You Can Be Skeptical Of Forex All You Want!

You can be skeptical of Forex all you want…

"It won't change the fact that what this does works"!

With these words...a friend of mine, Mark, rattled my investment mind set and opened up a whole new chapter in my career.

You see, almost ten years ago, I was one of the millions of people that only knew about and invested in "traditional" markets. I was working for a big company, had my 401K, some stocks I "played" with on the side, a couple of CD's, an IRA that I had set up and some investment real estate. I thought I was fairly "diversified" and was a pretty savvy investor. It wasn't until Mark informed me over lunch that I was
like the rest of the "herd" that invested out of habit and lack of knowledge. By the way, that just told me that I was NOT picking up the check for lunch...thank you!

Anyway…as he went on he challenged me with this question..."what do you see and hear about all day long on the news and business channels"? After a bit of silence and some mental "replays" of a typical day of radio, TV, financial publications and the like...I blurted out..."how the stock and bond markets were doing...a bit about the real estate markets...some overseas news...and interest rate numbers"...

Mark smiled and then asked…” when your broker calls...or you call him because it's been awhile since you heard from him...what are the offerings he presents for your review?" Well....I had to think about that for a moment! And after what seemed like a "skip" in time...I finally answered…“he recommended a mutual fund that invested in overseas companies...a couple of ‘new’ small cap stocks...and mentioned a real estate play with a REIT....all as a way to better diversify my portfolio". With that Mark leaned back into his deep leather chair and asked...."and did he mention what is virtually the largest market in the world?"

I sat there a bit bewildered...trying to figure out what the heck mark was talking about....Options? Futures?

Finally…a bit perturbed I said, “I don’t know…tell me what I’m missing here...!”

Mark then got that…ok…I’m gonna let you off the hook...look on his face…leaned
forward as if to whisper a secret and simply said one word…“FOREX”.

You could almost hear a little ‘all knowingness’ in his voice as he said “Forex” and a youthful eagerness in his pace as he went on to explain how the Forex market was arguably the largest market in the world averaging over $4 Trillion a day in volume (4-5 times larger than all the US equity markets combined), and traded 24 hours a day following the sun around the globe. He continued with, “Forex,also known as FX, 4X, had doubled in size in the last 6 or so years as more and more investors as CNN and CNBC put it, “are flocking to the Forex market in droves”.

Mark then said that the reason he got involved with Forex was, “the complete transparency of the market as well as the liquidity of the market and his funds”.

As we finished our time together he suggested that as a serious investor I should look more closely at Forex and do my homework.

Well, as you should have guessed by now, I took his advice and vigorously pursued all the information I could regarding Forex. It was that research and due diligence that lead me to my involvement with Forex, it also resulted in my starting my own Forex firm.

Now I’m not suggesting that everyone should get involved and start their own firm (although it has been known to happen). What I am suggesting is that any savvy investor looking for more opportunity and an alternative to the traditional market offerings, would be well served by looking more closely at Forex as a true portfolio diversifier.