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Review 12/1/2009
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Over the last few years I received many phone calls from sales folks who have tried to sell investment “services” – e.g. guaranteed-to-win investments, newsletters, research, education, etc. Whenever I bought into any of those offers, I usually regretted it dearly later. But this time was different! Pacific Trading Academy (PTA) is the first organization I’ve encountered, who are first and foremost interested in turning their students/mentees into self-sufficient and successful traders. You can’t go wrong with them! Given my stated preference for swing and position trading in stocks and options, PTA paired me up with Dale Brethauer. During the first few weeks Dale and I had regular one-on-one phone calls during which he introduced me to a few solid, time-tested, and easy to follow trading strategies with clearly defined entry and exit signals. These strategies are comfortably manageable on a part-time basis, so I can still dedicate ample time to my day job. As I started to trade these strategies, Dale provided guidance and advice on how to improve, fine-tune and optimize them to fit my personal trading style. He also pointed out where I risked falling victim to my weaknesses. Even though the strategies are pretty straightforward, there are plenty of psychological pitfalls that can turn an otherwise profitable strategy into a losing one. Dale’s subtle guidance helped me to gain the confidence that I am indeed capable of managing my own investments – something I’ve often doubted in the past.
A big milestone under Dale’s mentorship was the creation of my very own trading business plan. Throughout my professional career, detailed planning was always a key prerequisite for running and tracking any serious business. So I knew that if I wanted to be successful, I needed to take the same approach for my trading. But for the last couple of years such a plan wasn’t more than an entry on my ‘to-do’ list. With Dale’s help I finally managed to document everything from my trading objectives, personal strengths/weaknesses, strategies, tools, processes, accounts, trading capital allocation, forecasts, and training resources. This living document is now the focal point of all my trading activities. It is a tremendous help in keeping myself honest, disciplined and focused, as well as in taking the anxiety out of trading. I can’t believe I ever traded without it!
After a few weeks, Dale started bringing several of his mentees together, in form of live webinars. During these sessions I greatly benefited from discussions with the group, the ability to ask questions, and hear multiple points of view on how to manage our trades in light of the respective market situations. It helped me to solidify my own knowledge and to keep my trades on track. It also made me feel more connected to others, being part of a community of like-minded traders who are all following Dale’s strategies.
Finally, the mentorship with Dale gave me the skills and confidence to develop, test, and scrutinize additional strategies to augment the foundation he provided. It reminded me a little bit about college, where you don’t just acquire knowledge about a particular topic which may be outdated within just a few years, but rather you develop and hone the skills that will last you a lifetime and allow you to solve any problem that your professional life might throw at you…
If you are looking for a way to get rich overnight – this may not be for you. But if you are looking for an experienced, honest and thorough guide to put you on the path to trading success and provide you with solid, easy to follow stock and option trading strategies that don’t require you to be glued to your screen all day, Dale Brethauer is your man!
Thank you PTA for exceeding the expectations you had set during your initial call and for providing exceptional service and value to your customers! And thank you Dale, for sharing your wisdom with your students! I’m looking forward to many years of successful trading and to staying in touch and sharing my ideas with the growing community of Dale Brethauer/PTA alumni.
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