Awesome weekend!

So, here I am, sitting in the LAX airport after a FANTASTIC few days here in Los Angeles.  Who would have thought that those words would be leaving my lips?!  Not me.  I used to hate LA.  Why the change of heart, you ask?  Well, over the past year, I've been taking quite a few classes here in LA.  Peak Potentials runs the vast majority of their classes out of this city.

Over time, taking these classes have created quite a few plusses and minuses for this fair city.  The reason for most of the minuses is the budget hotels that Peaks tends to use for the classes.  They are trying to save money for the folks who are traveling from out of town to attend, so they choose hotels where they can get good deals for the students.  Most of those hotels aren't the greatest quality and there are quite a few issues with food service for so many people going on breaks all at the same time.  On the other hand, the classes themselves have greatly contributed to my growth over the past year.  They don't call this program Quantum Leap for nothing!

This weekend I was in town for the Freedom Trader Intensive with Courtney Smith - trader and trainer par excellance!  Not only is he constantly harping on how capital preservation is more important that capital appreciation, but he also teaches the rules for how to make big money by trading for only 15 minutes a day!

I know that sounds counter intuitive - shouldn't you have to spend more time doing research in order to do better picking in order to make more money?  Nope.  Actually, the less attached you get to your stock picks, the better you will do in trading, because you'll be willing to follow the rules and use your discipline to get in and out when the rules tell you to do so instead of getting so attached to the stocks you've chosen that you're willing to bet against the market.

By the way, that's a major Bad Idea!  In a battle between a single investor and the market as a whole, you will always lose!  Never Bet Against the Market.  Rule number 1.

Rule number 2: Lose small.  Never risk more than 1% of your portfolio on any single trade.  That way, if the market doesn't agree with your pick, you only lose 1% and you use the rules to get out quickly, before you lose very much.  Remember, capital preservation is more important than capital appreciation.  I now have the knowledge on how to trade with minimal risk, while knowing how to maximize profitable trades.  Great stuff!  Thanks again, Courtney!  There is a lot more to the training (2 days worth), so there's no way to share it all here.  Various tips may come out from time to time as I get the hang of his trading system and make major money from it.

I ran into a friend, John Lothian, on Friday evening at FTI.  Then, just like after the Mastering Wealth class finished, when we got done with FTI on Saturday evening, we wound up going to dinner with a few very interesting folks, including John's girlfriend Ferry, as well as a couple named Rob and Elizabeth Schaumann, who were new to the Peaks family.  It was a fun group and we had a wonderful dinner and good conversation.

Complete change of topic: Yesterday, I got to hang out with my nephew Joe.  We spent the day wandering around the Santa Monica area.  We did a little shopping that I wanted to take care of first.  I have had a goal for the last year and three months of fitting comfortably into size 14 clothes.  After working out six hours a week and changing  my eating habits over that time, I have now achieved my goal!  Whoo Hoo!

When I set that goal, I was a size XL or 20 (and even that was sometimes tight).  Yesterday, I asked for some help finding some jeans that would fit my shape at Nordstrom's and the sales clerk directed me to "Not Your Daughter's Jeans."  Not only does a size 14 fit me (just barely snug, they were almost too loose!), they make me look tiny!  Double Whoo Hoo!  I almost cried!  With joy!  It's been so long since I've been a size 14, this was a major victory.

Then we wandered around the Santa Monica pier (click on the image to enlarge it), had a pretty good seafood lunch, and then started wandering around the Santa Monica Promenade area.  The bad news was that I had made the mistake a few days prior of walking 2 miles in incredibly inappropriate shoes for walking.  I wound up with a big blister on each foot.  My head and eyes were saying "This is fun, let's keep walking," but my feet kept saying "Ouch! please stop!"

Since my feet cast the overriding vote, we decided to watch the movie Thor since it's already left Sedona and Joe hadn't seen it yet.  Fun action/adventure/Sci-Fi movie - I would definitely recommend it.  After the movie, we decided to take advantage of the fact that I had rented a car for the day.  We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway, past Malibu and then turned around and came back.

Oops, they're calling my flight.  I'll finish later...

A lot later...

On the way back, we stopped in Malibu at Nobu for sushi.  I really wish that Sedona had better sushi.  Since it doesn't, I tend to take advantage whenever I find myself somewhere with the good stuff.  Now that was a VERY enjoyable dinner.  When we got back to Santa Monica, I dropped Joe off at home and headed back to the hotel.  That was a great treat for both of us and a sweet, memorable day!

Now I'm back in Sedona, about to head to bed.  I love my life!

Comments

[Joe]

Great article! I'm looking forward to using some of these tips as a reference point in the future, when I'm ready (psychologically, as well as, financially) to invest again.