You have to consider when I opened my first brokerage account there was no internet or computer to work from. Unless you worked for an investment firm there were no resources to draw from. So I tracked down a professional charting service called Daily Graphs and subscribe to it. The price was unnerving, but I did it anyway. Every Friday I would receive in the mail the NYSE/AMEX publication and the NASDAQ publication of charts of all companies listed over $10. Every weekend I read through and studied a couple thousand charts. So I learned how to speculate on daily charts. I was not an investor, I was very clear about being a speculator. I wanted to make money not watch it grow.

As the internet came and evolved I was able to approach speculating in the same manner, just faster. Trade confirmations that once arrived in a week now arrived in minutes and finally almost instantaneously. Different markets opened up, I still traded equities, but futures and indices were a source of income too. I’ve traded through 1987, 1991, the dot.com bubble, 911, and the mortgage crisis. Nineteen eighty-seven was the only time I had to suffer through the market turmoil, but the lessons were invaluable.

I’ve traded mine and my family’s accounts for a long time, almost 35 years now. Money, like many subjects was not brought up in polite conversations. So it never occurred to me to share what I had learned over the years. When my grandson started kindergarten I became a volunteer grandparent. It wasn’t too long before I was substitute teaching and being a math aid when needed. Because I had the time and wasn’t under any time constraints I was able to help struggle students with their math. I really enjoyed seeing their faces when the light bulb came on. I continued this for about six years and stopped when my grandson entered junior high.

Through a close mutual friend I became acquainted with Shawn Lucas (the first trader I’d ever met). I was visiting with my wife about what Shawn was doing and she really thought I would enjoy teaching adults what I’ve learned from my trading over the years. I met up with Shawn some time later and told him if he ever needed help, that I’d like to see if I could be a good coach. Pieces fell into place, and I’ve had the pleasure of being with the Apiary Fund & Trader On The Street going on 9 years. I’ve been teaching trading classes, mentoring new traders, presenting at summits and boot camps. There was even a traders cruise or two along the way. I’m still very involved and I just started Logan’s Grove to extend my reach to other traders.