How To Select A Stock, Options Or Forex Trading Seminar

Posted on August 3, 2008
Filed Under Forex |

If you are in the habit of watching TV late at night you can not have failed to have seen some of the many infomercials about trading, wether it be stocks, options or Forex. They promise a lot but the question is are they worth it?.

There are several questions that need to answered for anyone who is even remotely thinking of attending one of these seminars, in this article I’m going to attempt to at least point out a few of the pitfalls and help guide you to making a more informed buying decision.

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.

At the free seminar you will be encouraged to sign up on the spot using your credit card, this is usually after you are offered a large discount over the retail price for being a “discision maker”. Most come with a set of DVD’s and manual allowing you to study before the live seminar.

The following points should be born in mind before signing up for a seminar:

1. Make sure that there is a good refund policy that comes with the package. You should get at least 2 weeks to evaluate the training material that you are given. In addition check what the policy is regards to attending the seminar and then asking for a refund. Sometimes you can only stay until noon on the 1st day, or only the 1st day, before you must ask for a refund if not satisfied. If you wait too long you may lose your right to a refund.

2. If you are allowed to bring a 2nd person to the seminar at no extra cost, then take advantage of this. It is very valuable to have a 2nd opinion about the merits of a seminar since it will be an expensive investment. If you are not allowed a 2nd person it may not be a good deal.

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. Make sure that the seminar is exactly on the correct topic that you are expecting to learn about. Remember an options trading seminar will not spend much time on the basics of stock trading and visa versa, and a forex seminar will not cover much ground on either stocks or options. Also make sure that the course is at the right level, many of these seminar keep repeating the basics over and over, but if you are past that it’s just a waste of your time and money.

Remember that learning how to trade is not as easy as many people try and make out. These seminar companies are not going to be able, and don’t really want to, teach you everything you need to know in a couple of days. They all have an extensive range of follow on seminars and will start to sell these to you during your beginner seminar, so be aware!.

Expect a hard sell for the follow on seminars from some of these companies. The sales pitch is usually well practised and hard to resist so be prepared and don’t act on impulse.

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.

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