this is the Forex Q&A podcast this is VP
professional Forex prop trader here in
the United States answering your user
submitted forex trading related
questions every Monday morning now if
you have a forex trading related
question on your mind good news I have
probably already answered it so what you
should do is check out no-nonsense Forex
on YouTube run a search in the video
section and see if I have answered the
question there already or if you cannot
find the answer there you can also go to
the no-nonsense Forex discord forum link
will be provided down below in the show
notes and in the YouTube description so
if you are a frequent visitor to WWE
nonsense for XCOM and you should be
after all it is the place to be you've
probably noticed the lack of a contact
form I used to have a contact form used
to have a tab for it and now I do not I
am going to go ahead and bring it back
against my better judgement now what was
happening is most people were using it
the wrong way
there are very clearly defined
directions on it it is to contact me for
something that I may need to be aware of
like a problem with the site somebody's
stealing my material anybody who wants
to get in contact with me for business
purposes things like that but there are
a large handful of you out there who
just cannot do anything correctly and
I'm no longer giving you guys the
language barrier as an excuse the
directions are very clear on that form
but the majority of people were
contacting me just to get on the email
list which is everybody listening the
email list does not exist anymore you
cannot be on something that does not
exist so when things get out of hand
like that I just get rid of it but now
people are still trying to get on the
email list through the testimonials form
and this is why we can't have nice
things so I'm bringing it back but for
all of you who have made it to this
episode and are up to speed I love you
all but please do not contact me
directly unless you absolutely have to
if you want to say how much you love the
channel that's always great no but you
can do that on the youtube comments
section you can do that on the pod beam
comment section if you're there
you can go give the podcast a five-star
review on iTunes and leave your stuff
there
I love reading those things it never
gets old but I'm really trying to keep
my inbox down as far as I can these days
because once it gets out of hand I spend
most of my time doing that instead of
doing the things that I really need to
be doing nothing personal thank you for
understanding it is the 4xq a podcast
and we are finally at 73 going to pull
back the curtain a little bit on my
overall lifestyle I get asked this
question quite a bit but there's a lot
of you guys know I'm a pretty private
guy I don't like talking about myself
unless it can serve as an example to you
guys because not that I'm super great or
anything but I've just put in a lot of
work and I've grinded it out and I've
become a professional Forex trader and I
think people can learn from that process
but instead of talking about how I did
it through you know technical analysis
and things like that like I normally do
what we've been doing lately on the
videos and on the podcast is kind of
taking a step back and looking at
everything through more of a macro view
so I'm gonna tell you kind of a zoomed
out version pretty much my journey from
when I arrived in Las Vegas in 2006 up
until right now now a lot of you are
used to getting information from this
channel that is the complete opposite
from almost everything you have seen on
social media regarding forex trading and
this episode is certainly going to be no
different because terms like Forex
trader lifestyle and life of a
professional Forex trader get a lot of
searches on Google and YouTube and
everywhere else and the results are all
over the place so sometimes you just see
some guy just taking you through his day
like he wakes up he trades he goes to
the gym he does this and then that's the
end of the video now it doesn't really
tell you a whole lot but you know there
it is
a lot of them don't talk about Forex at
all they just talk about rich people or
rich day traders and they don't even
really tell you exactly
how they made their money you know I was
a bit surprised to see that but I saw
quite a few videos like that just
putting up a simple search so that
wasn't very helpful and the majority I
guess I thought I would see more up I
definitely did see a strong handful of
these videos on YouTube where the
stereotype you know look how much money
I made in the forex market I'm super
rich look at all my cool stuff join my
workshop or buy my course links are down
below in the description now I've said
this before I don't have a problem with
people who are actual millionaires
selling courses I think it's loser thing
to get upset at people who want to do
that if you have information worth
having and you want to sell it for
whatever it's worth the free market will
decide whether it's worth that or not
and if you really are who you say you
are you're gonna have longevity and
you're gonna do really well if you don't
then any money you make is gonna be very
very short-lived and you're gonna pay
dearly on the reputation side so if you
want to take that risk and put yourself
out there you go right ahead I also know
that this is the perfect way to attract
low intelligence people and very
desperate people who want a flashy
lifestyle like that and they think forex
trading is how they are going to get
there so basically you're bringing on a
bunch of people who are absolutely bound
to fail no matter what you tell them but
it's the first law of marketing don't
advertise to the intelligent there's far
less of them now I don't know exactly
how intelligent all of you are out there
but I can say most of my audience at
least is not the type or at least in
present day is not the type of person to
fall for videos like that I mean they
tell me stories about it all the time I
mean Instagram alone is a total gongshow
when it comes to people just like this
showing something flashy and then trying
to sell you a forex trading course or
signals or whatever they have but if
you're the type of person who genuinely
wants to know what it's like to be a
professional Forex trader to me who is
