Anyone who has watched any late night TV recently cannot have failed to have noticed the many comercials trying to sell you on a series of trading seminars which promise will change your life and make you rich.
These seminars will represent a very large investment for most people so care has to be taken when selecting a seminar educational company. In this article you will find a few good tips about what to look out for if you call that 1 800 number.
The volitile market of the last few years has taught people that making money in the market on a consistent basis is not so easy, and requires a good financial education. The market crash during 2001-2003 showed that profits can disappear as fast as they come if you do not know what you are doing.
Some of the companies that that advertise extensively on late night TV are Investools, Optionetics, Bettertrades and Star Trader. I’m very familiar with these companies as I’ve attended the free warm up selling seminar for all of them, and actually bought and attended seminars from 3.
The purpose of the infomercial is to get you excited about trading enough for you to take the trouble to attend their free warm up seminar at a local hotel. At the hotel expect to get a little more free trading infomation, and a lot more selling of the seminar. These sessions can last from 45 mins to a couple of hours and will try and get you to open the cheque book and sign up on the spot.
From my experiance you will 1st be given an inflated price for the seminar which will then be cut dramatically if you sign up on the spot, so be prepared to be tempted by this. Most of these seminars come with a set of DVD’s and a manual which enable you to study the material before attending the live seminar.
The following points should be born in mind before signing up for a seminar:
1. Don’t be shy about asking what the refund policy is up front. Understand how long you have to evaluate the training materials because this can very a lot between different companies. It could be only until noon on the 1st day or you may be allowed to stay the whole 1st day before having to ask for a refund.
2. Ask if you can also bring a family member or business partner, usually the answer is yes. Take advantage of this offer, it is better to have a 2nd person evaluate the seminar if you are at all hesitant about whether it is right for you.
3. Ask if the price that you are paying for the seminar is the lowest price that is being offered, just like airlines tickets you don’t want to sit next to someone at the seminar and find out they paid $500 less than you for exactly the same seminar!
4. Be very sure that the seminar you have signed up for is going to cover what you want to learn. Sometimes the agender is vague and the speaker goes off on their own favourite topics. If you want specific training on stocks, options or Forex make sure that they will be covered in detail in the seminar.
Here is the bottom line about these beginner trading seminars. They are not going to teach you everything you need to know to be a successful trader in 2-3 days, there’s simply too much you need to learn. They all have follow on intermediate and advanced courses like Options, Advanced Options, Technical Analysis, Advanced Strategies, and so the list goes on. Expect the selling process for these follow on seminars to begin during the expensive seminar that you just paid for!.
During your beginner seminar expect the presenters to consistently tell you that you have just begun your educational journey and that if you really want to make the big money you need much more education. I know it sucks but it’s not illegal, it’s how corpoate America works!.
If you are very satisfied with the quality of the education that you have received, and you think the company will be around for the next few years then by all means buy additional seminars. But remember this point, usually you will not get an extended amount of time to evaluate the follow on seminars, only the legal minimum 3 days cooling off period in some states. This could be important if you are buying a series of seminars that run over a couple of years.