Back from Hokkaido!

Just got back from Hokkaido. Not an extremely memorable trip, but nonetheless very pleasant. Was hoping that it’ll enlighten me in some ways, especially that it’ll give me a valid reason to quit my job. Was torn recently over whether I should resign; am thinking of resigning today. Don’t know how to….

Anyway, some good news……..

I backtested a trading strategy and for once, it gave me a positive result. Either my programming skills improved or the strategy is really superior. Guess it is both.

My Story Thus Far

The story starts from 2004, the day I left my ‘high-paying’ (so I thought at that time) job as a teacher. Determined never to get back to school teaching again, I started looking for all ways and means to make money. I know I couldn’t work in an office, cause I hate politics and I could never get my ass outta the bed every morning at 7am.

After reading the book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, I was determined to get out of the rat race, and along the way, I learned what passive income means and was since hooked onto the idea of being RICH AND FREE.

Path 1: Options Trading

I tried options trading without much success for three years till date. I know my weakest point, I was too afraid of losing money. So after three years of late nights, I had nothing to show for my effort. There was a point when I wanted to close my account and switch to forex, but luckily USD was weak, so I decided to keep the account and see how things go.

One month ago, I started trading options on a virtual account again, this time with pretty good results.

Path 2: Forex

Meanwhile, I am also programming an Expert Advisor for use in Forex. Strategy testing suggests pretty good results, but I hate the drawdown. Still deciding on how to improve it. For the clueless, expert advisor is just some computer program that allows traders to trade forex mechanically. You write the rules as computer codes and the system will execute your trades according to your instructions.

Path 3: Affiliate Marketing

Having little success in my pursuit till date, I tried venturing into affiliate marketing. I liked the fact that you can earn millions a year from it without having to deal with uncertainties as in trading. In trading, one month you may earn a lot, the next month you may lose your previous month’s profit and more. Like I said, I hate losing money, so the appeal of making money with little risk was overwhelming. However, after attempting it for a month, I think it is not for me. After all, sales was never for me. I lack organization skills and people skills. Too many factors to take into consideration: SEO, article marketing, directories, social networking sites, forum etc etc. I guess a part of me just doesn’t like the image of affiliate marketers (whatever that image may be).

Part 4: Adsense

I could live with this, cause I am not selling anything to anybody. I’m just getting them to click on the ads. But it’s tough. I don’t like to deal with networking, promoting my sites etc. There’s just so many things to take care of. Not for me, I guess. At least not now. The time is better spent learning how to research stocks. Analytical and technical skills, that’s my strength.