The Fall of … Forex Gurus … Jason Alan Jankovsky, Gordon Philips …
While the “Fall” might be a little dramatic, and with today’s email from Jason Alan Jankovsky announcing the end of his education and trading services, it makes me wonder …
There are gurus out there who go through cycles.
The …
“I can trade” cycle, to
“I can teach others to trade” cycle, to
“Wow I’ve just run some numbers and if I can get X number of people to pay me X dollars” cycle, to
“Marketing with – depending on who it is – reckless abandon” cycle, to
“Man, this isn’t as easy as I thought” cycle, to
“I’ve just got to take it easy and get back to my roots of trading for myself” cycle.
It’s one continuous round where these gurus, at some point or another especially IF they are not making a comfortable enough income and/or not established enough as a name in the industry will eventually come back to where they started and that is – trading for themselves.
Call it burnout, it’s burnout due to – most times – not making enough to justify having what’s essentially a full-time job. Gurus realize that going into business for oneself isn’t just about showing others how you trade – there are things that start from a website, to payment processing, to delivering products/services, to constantly being “on” which is made so tough by all the things that – to trading gurus don’t matter.
The staying power of gurus isn’t based on who’s best, but who’s got the most will, money, and zaniness.
So TradingMetro partner Gordon Philips, a brilliant trader, decided to just focus on his managed fund, and dump everything else. Jason Alan Jankovsky sent the following out:
Dear FOREX Trader,
It has been a wonderful past few years but I am on to other things. Thank you for your interest in my webinars and education.
I will keep you informed as to products and services I will offer moving forward but for now–I am focusing on my personal trading. As always, consider me your friend in the business.
I’ll let you know when I have special services available and you will always be welcome to contact me directly. My website will be closed over the weekend so please make a note of my contact email (listed below).
Thanks–good luck and good trading,
Jason Alan Jankovsky
Trading Forex isn’t easy. It requires work, but there are those who perpetuate the ridiculous notion that Forex trading is easy, so people get into it and have skewed expectations which drives gurus crazy. I’ve seen the pullback of Forex trading gurus one of whom has started sending semi-regular emails out again – Rob Booker. Rob, I think, has realized more than ever that, it’s not about sheer numbers, not quantity, but quality. Trade well for yourself, teach a few people to do it well too, and you will have your own religion – of sorts. In Bookers case, the Book of Rob.
I’m sure we’ll see more “falls” or “burnout.” As more folks want to get into trading the demand for gurus grows, and as it grows there is more turnover. In all that turnover don’t get suckered by some wannabe guru. There are good ones out there and it’s what we strive to want to partner with at TradingMetro.
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Actually, I didn’t ‘fall’ anywhere, unless you count falling out of my chair laughing!
What happened is that after seven solid years and thousands of hours invested in trying to help countless individuals learn how to trade well, it finally got through my thick Anglo-Saxon skull that what many (most?) of my students really wanted was not to learn how to become truly financially independent, but to have someone available to think for them, tell them what to do, and hold their hand when things go wrong.
After years of joking about not wanting to become anyone’s guru, I had become a parody of my own worst fears: I had achieved my 15 minutes of guru status. I had become yet another receptacle into whom would-be successful traders could plug their trading umbilical.
And that’s when I fell… out of my chair. After experiencing this V-8 moment I realized I couldn’t do this any more, at least not for a long while.
The truth is that for the vast majority of traders and investors, trading and investing is a religion. That’s fine if you’re seeking wings, a harp and eternal freedom from margin calls. But it doesn’t work very well here on Earth where hope isn’t much of a strategy.
I suppose I’ll come back one day since I genuinely do enjoy helping others. But if and when I do I’ll require prospective students to take and pass a rigorous, multiple-choice exam to test, among other subjects, their understanding of human behavioral psychology and 6th grade mathematics.
Prospective students will be required to read “The True Believer” by Eric Hoffa, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness of Crowds” by Charles Mackay and “The Thinking Course” by Edward De Bono, and that’s just for starters. That should weed out 8-9 of every 10 applicants.
As for the remaining candidate, I won’t charge them a penny for their education. After they graduate from a prolonged period of boot camp demo trading where I yell, “You call that a price regression line? That’s not a price regression line. Get down and give me a dozen fib reversals!”, I’ll require them to open a $1,000 live account, trade it for both of us, and split the profits with me until they’ve either washed out and given up, or paid me a total of $10,000.
That approach might get me a dozen students at most. But at least they’d how to “be all they can be” and not rely on me to be all I can be, for them.
As for the future, I don’t plan to ever stop trading the Forex. It’s still the most fun you can have with your clothes on. And at my age, that’s a good thing.
Gordon Philips
Great response Gordon. You’ve always been a gentleman (perhaps too much so) which is indicative of the heart that you have, but there seem to be too many heartless folks out there who always want MORE!
Now you’ve taken the time for yourself and the GOAL funds, which I think is an admirable move. I think it’s too bad for traders out there. But at some point maybe that desire will come back – but as of now at least the CCT course is still available for traders to get a glimpse of your philosophy and approach.