one and for anybody out there who's new
and
you doubt that I am one and I have the
balls to put my name and title at the
bottom of every video if I wasn't really
a traitor if you really want to be an
annoying prick about it you can call
maverick FX out of Salt Lake City Utah
and ask them does VP or Patric from Las
Vegas either way does he actually trade
for your firm and they are going to tell
you yes you can talk to Darren or Rob or
Corey or Pauline they all know me but
yes everything I said about my actual
profession is true I've been with them
since 2014 and there are two main things
I want you to know about this lifestyle
what it is and what you can expect out
of it
so instead of just saying what those two
things are let me kind of lead into this
by telling you the story of how I went
from where I was to where I am and I
really only do this because I think
there's some great takeaways to be had
and just to show you that the road there
and even once you get there it's not
super glamorous like people let on it's
great don't get me wrong I am time rich
and that's all I've ever wanted and the
actual money part we will talk about
towards the end but certainly wasn't
always this way when I got into Las
Vegas the only thing I really knew how
to do was wait tables and work in
hospitality it's the only thing I was
ever good at so I really the only thing
ever did with any success but I knew
that if you can get a good job and a big
tourist City like that you can actually
make a pretty good life for yourself
waiting tables where a lot of cities you
just can't do that so why not get up and
get out of the Midwest and go someplace
fun and do that so the first place I
worked didn't work out but I did get a
taste of the type of money you can
really make there and then the second
restaurant I ended up working for was an
absolute jackpot I mean in about four or
five months it became one of the if not
the hottest restaurant in Las Vegas back
in 2007 I mean every major celebrity
under 40 at the time
professional athletes casino executives
I mean you would see people like that on
a random Wednesday night at this
restaurant and as a result the money was
phenomenal I've never even seen this
kind of money before and I was bringing
it in in cash every night and this just
became my new normal so it was time for
me to say okay I've never owned anything
before it's time to actually own my own
place so I bought a condo wasn't even a
really big condo but it was still pretty
expensive because this was the very very
top of the market in 2007 this was what
they called a bubble and I looked at my
money and I did something that none of
you should ever get caught doing and if
you catch yourself doing it stop
immediately I projected so I said okay
I'm making this much money a month so
that's gonna end up being this much
money a year wow that's a lot of money
and so if I just keep making this money
year after year this is what I can
expect I can afford this condo even
though it seems kind of high for what it
is so I just went ahead and did it and
because the market crashed very shortly
after that that condo never made a dime
of money - nothing but lose its value
and lose a lot of its value since the
day I bought it
and I was upside down underwater and
huge debt whatever you want to call it
ever since and to make matters worse
trends change and my restaurant was no
longer the hottest restaurant on the
block and management changed and it
wasn't a good place to work anymore I
wasn't making a lot of money and I left
and I had never seen that level of money
ever again from any job I ever worked
since I had a lot of restaurant jobs on
the Las Vegas Strip which sounds really
great but they were either jobs that
really didn't pay that well to which
there are more out there than you think
and go figure those are the jobs that
would give me five or six shifts a week
so I was stuck working a lot for just
barely enough money to get by on or
which was even worse really I would get
into restaurants where you could make a
lot of money
I just didn't have the seniority or I
wasn't enough of a yes-man or whatever
it was to get any more than maybe one
two three shifts a week at these places
either way I wasn't pulling enough money
in and I had this hotshot restaurant job
at a Las Vegas strip restaurant but at
the end of the day had almost no
disposable income in my pocket
everything I had just went to bills and
mortgage and food and things like that
and I've told you guys the story before
the curse of the smart kid how I was the
smart kid when I was very young and I
was always told you're gonna do really
great things you're super smart you're
destined for greatness all this stuff
and that did nothing but put this
horrible undue pressure on me my entire
life so here I am the smart kid who is
just completely pissing away you know my
prime years stuck in this situation to
where I had all these great ideas for
businesses that I couldn't even really
start because I couldn't put any funding
behind him and I didn't want to take out
a loan because I was already in debt you
know and I was starting to trade Forex
but I wasn't really good at it yet so it
was just a really miserable feeling for
a very long time but there's two things
I did that I thought were very smart
while this was going on first off I
lived well below my means I'm not a real
flashy guy anyway so I guess that kind
of helped you know but I didn't make
matters worse by buying stuff I couldn't
afford and then especially when I had
those jobs where I was only working a
few days a week if that I made sure that
I didn't waste the time I had you know I
didn't start drinking a lot or feeling
sorry for myself or anything like that I
took the one other thing I was actually
starting to get good at apart from
restaurants and that was Forex and did
everything I could to make my trading is
consistently profitable as I could
because I don't think I was ever gonna
be able to put myself in a position to
where I could just trade my own money I
mean I think at this point as much debt
I was in as much money I wasn't really
making this was never a possibility but
I felt like if I could just show
consistent results that somebody out
there would give me money to trade for
on their behalf now the first two
