In a culture that celebrates long working hours almost as a badge of status, it’s not surprising that so many people eagerly look forward to their retirement years.

These participants in the proverbial rat race fervently hope that during retirement they’ll finally have the freedom to do the things they’ve always wanted to do.

Unfortunately, recent studies suggest that most Americans don’t have enough money saved to fund even the most modest retirement lifestyle, let alone the warm, sunny winters and exotic vacations they’ve always dreamed of enjoying during their golden years.

For these people, the reality of retirement on an inadequate income can quickly make a mockery of their most cherished hopes.

Until recently, the outlook was bleak. There were few, if any, opportunities for retirees to increase their incomes or accumulate additional funds to live a freer, more affluent retirement.

In the past, starting a new, more lucrative career could take years, even if they managed to find a job. The same was true if they wanted to start a new business from scratch.

Stock Trading as a Retirement Side Hustle

Fortunately, with the advent of the internet, everything has changed. Low- cost online brokerages have put the lucrative opportunity of stock trading within reach of almost everyone.

Every day increasing numbers of retirees like Joseph Siegfried of Fort Myers, Florida, are turning to trading as a way of funding their “bucket list” ambitions. They also want to be in a position to help loved ones or simply feel a bit more secure in their golden years.

As a stock trader, you can make a little extra money or aim for a level of wealth you could never have aspired to during your regular career.

There are virtually no limits beyond those imposed by your ambition, your appetite for learning, and your capacity for challenging but enjoyable work.

That said, the markets can nevertheless present a daunting outlook to the rank beginner. And this can be a significant hurdle for people wanting to get started with a minimum of risk.

“Jeff Bishop seemed more transparent than most other trading mentors. Plus, I liked his teaching style.”

Getting Started In The Markets

Counter-intuitively, perhaps, the solution for Joseph and many others like him has been found in trading options.

Indeed, options have traditionally been regarded as too risky for beginning traders, those with little capital, or people on fixed incomes. So all but the very wealthiest retirees have typically been warned away because they have neither the time nor the income potential to recover from the potentially substantial losses they could be exposed to.

In truth, though, provided they have the right information and guidance, and they follow the rules of sound risk management, there are good reasons for seeing options as an excellent way for new traders to get started.

The Advantages of Trading Options

Firstly, it costs far less to trade in options than to acquire the underlying share of stock. With options, small-account traders can take positions in stocks they wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. And in doing so, place a far lower proportion of their trading capital at risk.

This may not matter so much for younger traders, who have plenty of time to recover from a blown-up account, but it’s of vital importance for retirees like Joseph, whose overriding priority must be to do nothing that might irreversibly damage their financial stability.

Secondly, the very volatility of options, which gave them their reputation for being high-risk instruments, also means that they can deliver very significant profits in a very short time.

Double and even triple-digit percentage wins are not uncommon, and these rates of return are rarely, if ever, achievable by trading stocks themselves.

Approached correctly, as many Total Alpha members have found, trading options can be an excellent strategy for growing a small account quickly and safely.

Finally, as traders gain in skills and experience, it becomes possible to profit from options in market conditions that make trading difficult for holders of underlying stocks.

Bull, Bear, and stagnant markets can all provide lucrative opportunities for alert traders, and the astute use of options also offers a valuable hedge against losses.

“Being able to see Jeff’s live trading account with Total Alpha is fantastic. If things continue as they are, this program will enable me to do a lot more things on my bucket list’.”

The Vital Need For Training and Education

But none of this means that options trading is a walk in the park, or that it can be attempted successfully without a preliminary period of intense learning and practice.

Just as you would not buy a stock unless it showed clear profit potential by meeting the criteria established in your trading plan, so you should you not buy an option without subjecting it to the same rigorous cross-examination.

Nor should you buy without first ensuring that the trade can be executed safely within your own pre-established risk management rules.

Learning to do this quickly and accurately under the pressure of live market conditions takes time and practice.

Although it’s possible, albeit potentially expensive and demoralizing, to do this on your own, it’s far better to invest in first-rate trading education and the guidance of an experienced mentor. It was that realization that led Joseph, after some disappointing early results, to Jeff Bishop and Total Alpha.

“I caught Jeff’s options call play on VFC last week, and made a 325% profit on 10 call options in three days. What a way to start! It was my best trade ever!”

Scoring a 325% Options Win During His First Week

The clarity of Jeff’s teaching methods and the quality of the learning materials he provides made an immediate impact on Joseph’s trading, helping him to bank a triple-digit win in his very first week.

“I caught Jeff’s options call play on VFC [V.F. Corporation] last week,” Joseph recalls happily, “and I made a 325% profit on 10 call options in three days. What a way to start! It was my best trade ever!”

Of course, many people would dismiss such a win as mere “beginner’s luck,” and if they were talking about a less-motivated and less-focused individual, there could be some validity to their statement.

However, Joseph is well aware that it’s still early in the game, and his growing enthusiasm for the mentoring he’s receiving from Jeff Bishop suggests that he has one of the key psychological factors for success.

That’s to say, he has a passion for learning the process of trading rather than being consumed by the pursuit of financial goals. “The learning tools available are priceless, he explains, “And being able to see Jeff’s live trading account with Total Alpha is fantastic! If things continue as they are, this program will enable me to do a lot more things on my bucket list’.”

Specific list items aside, Joseph’s overall goal is to enjoy a retirement free of money worries, and his focus on process seems to have him well-placed to do precisely that.

