Timing Human Markets
As an aspiring trader, I have realized that financial literacy and wealth management comes only after one fact – you have a wealth stream. There is nothing to manage when you do not generate an income stream no matter how big or small this may be. Hence, it is only rightful that we focus first on how we can create a stable cash flow so that we can compound these acquired wealth into a more strategically managed value in the future. As I have heavily depended on my 12 years of cumulative experience as a nurse, educator, informaticist, development manager and ISO auditor, I am conscious about my value proposition and the skill sets that I have. What is left for me to find is the other side of the coin for a transaction to take place – the client.
Just like equities, the human market is a very interesting dynamics of emotions that capitalizes on connections, bonds and believability. We all encounter situations where you are only given one shot in “selling your value” to your prospect clients – be it in job interviews, cold calls, or client visits. This week, I had to haggle three separate engagements and still make sure that I pull off the “green light” on these prospects.
Strategic Theme in Action: Wearing Multiple Hats
It has been really challenging to have four meetings in one day. And to even make things more challenging, all four meeting have different needs – a need for ISO consultancy, a need for an eLearning Specialist, a need for a trader and a need for an Educational Specialist. All requires advanced skill sets that complements the use of all my previous work experiences and social development engagements. Acquiring these competencies was realized because of my Activator theme, which I have honed over experimenting on what works and what does not work for me.
However, being in a situation where you have to close deals requires strategy. During these meetings, I have barely enough time to think of a response to provide them unless I have really the competence on the subject matter. This is NOT one of those scenarios where you can say “Fake it til you make it” as you will easily be spotted if you do not know what you are talking about. Thus, I emphasize on the need for a clear career path and make sure you really work hard to specialize on the craft you are dealing with before engaging on a new venture.
Being strategic means that you have to listen and react while maintaining the rapport built and serving value propositions for customer requirements. You have to find the right mix of what you can do, what your customer needs, and how you will be able to deliver these requirements especially when there are requirements that is not possible for you to deliver yourself. There is no single way of doing this, but I believe you may be able to pull this off as long as you provide an honest stance on what you can do and what will require external intervention on certain requirements that your customer needs. After all, you will be computing for the cost of service delivered so these are all factored in with the price you are to provide.
Taking Action: Timing Opportunities
Probably not the best way to go about with my goals, but I felt the need to change strategies with the foreign exchange fluctuating compared to last month’s value. As the USDPHP trades below 52PHP, I thought that my current strategy will not work if I wait for the cash flow to stabilize. Likewise, seeing how the issues (equities) that we have studied in Caylum are moving, I have been missing on a good chance of growth as they continue to rise up. My strategies changed from building my trading capital from scratch to boosting available USD on hand useable for trading by exchanging what is realistically available with me so that I can open new options for wealth management. As my proposals turn into contracts and my audit schedules get really clogged, I have enough confidence that my cash flow will now start to materialize even if I drain all existing resources for my trading goal. This means that I have the latter half of 2019 to rebuild my savings and emergency funds while completing the necessary capital to enable day trading on my end. There are multiple scenarios that I see at present:
Scenario 1: Trade first tranche of capital for position and swing trades (US Markets)
If I trade now issues based on position and swing setups, I will be able to maximize opportunities especially on companies that we have tackled during our stay at Caylum. As we have already enough fundamental information and are able to see technical indicators where it would be plausible to enter, then it makes complete sense to actually try out this strategy as I am seeing that I would need about 6 months to still reach my $30,000 goal. However, the downside of this strategy is that I have to wire money twice. Hence, the charges that would be incurred would have to be doubled.
Another hindrance to this strategy is the monthly requirement to trade at least $10 worth of commissions, or be charged with an administrative fee to close out the remaining amount to a total of $10. As I will be doing position and swing trades, it will be very unlikely for me to churn my portfolio enough to trade $10 depending on the issue. Hence, it adds up to the pressure of finding the right issue that will cover for these costs as part of the execution risk.
Scenario 2: Wait for the full tranche to be available to enable day trading (US Markets)
This strategy will mean that I have to wait for $30,000 to be on hand, but will require about 6 months for me to fulfill. Such time is enough for me to miss out on good issues that are fundamentally sound and technically ripe to be traded. Thus, this is a race against time that I have to ensure I would be able to strategically consider instead of my portfolio just sitting idly on bank accounts.
The only benefit of waiting to complete the target amount is that there is no burden for me to trade when I have not still gathered the required amount. Likewise, I will just have to spend one time with international wiring fees and will not have any restriction on day trading by the time I fund my broker account.
Unfolding the Future: What lies ahead?
The future seems bright. However, what would you do if you were in my shoes? How are your own strategies faring? Make the habit of writing your plans down, documenting the actions that you have taken, and evaluating the effectiveness of the actions taken to address your objectives and targets.