I want to start this post by stating that I love my job and no it is not a professional forex trader. I am far from that. I am a lawyer, studied hard for it and beat the odds. I put myself through law school partially by working and partially through the help of my loving parents. My support network through my educational period has been superb and I could have not done it without all the help. I know many traders who started to trade forex because they hated their job, their boss, or lack of freedom. The forex market offers a great way out if you are willing to approach it the right way.

I love my job, so why did I start trading forex? The answer for me is simply. Now I am young and make a lot of money, much more than I spend. This is great as it allows me to put money on the side. I started to trade forex in order to plan for the future. I love being a lawyer right now, but I don’t want to be one for the rest of my life. I always wanted to retire when I turn 50 in order to focus the second part of my life on things other than work. Travel the world, live in different places and get involved in smaller projects I feel are important to my community.

Traditional retirement plans never attracted my attention and I don’t feel very comfortable to just hand my earnings over to a manger who will follow a strategy which is replicated by the majority. I do not want to head into retirement like the majority because it doesn’t look like they have a great time. My parents worked hard and invested smart which is why they now enjoy their retirement with trips around the world on their own yacht. I want something like that, the freedom to do as I please.

My parents always advised me to start early when it comes to preparing for the future, regardless how far it may seem right now. Since my very first salary I have started to put 25% away. I divide my capital in three different parts, one is reserved for the stock market, one is for gold, and one is for forex trading. I like to compare making money from investing and trading to cooking, and not only because I love to cook. Did you ever hear people refer to money as dough?

That’s because in order to make dough you need the right ingredients. Flour, yeast, water and a pinch of salt. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but if you don’t have all ingredients your dough will not turn out. It is not just the ingredients, but also the right recipe which you need to follow. Skipping a step or rushing one will also make sure that your dough will not turn out. The same is true for trading and investing, without the right ingredients and the proper recipe you can’t make money.

Just like you need four key ingredients to make dough, you need four key ingredients to become a successful forex trader. You need to have money in order to make money. This is like the flour in the dough recipe and equals the largest amount of your ingredients, it will form the base. Then you need plenty of patience as patience will make your money grow the same way yeast makes your dough grow. You will also need to at discipline into it which is like the salt and keeps everything together. Don’t forget the proper trading strategy which is the water.

As you see the ingredients to make money are very simple, but as always it is also important to get high quality ingredients. Low quality ingredients will return a bad dough just like low quality ingredients will usually yield losses. Following the recipe is very important. You can’t skip or substitute patience, your money will not grow. Rushing through a strategy, skipping parts or trading too much is also not going to have a positive impact. Those who love to cook know what happens when you don’t follow a recipe. The amount of money you wish to make depends on the amount of “flour” you want to use. Small deposits will return small profits. The larger the deposit, the larger the profits.

Now you also need a good bowl to mix your ingredients together and a good oven to bake. In forex trading both will be your broker. A solid broker will create the perfect environment for you to combine all money making ingredients and the end result will be profits. I trust PaxForex and have been making deposits there every month for the last five years. A very reliable broker with great trading conditions. Soon my account will exceed $250,000 and I keep making my “dough” there. I can only recommend that you start there and for those new to forex trading, they have a great “cooking class” to get your started!