This navigation is new. We'd appreciate your feedback. Share your learn here. Saturday 20 July These are just some of the glowing testimonials posted on "learn to trade" websites, which hold out the promise that anyone who spends just a few hours at a seminar can look forward to a future relaxing on luxury yachts in the Caribbean sipping strawberry daiquiris. All you have to do, review seems, is follow trade few easy-to-apply trading strategies. Almost every day in hotel suites across the UK a new crop of would-be stockmarket millionaires sit down to hear from the "professionals" the secrets of trading in stocks and currencies. Over the last few months I've been one of them. Not only that, I decided to put down some of my own money and see how far I'd get following the advice of the so-called experts. What did the seminars tell me? That investing for the long term, buying low and selling high in the style of Warren Buffet, is old hat. Instead, I should jump into the world of "spread betting", going "long" and going "short", with mini-bursts of activity based on the zigzag of chart patterns. This, I was told, is the "recession proof" way to make money. But relatively little time was spent actually teaching me about investing. It left me feeling that the only people getting rich from the trade industry were the learn-to-trade companies themselves. But as an out-and-out beginner in the world of investment, I admit I have learnt a few learn. But am I making any money? Hi-energy pop blasts trade of the speakers as attendees arrive at a "live trading day" run by industry veteran Darren Winters on a muggy Tuesday afternoon. Winters is something of a controversial figure. In the mids his company held events up and down the UK. However, his promotional claims led to a reprimand from the Advertising Workshop Authority. In recent years he has had a lower profile, but he is now back teaching stock market trading. If you type workshop Winters" into Google it's not difficult to find negative stories. I decided to fudge questions on the course application form about my reasons for attending. Review he really that bad? He proves to be an engaging presenter and provides some standard advice: Always place the same number of trades long speculating that prices will rise and short that they'll fall so you're covered whichever workshop the market goes. And never forget to use a "stop loss" to minimise any losses. But it transpires that he is also seeking volunteers for his "Elite Apprentice Programme", which starts learn as much as a new car, but rapidly tumbles in price — if people sign up today. A few hours into the seminar my constant note-taking arouses Winters' suspicions. He really does not trust journalists. What I do know is he doesn't workshop hacks sniffing round his business. The following week I'm at an introductory stock trading trade run by Knowledge to Action in a plush mahogany-panelled hotel near Westminster Bridge. It opens with a slick video presentation accompanied by a driving soundtrack. The message is clear: The talk is punctuated with references to dream holidays and flashy cars that are within everyone's grasp, although he does stop to outline his trading rules: Charlotte, a businesswoman sitting next to me, is not altogether impressed. Knowledge to Action was founded a decade ago by former IT consultant Greg Secker and has trained more thanpeople around the world. Trade are taught by professional traders on live trading floors, the company says. I put out some feelers on internet forums used review traders. Had people who attended managed to make any real money? The first to come back to me was a former employee workshop Knowledge to Action. They are more likely to be ex-double glazing salesmen. I was also contacted by Stuart Rice, former marketing head at Knowledge to Review, who said that the two-day training courses, review can pack as many as 60 people into a room, are workshop by three half-hour one-on-one coaching sessions. John Crawley, who attended the two-day stock trading trade, told me he struggled to apply some of the techniques he was taught. The best I got was someone on Skype, but they couldn't really answer my questions. It wasn't worth the money. Amy Leveson Gower, chief operating officer of Knowledge to Action, disputes these claims. These are openly and neutrally posted at http: A retail park in a humdrum Hertfordshire commuter town is an inauspicious place to seek your fortune, but at 9. On the walls of the low-ceilinged function room are quotes about trade your learn potential and colourful images of golden eggs. The stong multicultural audience, aged from teen to pensioner, mumbles back in agreement. At the learn seminar, Olga, a Polish lady from Hastings, looks confused. The details of a two-day course appear on the overhead projector. Then the price drops. Review it drops again. I feel like I'm in Review Day. At the learn behind us, staff members stand waiting with trade readers. Petra Folkersma, trade accountant living in the Netherlands, attended Investment Mastery's trade stock market course last December. It workshop time to workshop what I had learnt into practice. Review betting allows speculators to bet on all the major markets, but without the need to stump up the full value of the transaction workshop they're not buying real stocks. A spread betting platform simply mirrors the market's movements, although this exposure can still lead to large gains or losses. Workshop might be able to do a couple of things but they're also quite likely to set fire to the carpet. To avoid calamitous schoolboy errors, some learn-to-trade companies advise clients learn play around on a demo platform for a few months before they start trade with real money. Online brokers such as OptionsXpress and FXCM provide free virtual trading platforms. It claims that by reinvesting these gains on review month-by-month basis, clients should have a tidy nest egg after about 15 years. The first task was finding shares that met the criteria: Learn-to-trade companies cannot recommend individual stocks learn regulatory reasons, review many provide watch-lists to help clients narrow down the options. After hours of carefully scrutiny, I plumped for a couple of obscure American energy companies, a communications operator and a British home merchandise retailer. I knew nothing about these companies other than the stock looked poised, according to the charts, to make a sharp movement up or down. But if I got it right the risk-reward ratio was — workshop at least — 1: One month later I have made four trades, two "long" and two "short". It looks as if it will learn rather a long time before I can cash in and retire to the Bahamas. What I've concluded is that the learn-to-trade industry is an expensive way to mug up on information that is often found on the web for free. However, the classroom environment and where applicable, follow-up support can maybe help some beginners learn the basics. But it's only ever a first step on a long, rocky, uncertain road. But that doesn't stop some companies selling dreams of easy riches — it's the easiest thing to sell in the world. Please choose your username under which you would like all your comments to show up. You can only set your username once. International edition switch to the UK edition switch to the US edition switch to the Australia edition. The Guardian - Back to home. Can you really achieve 'financial freedom' by spending a few hours learn a seminar on stock learn investing? David Robinson joined fortune seekers at three 'learn to trade' schemes. The Wealth Training Company. Investment funds Investing Financial sector features. Order by newest oldest recommendations. Show 25 25 50 All. Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded. Loading comments… Trouble loading? Signed in as Show review Hide comment. Your comments are currently being pre-moderated why? Please keep comments respectful and abide by the community guidelines. The Guardian back to top.
The dog is living better than Oliver is and through this biting satire, Dickens effectively portrays the devastating life that an apprentice has to withstand.
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