There is an iconic scene in Season 6 of The Sopranos where Tony, after taking mescaline with a girlfriend, discovers who he is and the meaning of his life. I remember watching that scene live when it aired. The brilliance of James Gandolfini as an actor paired with the power of that particular scene always left an impression on me. Life is filled with “I GET IT!” moments. Tony’s just happened to come after a Peyote trip.
While I haven’t done any Peyote recently (ever), I am coming upon one year of blogging regularly on this site. I started Omahacharts when going through the Chartered Market Technican’s Program as a sort of online diary, and showcase for some of the material I was learning at the time. It helped me to learn the concepts when blogging about them and putting it to use via real life, live examples. After I completed the program, it helped me continue to hone my technical analysis skills while being very transparent. I believe transparency is of the utmost importance, especially in an industry littered with fraud. If you go back through the posts over this past year you will see some posts that would have made you money, and others which would have done the exact opposite. But it’s all there, dated and time stamped (lol) for any one who is interested to see.
As my renewal for the site comes in a few short weeks, I was deciding whether or not to continue this thing another year. There are hundreds of blogs out there, probably a dozen or so really great ones. Guys like Josh Brown, whom I have followed forever and love, have a knack for this blogging thing with thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of followers. In our industry of money management, trading, and whatever other financial wizardry you want to call it, that is to be respected. The fact of the matter is, most people just don’t care. Even people in their early 30s like me, you don’t hear many talking about stocks, futures, or even their 401k. Unless you are a financial adviser or run in a finance circle, chances are you aren’t meeting for drinks with your friends to talk about strategic asset allocation, whether or not REIT’s are a long, or tax loss harvesting. Take that a step further and start mentioning trading falling wedge patterns with leverage in the options market, and most people look at you like you ARE on Peyote. Trust me, I get these looks at happy hour a lot.
” You do what now??” #DAFUQ??
But recently I received a few emails through my site, Facebook messages from friends from the past, and tweets saying they appreciated the blog. That was pretty neat. An old friend of mine messaged me a few weeks ago saying he had some money in a brokerage account and I gave him some ideas from which he made money. Another guy in Omaha found me here and he’s sitting for the CMT Level III Exam in a week. Once he passes, he’ll be CMT number 3 in Omaha. We met up last week and talked shop. Just this morning I got an email from a follower:
A few kind messages like this are enough for me to continue hobby blogging. I’ve enjoyed putting some ideas out there, hearing feed back, and helping a person or two learn something they didn’t know. Most of all, I’ve enjoyed meeting a few people who found me through this site.
Managing your own money, as well as money for others is a big responsibility. It isn’t glamorous like you see in the movies, at least not in Omaha. It’s an unbelievable burden in fact. I’m never truly on vacation or powered down. I’m always connected. I’m not of extreme wealth, didn’t go to an ivy league school, and don’t want to hear about your exotic option trade that put you in a mansion in Stamford. I don’t have a single picture of the car I drive on Instagram and I don’t roll with stacks of Benjamins in hand with a Gold President’s Club Rolex. I’m not a beach side trader all star guru. For those of you that are, good for you. I’m not there yet.
For those who have reached out and said thanks that I introduced you to RRGs or that you now understand the VIX Index as a means to help gauge market volatility, you keep me going. The next year is for you. I’ll be here learning along with you.
Omahacharts.com has been renewed for Season 2, starring… me. Maybe I’ll get a cohost or two in the coming year, and figure out a real plan for the site. But the backbone will always be me learning and succeeding and failing along side the readers here. For a while I wasn’t sure, but now… I Get It.
Have a good weekend.
OC