Dr Elder's "Trading for a Living" Seminar

I went for Dr Elder's seminar yesterday. It was a very early Sunday morning and I zombied my way there around 830am for the course, which is to last until 5pm.

I had read most of his books and had initially thought that paying to hear him talk about what I had known is just a complete waste of time. But I am glad that I went afterall, because there are little details that had to be spoken to, rather than read, in order to really understand. I should have known that, having worked in my line for so long. If everyone just reads from the textbook, then what is my value? It's the interaction between the audience and the speaker that makes all the difference. The subtle cue, the uncomfortable shifts, the sparkle in the eyes - all these and more will tell the speaker a message, whether to talk more about this, or say less of that. A textbook does none of this.

What I like about the seminar:

1. It's a good refresher course for me. The seminar made me want to review a few concepts again by re-reading the books. I'll do some again this year. I think some books I just have to re-read every single year.

2. He shared a few books with us (which I dutifully copied the title and author). I love people who share their book list. Show me the books that a person reads (or not read) and I can tell you what kind of person he is.

3. There is this indicator about impulse system, which cannot be found in chart nexus. I've re-read countless times but I just cannot remember. All he did is to flash it once and now it's stuck. Great :)

4. He shared how he kept his records. I was totally impressed. I will do something about my own records too. If after the seminar, nothing is changed, then I would have wasted both time and money on this seminar.

5. The interesting thing is that if you replace the word 'trading' by 'living', the advice given are equally applicable. There are certain universal truths about life that can be found in other seemingly unrelated fields.

6. These are actually points not pertaining to the seminar but are equally important, so I'll consolidate them into one. At the end of the day, I might not remember everything in the seminar, but I certainly will remember the experience.

a. Great company. I went with a couple of cbox friends, met someone I knew from investideas too. All in all, it's like going to a concert together with friends.

b. Did I mention we had a beer break during lunch...fantastic

c. The whole idea of sitting in a lecture room with many others is so nostalgic.


What I don't like about the seminar:

1. The price of the seminar is almost the price of all his books. If you don't know anything about the man, I would suggest go buy all his books. It's better value for money.

2. It's a touch and go session, which is only natural, given the time allowance for the seminar. Actually the more useful session would be how he is going to do a live trading session on a market day and observe how he does his magic. I can't attend that, unfortunately.

3. He sped through most of the stuff before lunch, so he gave us two options - first is to have a beer party and chit chat, second is to look at examples of charts. The person in charge didn't even ask for a democratic show of hands who is going for option 1 or 2 and decided 'of course' we'll go for option 2. Boo, he has no life at all.

It'll be much more fun to go for the beer party.

4. I'm not sure this is a bad point. The books which they are selling at a discount at the seminar are not that cheap. It's cheaper to go to berkshire business books and buy from them. Free delivery too, given the price of the books. But of course, there's no autograph by the man himself. I don't think I need his autograph at all. This is not a bad point because I'm glad I didn't buy at the seminar.


Here's something interesting. I'm sitting right at the front row, so I get to observe him really closely throughout the seminar. That was a particular part where he mentioned his first book, Trading for a Living, is probably his best selling book. I noticed that he used his right hand to scratch his left ear, just momentarily, while he saying that line. He didn't scratch it after that.

I leave it to your interpretation :)