OK, let\u2019s take a look at my Year To Date (YTD). YTD is my results from January 1, 2019 to today. In the first 11 months of 2019 my account has a Rate of Return<\/a><\/span> of 94.26%. This is the best year I ever had, and I don\u2019t think there are to many investors with a return like this for there entire account. We all have individual positions that did that, but an entire account? Not to many!<\/p>\n Below is a snap shot of my results off my brokerage account results page.<\/p>\n Click on image to make larger<\/p>\n I included 3 time periods. The Last 3 months, YTD, and the One Year results. The One Year is from Dec 1st 2018 to Dec 1st 2019.<\/p>\n If you look at the YTD you will see my \u201cBeginning Value\u201d for 2019 was $77,968.74. I wasn\u2019t trading as much because I was coaching basketball. My \u201cBeginning Value\u201d for the \u201cOne Year\u201d was $83,994.40. That was on Dec1st, 2018. From Dec 1st, 2018 to Jan 1st, 2019 my account was down about $6000. This was because December was not a good month in 2018, and I took $4000 as a salary. I was taking money out last year. Now that I have the account up and I\u2019m not coaching, I\u2019ll start drawing a monthly salary again in January. Probably start with $1000 and work my way up if things are going well.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at the YTD. Again, the account started the year at $77,968.74. My \u201cNet Contribution\u201d was $10,000. I took that money out of another account to give me a little more to trade with. I might do the same thing at the end of December to give me a nice 2020 starting value. Look at the \u201cChange In Value,\u201d it\u2019s $77,121.95. This does NOT includes the $10,000 so my account actually grew by $77,121.95. The \u201cEnding Value\u201d is $165,090.69. The \u201cBeginning Value\u201d of $77,968.74 plus the \u201cChange In Value\u201d of $77,121.95, is $155,090.69. Add this to the \u201cNet Contribution\u201d of $10,000 and you have the \u201cEnding Value\u201d of $165,090.69.<\/p>\n The \u201cChange In Value\u201d of $77,121.95 is a \u201cPortfolio Return\u201d of 94.26%. You can also look at my \u201cLast 3 Months\u201d and my \u201cOne Year\u201d stats. The last 3 months I\u2019m up 53.85% and for the full year I\u2019m up 80.32%. If I can get my account up another $1000 by the end of the year my \u201cPortfolio Return\u201d will be over 100%. This will pretty much be out of my hands because of the amount of positions I\u2019m holding. If the market goes up in December my positions will go up, and I\u2019ll hit the 100% mark. If it\u2019s a bad December my results will go down. Either way I won\u2019t be trading much until January.<\/p>\n I hope this post helps you realize the potential of being a trader. Both with emails and in person I get the question, \u201chow much money do I need to get started?\u201d I really try to be totally transparent with my trades, but I don\u2019t talk too much about the value of my account. I decided to let you know so you can see the potential. $77 grand really isn\u2019t that much money if you want to be a trader. Being able to grow an account of this size to almost double also shows the power of working on margin<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s post shows you the potential of being a trader. It also let\u2019s you know what you can do with relatively a small amount of money. Now I know for many $77,000 is a lot of money, but there are traders with accounts in the millions. I hope this puts it in perspective so you can decide if a venture of being a trader is in your future.<\/p>\n Keep studying. Stay disciplined. And if you take the road of \u201cslow and steady, steady and slow\u201d you will be making extra money very soon.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.mainstbeatswallst.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-01-at-12.02.50-PM.png?resize=690%2C209\")
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