Sunday, August 3, 2008

How To Select A Stock, Options Or Forex Trading Seminar

By James J. Dehoiver


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?.

These seminars will represent a very large investment for most people so care has to be taken when selecting a seminar educational company. In this article you will find a few good tips about what to look out for if you call that 1 800 number.

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.

From my experiance you will 1st be given an inflated price for the seminar which will then be cut dramatically if you sign up on the spot, so be prepared to be tempted by this. Most of these seminars come with a set of DVD's and a manual which enable you to study the material before attending the live seminar.

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

1. Don't be shy about asking what the refund policy is up front. Understand how long you have to evaluate the training materials because this can very a lot between different companies. It could be only until noon on the 1st day or you may be allowed to stay the whole 1st day before having to ask for a refund.

2. Ask if you can also bring a family member or business partner, usually the answer is yes. Take advantage of this offer, it is better to have a 2nd person evaluate the seminar if you are at all hesitant about whether it is right for you.

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!.

Some of these companies do a really hard sell for their follow up seminars, they are professionals and have practiced their sales pitch many times until it works, so be prepared for this and act accordingly.

If you buy any follow on seminars they are very unlikley to come with an extended refund period other than the minimum 3 days cooling off period set by some states. This is an important point to consider if you are buying a number of seminars that will run over a number of years.

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