I am really very tired of hearing people just blindly repeating something they hear supposedly smart people saying. In reality if you stop and give it half a minute’s thought you would realize that it is absolute nonsense.
In forex this is especially so with all the cliche’s I keep hearing ad nauseum. Here is a prime example…“Invest only what you can afford to lose”. That is a blanket statement which no one takes the time to qualify. So I shouldnt invest in a house because I cant afford to lose it?
Truth be told I suspect that the vast majority of those who trade forex hardly can afford to lose anything at all but still yet we persevere and try our luck, hoping to master the craft and live happily ever after.
The responses should make for interesting reading, lol.
I believe there is wisdom beneath the quote. It pertains to the practice of bankroll management or risk management, if you will. Additionally, considering the CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE is important because you don’t want to end up bankrupt and suffer later on.
I’m super guilty for this! And since I recently said something similar (or agreed with something like that), it’s probably my post that triggered this. 
Sorry about that. But for someone like me who also struggles to keep her emotions in check, it’s a constant reminder so I don’t go all-out all at once. 
I wasn’t really pertaining to investments like houses, but rather markets like stocks, crypto or forex. 
I don’t think I’m blindly repeating when I say this. I actually mean it lol. We just have different takes on how to go about doing things and that’s completely ok!
These threads are like great for Twitter lol. Def a good controversial topic 
It’s never a great idea to gamble more than you can afford to lose - but hey there are levels of “Affordability” !
One of my pet hates is "Never bet more than 1% of your account on any one bet "!
Why the hell would you keep that miuch money in a gambling account ? 
Might be total garbage for people with experience. I say this to people new in trading who think it’s going to be easy so they plan to go all in. I think it’s just right to give them a little warning or reality check not to take out a loan or anything stupid just because they saw on tiktok that they can earn millions.
Qualified statement: it’s part of the learning process, but I would alternatively suggest practice and experiment on a demo account to develop a profitable strategy and ‘stick to’ process for each trade, with leeway on lot size. Which is what I did before going live.
Whether anyone else wants to be different it’s their life, up to them, but I hope they wouldn’t cry over spilt milk if it all goes t**s up.
I speak from personal experience with this. Over a decade ago, my wife and I ran a successful small property portfolio of four properties in the UK. We took a decision to go “all in” (well - 75% in) and went for yield over location. We borrowed millions. Wind forward 16 years, and the planned outcome was a 100% capital gain, sell half and retire. With about 2/3 of them still worth less than we paid for them 16 years ago, the actual outcome was a little different than the intended outcome.
Moral of the story - don’t gamble more than you can afford to lose.
On the other hand, our overall trading / crypto portfolio is ahead, most likely because we DID limit our bank to less than 5% of our net assets, and agreed this was a sum we coulld afford to lose.
We are all different, and I understand your skepticism of “invest only what you can afford to lose”. My personal experience has been that had I not gone all in with property in 2006/7, I may have lost the bank on trading. With the benefit of hindsight, I know I never will. 
Absolutely agree with you. 
I concur, but not totally.
Understanding market psychology, and mine in it is a process not meant for the rubbish heap.
I am pregnant, but not totally. 
I suppose the majority of those rules were created from trading practice. They were not some blank statements that some people came up with without a reason.
The one that you have mentioned specifically is for your mental stability mostly. Because trading is a very psychologically challenging thing in the first place then it’s sensible to have the amount that you are comfortable to lose. So that you won’t panic too much if anything goes in the wrong direction.
I still find this so crazy! I wonder if there are places in the US where this has also happened.
Check out Buffalo New York, Erie Pennsylvania. It is a good while since I was there but at the time you could get a double unit - two family homes - for about $25,000 with gross annual rents of about $8,000 per year. Dodgy neighbourhoods, so if you were a local landlord, you could do well. But it was probably not for the faint hearted. I often wonder if they have gone up or down or sideways in price.
I think @Falstaff posted a thread about live traders completely blowing their accounts while streaming live.
Sad to watch, but once you watch it, you’ll see no risk management whatsoever. Just hope or greed or… “What were you thinking!”.
But yea man, I’ve read lots of fluff here. But I get it. Some.traders only know the fluff, so that’s how they “help”.
There’s some goodies though.
Omg what year was this!
- It’s frustrating when people parrot clichés without critical thinking, like the blanket statement “Invest only what you can afford to lose.”
- Context matters; blindly applying such advice may deter investments like houses, revealing the complexity of financial decisions.
- Despite challenges, many in forex persevere, driven by the hope of mastering the craft and achieving financial success.
Us real estate should start skyrocketing in value soon. We just imported / overlooked 10 million or so people in the last couple of years who will need housing. Housing and rentals will be at a premium. So our homes May double in value, but our dollar should crash into the abyss at some point. Unfortunately, with the control the dollar has in the world, the other currencies may fall even faster.
I don’t know who our governments are looking out for, but it ain’t us.
These people feel smart parroting “conventional wisdom”. You can’t help them.
Having said that, you’re a smarter man.