Today, I am going to bring you up to speed on a few items that should be of interest.
Seminar Thursday August 19
This Thursday, August 19th at 7:30 PM EST the CSTA (Canadian Society of Technical Analysis) is doing an all-chapter Zoom webinar featuring yours truly. I will be walking attendees through the concepts discussed in my new book. As I developed the presentation, I realized that I should have written at least part of a chapter in the book on how to develop a contrarians mindset. As such, I had a bit of fun creating new material surrounding the use of logical questioning techniques when viewing a crowded opinion. This extends beyond the usage of sentiment studies. Hopefully you can join me for – what I expect to be – an eye-opening engagement. Here is the link for more information. I don’t anticipate access to a recording of the webinar for the public – so be there, or be square!
Brooke Thackray seasonal investing newsletter
For those who do not already subscribe to Brooke Thackray’s seasonal investing newsletter, I continue to encourage you to do so. Each month, Brooke covers the sectors that you need to be keeping an eye on for opportunistic buying opportunities – and upcoming periods of seasonal weakness. This month, Brooke also wrote a very kind brief of my new book, Smart Money, Dumb Money. Here is the link to the newsletter. There, I would further encourage you to subscribe to the letter (its free!) if you do not already do so.
Survey says…
Thankyou to all who participated in our survey enquiring about the viability of producing a professionally produced Technical Analysis course. 174 participants who took place in the survey indicated a positive response to taking such a course. Below are the summarized results with my comments.
- Level of sophistication: An Intermediate level of course materials was the prevailing “fat part of the bell curve” when it came to this question. Beginner and Advanced were roughly equally split.
- Topics of most interest: By and far, the two topics with the greatest interest for the course would be how to create a structured approach to trading and investing, and how to identify new and emerging opportunities.
- Length & cost: As far as how many hours participants in such an educational program would be willing to dedicate to the course, the survey came up with a bit of a puzzle. Participants could choose between 3, 5, 7 or 10 hours – and the two overwhelmingly popular choices were 5 and 10 hours. As far as cost, the median cost participants said they would like to see was $110.
Summary: I will likely end up doing two courses, the second one totally depending on the popularity of the first course. My thought, based on the survey results, is that I would start with an intermediate-level course. This course would incorporate a very short segment at the beginning to review basic technical analysis principles such as trend analysis. So it would be appropriate to the people who were interested in a basic level of material. But I want to primarily focus on – as dictated by the participants of the survey -creating a structured trading and investing approach. That would incorporate some ideas on how to uncover prospective trading opportunities. Of course, any structured approach incorporates rules involving position sizing, buy/sell triggers, etc. There’s lots of material in there to cover. As far as the length, I expect that we’d be looking at somewhere near 7 hours total time. This would include the time to answer quizzes and that type of thing.
Finally, the cost. I have been quoted (assuming all of the above) between $4000-$5000 to produce one course. Remember, this is a professionally filmed and produced program with a proven structured protocol. This program would be akin to those training programs offered by corporations when training employees, etc. I expect that we will offer the course for $99. My thoughts are that (assuming $5k cost) I will break even on 50 participants – which seems a reasonable assumption. And truthfully, that’s really all I want to do on the course – if I make a few more bucks past breakeven, that’s great, but the big goal is to help more of you learn Technical Analysis. These days, it is easy to be cynical about people and business. But, in all sincerity, after 32 years in this business, I now focus on leaving a footprint and passing my trade on more than most other things. ‘Nuff said.
Good news for those who participated in the survey– I intend to provide a very hefty discount in return for your kind responses. Give it a while, as I anticipate it will take a few months to create the program, but survey participants will get an advance email notice before the course is released to the public.
8 Comments
Hi Keith. I’d love to attend the seminar on Aug.19. However, Ill be at the cottage and the internet signal there is non-existent. Theres no chance of paying the fee, and being able to access it when I get back? By the way, I got your latest book, and it is excellent. I highly recommend it.
Hi Tom- last time I did a webinar with the CSTA it was like pulling teeth to get a copy of the video, ultimately couldn’t get it. So its not likely but I will do my very best to get a copy. If I do–I will certainly post a link in the blog.
Re the book–thankyou, and as I note to Louis – please do me a big favor and post a review and rating on Amazon–it really helps get a new book established on their pecking order.
Very interesting as always Keith. I will certainly register to such a course. BTW, I just finished your most recent book ”Smart Money / Dumb Money” and it’s a little book full of great information put together so it’s easy to understand and really interesting to read. Thank you.
Thanks Louis–and be sure to leave a comment and rating on Amazon re the book–it really helps get the word out and push the book up on their listings
Hi Keith,
I bought your latest book on amazon and looking forward to the continued read. I will certainly give it a review once I’m done. To be fair, I have to read it a few times to understand everything (I’m slow..), but so far, impressive. I am also trying to sign up for the seminar tomorrow and will sign up for your course as well. We all appreciate the effort you make to empower others with your knowledge. If it hasn’t been said before- thanks. Some of us share your passion for exposing “Justy” the brain surgeon in Ottawa for making Canada his little playground of horrors. Unfortunately, his doesn’t have much in the way of competition and I think the readers should re-read his track record so they can vote knowing whats really going on. He thinks he can get a majority, that needs to be stopped. Don’t forget to mention CanSino pharma and his side deal that cost the delay of the vaccine and probably millions of tax payer dollars. Please re-post! On the other side, we all have to take care of ourselves, Knowledge is power, your education helps us grow financially so we can move forward independent of whatever government is in charge. Keep the info coming. Great job.
Thanks David- and glad to hear you are going to attend the CSTA seminar–should be fun.
Re Justy- as a person who spends a fair bit of time reading and studying human behavioral patterns, it never ceases to amaze me how most people truly do not think. Here is a guy who literally, not figuratively, has broken major (not minor) ethical issues by influencing a justice minister to break the law on his behalf re SNC – then firing her when she would not. Were he in the USA, he would have been impeached over the SNC affair. Here, he was barely punished then re-elected.
Not to mention the Aga-khan scandal and the “coincidental” parlaying of money to his family and supporters through WE, the Norman affair, Data Sciences contract with his buddy, and the recent-“coincidental” payment of $70 MM to the media one week before announcing this new election.
Yet, he maintains some degree of voter support? This fascinates me. Amazing.
re: “Yet, he maintains some degree of voter support? This fascinates me. Amazing.”.
Well, Keith…I guess you have to look at the alternatives on offer which may not inspire the voters too much.. Previous Conservative ‘stars’ such as Jason Kenney, Doug Ford, Scott Moe and the like have kind of soiled the nest as well. Which might help explain why people are holding their noses and voting for the Liberals.
Anyway, as you often say, don’t fight the market…..similarly the voters are always ‘right’….like it or not.
The good news on the upcoming election Ron is that we have a number of viable candidates willing to fill the seat of our current Crime-Minister. O’Toole has a clean record with the military and as an MP, Bernier is a principled man (I know him personally), and Singh appears to be staying out of trouble. So lots of good alternatives over the current greed and corruption – for anyone’s political beliefs.
And to the stock picking analogy – true, I am a trend follower. But I will never buy a stock (no matter how strong the herd drives its trend) that is overvalued or has a known unethical CEO.