companies I went to were duds
I found maverick and finally got started
there and in the early years of me
trading from abric I wasn't making a lot
either but I would also do other things
like private coaching so let me be very
clear I do not do this now because when
I did it I actually hated it but it was
enough money to kind of supplement my
income a little bit and keep me afloat
during those early times of trading
where you haven't even really made back
the money you've put into the firm so I
quit coaching as soon as I was able to
and then trading started getting good
enough to the point where I could
actually sit back and say okay let me
just take a loss on this condo and get
rid of it and once I do that do I have
to work restaurants any longer and at
first the answer was yes
you absolutely do have to keep your
night job but over time the debt went
away and the money started coming in
better and better and then I made that
leap and quit restaurants and never
looked back but you better believe I
made sure that I was debt-free and had a
little bit of a cushion first because
remember back when I said there's two
things I really want you to take away
from this podcast as far as what it's
like to be a professional Forex trader
the number one thing about this business
is is extremely inconsistent and thank
God I was ready for this you know I
spent a lot of time not knowing how much
money I was going to make the next day
or the next week or the next month so I
had a plan accordingly and I just became
good at doing that and that would really
serve me well down the road because
there is really no time to really sit
back and pop the champagne cork and buy
yourself something nice and really treat
yourself for a job well done
because you never truly know just how
long this is going to last now hopefully
at last a very very long time hopefully
at last your entire life but if you
really don't adopt a long game approach
and forex trading is 100 percent of your
income it can really screw with you
especially early on
but at the same time I did not want this
lifestyle to go away I finally had that
time richness that I've always wanted so
what did I do instead of going out and
buying myself nice things I did
everything I could to make sure this
lifestyle never goes away I got good at
other markets I can now afford to start
those other businesses I could put my
money in more passive income things like
we talked about in the buy and hold
video you know I just have that type-a
personality to where I always need to be
doing something I have all these ideas I
need to harness those thoughts and
actually make something of it
if it's something I know that would
stimulate me and if it's something I can
enjoy it it's something that wouldn't
suck up all my time you know that's what
my life is it's just constantly trying
to build and build and add those layers
of protection on so this lifestyle that
I've worked so hard to create never goes
away and I guess that leads me into the
second part of what being a professional
Forex trader is what the lifestyle is
it's anything you choose it to be if
it's flashy cars and private jets and
things like that okay I don't think it's
gonna last very long I mean don't you
need to have really great money
management to be a professional Forex
trader and the first thing you go do is
buy depreciating assets you know you do
whatever you want to do this is money
you made nobody else made it you get to
do whatever you want but remember like I
said before you were going to live a
very long time might as well build that
Empire while you can and in the meantime
my life does not suck it's just not
flashy it's not on the surface what a
lot of people would think it is you know
I can actually enjoy my super fun city
now a lot more than I could before but
I've also been here a long time and I
want to go somewhere else and live all
over the place you know and experience
that type of lifestyle too you know I
want to be around other you know digital
nomads and be around that energy and
those ideas and that's really the future
for myself that I've always wanted but
was just so far away from for so long so
now that it's here the only thing
financially that I'm even remotely
concerned about right now
is just making sure it never goes away I
worked way too hard and struggled way
too long to get to this point
you better believe that preservation is
my number one goal and nothing else is
even a close second
so traitors my best piece of advice to
you is if you ever get to this point or
if you are already there now realize how
fortunate you are you know what I
shouldn't even say fortunate luck had
nothing to do with it you worked your
ass off you got here on your own but if
you are in this situation just be really
grateful for it and understand that if
you don't take the necessary steps to
preserve it it could all be gone one day
and it may never come back so the real
life of a professional Forex trader is
anything you choose it to be just make
that choice of smart one so from a money
standpoint just remember I shouldn't
have to tell you this but it's really
really tacky to ask somebody how much
money they make and if you're eight even
ask me I couldn't tell you because with
all the different irons I have on the
fire you know one month looks completely
different from the month before it but
I'll just put it this way money-wise do
I have enough money to go out and buy a
private jet and a McLaren no I do not do
I have enough money to rent those things
and then round up some local Vegas girls
and then shoot a video telling you how
baller my life is and how you should buy
my course I probably do but let's all
just be glad I never took that route
because then this podcast here would
never exist would it so we all have
dreams traders as unique as they are and
one of the dreams I didn't have years
ago but I do now is to get as many of
you as humanly possible to that point
where you want to be as well but if you
get there just remember the game is far
from over it's only beginning there's a
lot of work still left to be done so
wherever you are in this journey you
know exactly what needs to be done you
need to work relentlessly towards this
dream of yours you can't preserve
something that's not there so go get it