Stock, Options or Forex Trading Seminars - How To Select One | Currency Trading

By JamesJ.Dehoiver
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Anyone who has watched any late night TV recently cannot have failed to have noticed the absolute deluge of infomercials trying to sell you on a series of trading seminars which will undoubtedly make you very rich.

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.

There are a lot of companies that advertize on late night TV but the ones that come to mind the most are Optionetics, Investools, Better Trades and Star Trader. I live in a city where these companies visit on a regular basis so I've attended all of their free warm up seminars. I've also bought a number of seminars from these companies.

The usual sales cycle is as follows, the infomercial is designed to get you to attend what I call the FREE warm up selling seminar. This seminar is usually in a local hotel and can last anything from 30 minutes to 3 hours. From my experience the free Investools seminar lasted about 3 hours and was actually very informative and educational. The others were much shorter and really nothing more than sales pitch's to get you to sign up for a starter seminar which could cost anything from $199 to $4K!.

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.

If you do sign up at one of these free seminars here are a few points to consider:

1. Check what the return policy is very carefully as this can vary a lot. Sometimes it is 2 weeks, sometimes it is up until noon of the 1st day of the seminar, sometimes until the end of the 1st day etc. The important point is to use this time wisely and fully evaluate the materials that have been given to you. If you are not happy or satisfied be ready to ask for a full refund before your return period ends, otherwise these companies can play hard ball.

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. If you are new to trading you may not be exactly sure what you need to learn, and it can be quite confusing. Make sure that the seminar that you are taking is on the right subject matter. A basic stocks course will not cover anything on options and visa versa, and a forex course will not cover either etc.

Here is something that you need to know, this is very important. All these seminar companies are not going to teach you everything you need to know about trading at one seminar, even if it cost $4K. They all have follow on seminars and courses, and they pretty quickly start to tell you that the seminar you have just attended and paid for is just the basic course and if you really want to be a trader you must buy the other more advanced seminars.

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 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.

About the Author

James J. Dehoiver is an expert stock and options trader and writes about stock trading gurus on his website and about the best stock and option seminar educational companies.

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