what I had learned I could not sleep well during the weekend. I couldn’t wait until Monday so I could apply what I had learned in my stock trading. I even woke up my wife several times during the night just to tell her how I felt.

 

The 2-day stock seminar I attended in Feb. of 2005 marked the beginning of my story with Investools. Before joining Investools, I bought stock and hoped, even prayed, for it to go up. I was gambling. After joining Investools, I buy stock with a strong likelihood it will go up. I am investing. Was it good enough for me to make money in the market? Not quite. There is still room for improvement. I will cover my subsequent story with Investools in my next article.

 

 

 

Dennis Phan   家墉

Khai Minh, UCLA & Investools Alumni

Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., 23 April 2007

 

 

 

 

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