Trading for Everyone by Adam Hamilton (Part 1)

Trading is awesome! Everyone should trade stocks. The benefits that trading brings to anyone who sticks with it are vast. They spill over into and enrich all aspects of our lives, in a myriad of ways extending far beyond the obvious financial rewards. And it’s never too late or too early to start learning this fascinating and empowering art.

Trading is something I’ve loved my entire life. When I was growing up my father was a small-town banker, so he was naturally interested in the financial world. On Friday nights I remember watching Louis Rukeyser’s Wall $treet Week on public television with my Dad. I remember him reading the Wall Street Journal, and encouraging me to do so when he came across articles that would interest a young boy.

When I was 12, my father opened a brokerage account for me. Of course back then you had to actually call your broker on the telephone to make a trade, so it was certainly intimidating at first. Trading, and really anything new, always is. But I bought some stock in IBM and never looked back from there. I saved income from my summer jobs including fishing golf balls out of water traps, mowing lawns, and painting houses. I invested some of my meager surplus income in stocks.

Trading was always exciting, and it changed my life for the better in countless ways. I eventually founded my own financial-research company so I could study the markets, research stocks, and pursue my trading passion full-time. The financial rewards of trading are widely-known, I was blessed to become a millionaire before my 30th birthday. But even if trading hadn’t made me rich, I’d still keep doing it for the vast intangible benefits. I won’t stop trading until I’m dead.