I was going through my website logs the other day. Anyone with a website can see "referrals" - the addresses of other websites which have a link to their own (assuming somebody has clicked that link).

So I sometimes go to those other websites and see what's written. (Interestingly there are a lot of sites in Spanish and German linking to my theory articles).

Anyway, one guy has some automated trading software for sale. Someone asked him "if it works, why would you sell it?". In the course of answering that guy, he linked to me.

But isn't it funny that that kind of question prevails? I've touched on this a couple of times before, but why are traders the only ones who aren't allowed to want to make more money? Aren't we exactly the type of person who is inclined to make money any way we can?

That kind of question also shows a misunderstanding of how trading works. It's not a fixed income. There are good times. And then there are lean times. Traders are people, believe it or not, and tend have things like families, rent to pay, food to buy. If done well, trading can bring in a fantastic income. But the need for security, the need to be a good *consistent* provider for your family (or just for yourself), doesn't go away.

And then, there is the fact that we live in a capitalistic society. Consider a movie star who spends a couple of months doing some 'acting', and gets a $20 million payment. Why is it, that the actor then goes on to make another movie? Why is it, that the actor then goes on to make a car commercial? Don't they have "enough" money? In capitalism, there is not such a concept.

Even if we don't use the money for ourselves, we can always use the extra for the benefit of others. Ala Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and a list of other millionaire/billionaire philanthropists. How are they best to serve humanity - by volunteering their time at a soup kitchen for the homeless for 365 days a year? Or instead earning a stack of money, building a number of soup kitchens, and employing people to run all those soup kitchens?

And so, just like any other normal person, traders want to make more money. Selling their trading knowledge, or trading tools they've made along the way, seems a good way to me to pick up some extra cash. It's a completely normal thing to do, but yet people still have it in their head that once you've got a killer trading system, you are then no longer allowed to want to make money through alternate means.

Further, you're probably aware of the saying "it takes money to make money". Let's say you found a trading system which brings in 100% per year. Now let's say you have only $2000 to trade with. $2000 x 100% equals another $2000. You can't live on $2000.

Year 1: $2000 x 100% = $4000.
Year 2: $4000 x 100% = $8000.
Year 3: $8000 x 100% = $16000.
Year 4: $16000 x 100% = $32000.
Year 5: $32000 x 100% = $64000.
Year 6: $64000 x 100% = $128000.

You could probably live on $32000 per year. So if you start with $2000, and you consistently make 100% return per year, it's going to be about 5 years before you can quit your day job.

Two problems come to mind: (1) you need to consistently earn 100% p.a. for this plan to work; and (2) once you've quit your day job, you now have to consistently earn 100% p.a. until you die. Because all of your winnings would be taken up by buying daily essentials. You wouldn't be saving any money - you'd be treading water for the rest of your life.

What I'm trying to say is, you need a decent bank balance before you can consider trading for a living. The more you have, the less return per annum you need to pay for daily essentials.

So, I sell my freaking software! :-)

The other fundamental misunderstanding of how trading works, shown by the question of "if it works, why would you sell it?" is this theory of "the more people know the system, the less well it works". Now in my particular software, you create your own trading system. So you won't be trading the same as me - I'm just providing you a way to automate your own system. However, even if I was selling trading systems, theoretically the more people that know the system - the better the results should be for everybody. No?

Because, the more people buying at a particular time, the more demand there is. And the more demand there is, the higher the price goes. Isn't that how the supply-demand thing works??

So to me, the question should not be "if it works, why would you sell it?". The question should be "if it works, why wouldn't you sell it?".

There is probably only one thing in existence that's more expensive in Australia than it is in Japan. Why did it have to be one of my favourite foods??

I'm talking about sushi. The trick is to get enough wasabi for the buzz, but not so much wasabi that you get the wasabi-headache. That balancing act is also part of the fun of eating sushi. Actually my sharemate in Osaka didn't have that problem - he always gave himself a big wasabi-headache on purpose.

Anyway, so I'm looking around the Gold Coast for a fairly cheap sushi place. Seems like the plates start at $2.50, and that's just for the egg ones - for the tuna and salmon they are $3.50.

Walking around one day I came across a narrow arcade, with small shops, that actually reminded me of Japan. Except for the surfboard store. And in the middle of that arcade there was a Japanese restaurant. I looked through the prices. It said egg sushi was $2, tuna and salmon were $2.50. "Wow" I thought. I expected that the portion size would be smaller, but surely it was a good deal nonetheless.

So tonight I went there. And the lady came over and I gave my order - "tuna" I said.

As soon as she said "1?" I realised my mistake. Normally a plate of sushi has 2 pieces of sushi on it. When she said "1?" I realised that these were the prices for just 1 piece. And therefore the prices would need to be doubled to compare them with other restaurants. So I wasn't going to be paying $2.50 for the tuna, I was going to be paying $5. And I wasn't going to be paying $2 for the egg, I was going to be paying $4.

As you can see, those prices are well above the normal $2.50 for a plate of egg, and $3.50 for a plate of tuna.

In Japanese I thought to myself "maitta", which has the dictionary meaning of: "I'm beaten".

Still, good quality. But maitta.

I think Friday nights will become "search for a good and cheap Japanese restaurant" night. Until now I had always been going to the same place. Then I found out the pretty waitress there was my boss's girlfriend. It's a small world. Or at least the Gold Coast is a small city.

I mostly enjoy reading posts by Steve Pavlina. His recent article, Setting Your Primary Focus, says to resolve to focus on one thing in the coming year, rather than making any resolutions. Read the article for his explanation.

I have decided that health is my one thing. I tend to think about money by default, so that's taken care of.

The truth is, Sharky has become a chubby bunny.

Steve says:

For example, if you’re 50 pounds overweight, that’s a serious problem that will negatively affect many parts of your life, including your health, your career, and your relationships.

I'm not quite 50 pounds overweight, but by the same token nobody wants to see my belly. Although, now I think about it, nobody really wanted to see it before :-)

So it's to the gym for me, as soon as I move cities, as soon as I get a job, as soon as v1.0 is out. Until then, I'm trying to walk 10,000 steps per day.

And, as Steve Pavlina said in a different post, it's all about turning up. You go to the gym, and you're going to do a workout. The more often you turn up, the fitter you'll become. It's the turning up that's the hard part.