Maintaining Control of Your Investment Money

By: BobSparrow
Even though investing can be fun and exhilarating the young investor must understand that there are some very basic rules that need to be followed. Making money can be extremely fun, but loosing money can sometimes set you back in life several years, not allowing you to be able to invest any more. Let's take a look at one simple aspect that many people forget while investing; Control

This is something that I learned later on in my investing career. When I first started I didn't care who was in control I just wanted my money out there in an investment earning more interest then the bank was paying. I thought that the returns would stay high as the previous years, and that the moment things changed my broker would call me and suggest changing markets. I was nave to think that other people would care for my money the same way that I would. This was a painful lesson.

As I started out in life my father would tell me "Bob, no one cares as much about your money as you do". I didn't understand this at first. I thought surely my broker who is my friend doesn't want me to loose money. And in a large way he did care about my money, but he also had the money of another 50-100 people that he had to care for at the same time.

The first thing we must know and understand is that your broker is not responsible for your money PERIOD! He is there to get you in and out of trades, suggest some trades, give his opinion, but in the end we have to make the decision, and we have to live with that decision. (Unless we have totally given the money to him and he is "managing" your money) My first trade lost me money, a lot of money. I was initially angry with my broker and called him up. I asked him why he didn't tell me to get out of that trade. He simply responded, "because you didn't tell me to". When we loose control and don't watch over our own money, we will ultimately loose money in the end.

Please don't misunderstand me, I like brokers. I think that they play a very important role in investing. They can be especially helpful with you if you have little or no experience. Just don't loose control of your money! You have to ask yourself the question "how does my broker make money?" Then we can see the thing that is going to motivate our broker. They will suggest all kinds of investments because they make money when you invest. Even when you loose money! So take good care of your money, you worked to hard for it to throw it away.

Have you ever loaned your car to someone? I have! Did they take care of it the same way that I would have? NO! Money is the same way so be careful who you give your money to. More importantly then that be careful who you give control of your money too. Many times these are not the same things.

When trading in any investment the possibility of being successful is high. As long as your maintain control of your investment. I know several people making a lot of money in the Forex market but this is because they have total control of their money at all times.

With a good Forex trading platform you can do just that; control your trades. You can have a broker to help you. In fact I wouldn't suggest trying it without one. They can help you to control your money if you don't know how the system works. So work together with your broker and make lots of money. It is much more fun that way!