Monday, August 11, 2014

The Power of Trading For A Cause

A little while back, I wrote about my work with traders in Madrid and the idea of moving forward by giving back.  The idea of furthering one's own development by developing others is central to medical education and the model of "each one teach one."  I see this at trading firms as well, where junior traders provide useful research to senior traders, who in turn provide helpful mentorship.  In "giving back", whether to a colleague or a worthy cause, we participate in something larger than our daily profits and losses, creating fresh sources of well-being from our work.  Over the years, I've found that successful people have a talent for creating sources of fulfillment.  We perform at our best when our emotional portfolios are well diversified.

You can imagine, then, that I was quite interested to hear about a group of traders that had formed around the idea of giving back:  Traders4ACause.  The group meets annually and conference profits go toward charitable causes.  But that's only the beginning.  The meeting features ample networking time, so that traders can share their work with other traders, and there are numerous presentations from participants, all with a practical trading bent.  It's an excellent idea for giving and getting in return.

The Traders4ACause group will be holding their meeting in early October in Las Vegas.  I'll be a keynote speaker and look forward to giving back to a group of like-minded traders.  Hope to see some TraderFeed readers there.

Whether it's through conferences or online connections via such sites as StockTwits, if you start with what you have of value to share with other traders, you'll be surprised at who you get to know and how much you receive.  The idea wheel turns faster when powered by multiple, dedicated minds.

Further Reading:  What It Means to be Free
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