From Iraq to the USA

05/13/24 • 66 min

Can you imagine walking through literal mountains in the pitch dark at the age of 11? That’s what our guest, Hussam (goes by “Sam”), endured as his family left Iraq back in the 1990’s! Sam had to start at ground zero and build from there. Learn the language and culture and then become self sustainable. Sam has done exactly that and demonstrated an immense level of ambition and drive. With that being said, this is where Sam is now struggling as a trader. One of the cruel jokes the market plays on us is having the requirement that you need to be ambitious; however, at the same exact time, you can’t be too ambitious of you’ll have lots of issues. Sam held nothing back and walked us through his struggles and the issues that have been plaguing him. Thanks to his transparency, it opens the doors to many learning lessons for those of you who are beginners and offers up a reminder for all of us traders at all levels. Let’s get to it!

Previous Episode

Was I Mean? Aggressive? Hmmm…

A beginner trader reached out to me and the conversation ended with him accusing me of being “mean” and “aggressive”. I want to walk through this conversation as it allows for us to see the inner working of the human mind. Why does this matter? Well, as traders, the human mind matters a whole lot! You can have great knowledge, but if your mind is playing games with you and your emotions are out of control, that knowledge goes down the toilet in a hurry. Part of being a good trader is learning. Part of learning is having the skill to learn. What does this skill look like? This is the talking point I want to focus on: the skill of learning. Let’s walk through this conversation and see the pitfall of this beginner trader’s learning skill (or in this case, lack thereof).

Next Episode

Stock Manipulation? Stop It!

If you have spent any amount of time on social media, YouTube or online message boards, then I’m at a 97.8% confidence level you’ve heard “stock manipulation” used as the reasoning for some kind of event. Usually this event involves the person making the claim having lost money or not making as much money as they could have. The reasoning comes in various forms, but the most often used culprits are those evil hedge funds. The (true) problem with stock manipulation accusations is it doesn’t solve the actual issue the particular trader is facing. What do I mean? Well let’s take a look at a stock that have entered into the news and are now causing the alarm bells of stock manipulation to ring out!