[Jimmy Jones]

I just wanted to share this with some of you new guys. I am sure the veteran traders already understand this.

I have not been sleeping much lately (completely engrossed in learning everything I can about forex). I was up late last night and saw a response to a post that got me thinking. The post I mention basically gave the advice of getting your trading account to a decent size ($50,000 I believe it was) and then living off what you earn.

I have really been struggling with seeing how Forex can be a viable avenue to real financial freedom. I was under the impression (the wrong impression I think) that I had to figure out a way to make a ton of pips a day just to get to the point where my trading could replace my income.

So I laying in bed last night in sheer exhaustion but unable to sleep because that post was on my mind in a heavy way. Then I remembered a conversation I had with a private hard money lender a few years back about my real estate investing activities. He had asked me what my goals with investing in real estate were, and I told him that I wanted to build up a portfolio of enough rental properties to be able to replace my salary so I could quit my job.

He looked at me like I was stupid and asked me why on earth would I want to quit my job as soon as I got to the point where rental income was matching my salary. I had no answer. He proceeded to show me the power of making your money work for you. He showed me how if I held off just a few years and put all of my profits back into my business that in a few years I would achieve real financial freedom, not just another salary.

So it hit me in bed last night. I don't need to make thousands of pips a day. What I need to do is make a small number of high probability trades on a consistence basis, and use position sizing to make my account grow faster. So my goal now is not to replace my income as fast as possible. My goal is to build my cash float up to the point where I can then take out a small percentage of it to live off of while the majority goes right back in so I can keep increasing my position size.

Let me tell you I feel much more relaxed today with that new goal in place. Now 40 - 100 pips a day looks like a real viable path to true financial freedom.

A great book I read a few years back has the same idea, getting your money to work for you. It's called The Richest Man in Babylon. A good read if you can find the time...