Most writers who produce books, internet columns, analysis, seminars and training courses, do not actually trade themselves. They sell you theories and cliches, instead of the practical know how you need to actually get on with it on your own because if they did, their income from the public would cease to be perpetual. Furthermore, most of them know much less than they claim. The traders who do know, are rarely writers. Thus, the information you do get rarely helps you to actually trade on your own, and the information you do not get sets you up for failure before you start, although this does not mean such books are not very interesting but there are very few indeed which are a practical help to the individual whose trading desk is not the size of a hedge fund.

Of course, in real life, there is no book that can really lead you to easy street in ten minutes without risk, study and really focussed effort on your part. My book can at least explain what I have learned, trading for my own account for 24 years, and pass on the most relevant and practical parts of knowledge and strategy needed to make a consistent living through all market conditions, at least on one Index Futures market, which is actually all you need to get by, though I trade other stuff too, but because I like to, not because I have to.

Many new Traders are looking at too many things at the same time and become overwhelmed and inefficient as a result. In my experience, to assure a constant facility to generate cash flow it is necessary to specialise in just one or two markets or instruments. The Footsie is the choice of this Trader.

It can be difficult to express successfully that the goal of trading for a living isn't really about making money, though of course it has to be viable. Few choose to think very much about the fact that the only thing of value any of us truly possess is that which we cannot buy, which is "time". The greatest amount of time is taken away from most people by the demands of an orthodox job, leaving little to no time to explore the pleasures and hobbies that life can offer. The only way we can can find time to do all the things we want is to make time, and the only way we can make time is to earn at least the same money we could by working for someone else, in less time, by ourselves, so that we can design a (shorter) working week around our lifestyle, instead of the other way around.

If that is not something you truly desire, please don't buy my book. It is not a novel, it is a solution for those who would create their own destiny, this particular way, and take personal responsibility for the outcome of their own effort. In the end, as Traders, we actually trade because we love to trade, and have plenty of free time to do other things, not because we are money mad or suffering from the modern sickness of materialism. Of course you can turn trading into a round the clock business and earn huge amounts, if that is what you want, but remember that to do so is to burn out very quickly and lose sight of the dream, the goal, and the unique opportunity of a self designed lifestyle. Never mind the coffee, smell the flowers and take in the air, and never be controlled by anyone else again.