May 2007 - 1 Year Evaluation

It has been one year now since I read SOGR and started setting my goals, so now is the time to evaluate my success or......

My main goal was the forex one, to increase my trading account by an average of 10% a month in order to progress toward the ultimate goal of a $100k trading balance, and the opportunity to quit my day job and make a living as a full-time trader.

I have been disappointed in my results the last 2 months so I have not been feeling very good about this one-year evaluation.

But, in trying to look objectively at my results, I see that I really do have a lot to be proud of.

Overall increase in trading account from May 1, 2006 resulting from interest and capital gains - 99%. An increase of 99% in a year is about 6% a month compounded.

Am I happy with that?

Yes and no.

It's not what I had hoped to achieve, but on the other hand, when I set that goal of 10% a month, it was rather arbitrary and I didnt have a sufficient track record upon which to base my expectations.

Also, my 10% a month was supposed to be composed of both forex gains and HYIP gains. And as you have probably figured, if you have kept up with my blog over the past year, that I have pulled just about everything I can *out* of any HYIP I was in, with a couple of exceptions, and that money I did put into my forex account. That probably added up to another 20-30% increase in the account. (Hard to know for sure because I did put money into the account periodically and didnt keep very good track of where it came from....)

So overall, I am concluding that I am being far too harsh with myself.

My forex education has made huge leaps forward this year, my economics knowledge has increased exponentially.....

I have decided to give myself a congratulatory pat-on-the-back, and resolve to continue my current fairly-successful trading, as well as working hard to improve my strategies and develop new ones.

At 10% a month compounding (which is still the goal), my current "retirement" date is now May 1, 2009.