Most people living in wealthy countries would agree that we’re living in an age of infinite choices.

Rather than having a limited set of options, with the rapid growth of technology, many people find themselves facing what is commonly known as “choice paralysis.”

Choice paralysis means that you have access to so many alternatives you can’t decide which one to choose, and consequently, you avoid making a choice altogether.

And then there’s the other extreme: There are those people who hop from opportunity to opportunity, never committing to stick with a particular option long enough to see a clear return on investment.

Many traders who are just starting, tend to fall into one of these two camps. But it should come as no secret if you want to be successful at stock trading, or any endeavor, you need to find, and stay on, a proven path to profits.

Granted. Although trading success depends on what Kyle Dennis frequently calls “laser focus,” it generally takes some trial and error to find the right path.

The Ins and Outs Of Stock Trading Programs

Chip Conway, a retiree from Atlanta, Georgia, took a rather enthusiastic approach to find the right stock trading service.

Many wannabe traders quit after trying a couple of training programs that don’t fit the bill immediately. Others may “test drive” three, four, or five programs and then give up their search without ever finding the right fit for them.

And then there’s Chip, who personally tested thirty (30) different trading services before he discovered RagingBull. While we don’t recommend testing that many programs, Chip has learned firsthand the ins and outs of what the right stock trading program should offer.

Before calling RagingBull home, Chip tried and canceled lots of memberships. As he puts it, “I tried about 30 different trading groups until I found RagingBull. I usually joined them and then got a refund before the 30 days were up.”

To most people, test-driving thirty different services may seem excessive. But as a rank beginner, Chip knew he’d not only be risking the cost of the program, he’d also be risking his time and capital, along with the opportunity cost of missing out on potentially more significant gains with another trading service.

“I tried 30 different trading groups until I found RagingBull. I usually joined them and then got a refund before the thirty days were up.” Chip Conway

Finding The Right Fit

For this retiree living on Lake Oconee, a community on the outskirts of Atlanta, the prospect of risking his hard-earned retirement savings was just too important to trust anyone else.

Chip says that during an especially “boring winter” at the lake, he got the idea to start trading stocks at home. However, it took him about six months to find and settle on the right training and support team.

Unlike people still working at day jobs, Chip was fortunate to have plenty of free time to research various training options. What made RagingBull’s programs such an easy choice was their simplicity and proven methodology.

His main challenge was finding a system that would be easy-to-learn, but he also wanted to teach his grown children to trade, so they could earn some side income and grow their nest eggs. Like many beginners, Chip had a hard time staying focused.

He also found that many of the non-RagingBull programs he tried in the past were confusing and full of random, inconsistent advice.

To his good fortune, after learning the basics from RagingBull’s team of expert mentors, Chip has developed more focus. Staying focused helps him execute trades faster and with greater precision.

After attending dozens of webinars and reading lots of books on stock and options trading, Chip learned that the key to success is working closely with his mentors, so he can remain consistently profitable and make fewer mistakes.

As he puts it, “Once I found RagingBull, I knew I had the right group of people with the same goals as me. People who were interested in my success as a trader.”

Although a big benefit of joining RagingBull is having the opportunity to work with several trainers and try out their stock picks, Chip learned from Kyle Dennis, (one of his favorites),  that staying ‘laser focused’ is the secret to trading success.

For example, he recently locked in a nice profit with ROKU, one of Kyle’s recommendations. Chip closed this trade with an easy 115% gain. Although he knew he could have scored an even more impressive win, he chose to stay focused and exit the trade when it hit the 100% mark.

Chip also follows Trade of the Day with Davis Martin and says, “Davis is rarely wrong on his trades. I consistently make profits with this morning trade!”

“I trade it every day after watching his morning video and read his detail on the actual trade,” he adds.

In addition to following the guidance of his mentors, Chip plans to interact more with the RagingBull trading community. This way, he can learn as much as possible about the art and science of trading.

When asked about the responsiveness of RagingBull’s team, Chip happily told us, “All my questions are answered, and I don’t feel foolish asking them. So far, it has been the best experience for trading options, and I continue to learn every time I’m in the chat room.”

“Once I found RagingBull, I knew I had the right group of people with the same goals as me. People who were interested in my success as a trader.” Chip Conway

Actionable Insights For New Traders

Based on what he has learned from personal experience, here’s what Chip recommends to traders who are new to the game:

– Start at the beginning and learn the basics first.

– Learn how to create a watch list.

– Learn the basics of the indicators

– Learn a few market-tested strategies that you can understand completely.

– Paper trade before you start risking real money.

– Choose a mentor whose approach resonates with your personality, goals, and risk tolerance.

– Learn from the lead trader, but also observe what other traders in the chat room are doing.

– Follow Kyle Dennis’s advice and stay “laser-focused” while learning the fundamentals.

– Protect your trading capital by setting stops and goals for your trades.

– Don’t over trade. Managing too many trades effectively can get tricky.

– Review the RagingBull training materials, start slowly, learn the basics by heart

– Make sure you enjoy the ride 🙂

Chip also recommends that you actively participate in one or more of RagingBull’s online communities. As he puts it, “It seems as if I learn something every day. Between the chat rooms, the education, and the webinars, there’s so much information.”

“My best trade recently was ROKU, where I closed the trade at +115%. I know I could have had more success, but I tried to get out once I hit my 100% goal.” Chip Conway