The Kirk Report

Happy Birthday Mom!

I'm spending the week with Mom here in Utah to celebrate her 70th birthday!

If you've never been to Zion, it is a wonderful place to go during your summer travels!

Memorial Day

In memory of my late father who served honorably in Vietnam...

I would like to send a thank you to all those who gave their lives in service of our country.

I'm Back

I have finally returned after a two-week vacation!

To read more about what I've been up to these past couple of weeks, please login.

Later in the week I'll update this page with a free report for both members and non-members to enjoy. It's great to be back!

Goals For 2010

Since the start of the year, I have shared several reports that focus primarily on looking back for perspective and for help as we start the new year. But from now on, we will shift our focus where it really needs to be - the future and what it is really going to take for us to reach the goals we've set for ourselves.

In the membership survey I asked the following: "What are three of your most important goals for 2010?" I received hundreds of ideas many of them were truly inspiring. But, unfortunately not all. In fact, some of the goals I think required a bit more thought. Some examples include:

• Eliminate emotion: Markets are emotional and so are you when you have your money on the line. The good news is that you can train yourself to use your emotions as an asset. Skilled traders and investors learn to recognize when and how their decisions are dominated by fear and greed and adjust accordingly. You will never get rid of emotion and your goal should not be to remove it. Instead, learn to recognize when you're making emotional-based decisions AND then take steps to control and modify the behavior.

• Not lose money: Losing money is not the issue. When taking risk, you are going to lose sometimes. In fact, you may even lose frequently. The key, however, is to win more than you lose and to lose less when you're wrong. At the same time you must learn how to make more money when you're right. Money management skills such as proper position sizing, only trading low/risk high/reward setups per your strategy, and utilizing preset stops based on ATR to prevent large-scale losses will help you achieve more success.

• Work harder: For some of you, this is a big issue. You spend your time looking for hot tips and easy answers without putting any concentrated effort into your trading and investing. But, for many who read The Kirk Report, this is not always the problem. Instead, it is being focused enough to develop a strategy that suits your personality which takes full advantage of your skills is not to be underestimated. If you're going to work harder, that's where you need to devote your time and energy in 2010.

• Be patient: Your personality simply may prevent this no matter how you may want to change it. Some people are more patient than others by design. The important thing is to structure your strategy according and adopt a method that take this into account. Some trading and investing methods require more patience than others. That said, if you desire more patience, a goal to perhaps set for yourself is to design a set of rules and checklists that will help you approach your strategy in a more consistent manner. People become more impatient when they don't have rules to follow and are simply trading and investing with no plan. In addition, I've personally found that incorporating daily meditation and intense physical exercise in the daily routine helps me be much more patient than others as unhelpful uncontrolled energy is spent in a more productive manner that helps me focus and think more clearly.

• Consistent positive returns: The market is inconsistent and your returns will be inconsistent. Unless you are Goldman Sachs or have an edge no one else on Earth has been able to discover yet, your returns will be correlated to market conditions and that means there will be some level of inconsistency. Expect that, prepare for it, and trade accordingly. Our goals should never be tied to seeking "the holy grail" but simply producing above average market performance as consistently as possible within the risks that we find acceptable and within the time frame that is appropriate for us.

• Make 5% a day irrespective to market conditions: Good luck! We are all subject to market conditions and the best traders will understand that you will often make 90% of your money in 10% of the time you spend. The market will go through periods of not offering many good setups and you've got to be patient when that happens. At the same time, preparation and being ready for opportunity is equally important. In my experience, the trader that will be wiped out the fastest is one that will set daily goals so high that requires such risk and leverage that they blow themselves up in the process. Setting a goal to make 5% of a day is a good way to go down that well-traveled road to failure. Resist the urge to structure your goal system to performance goals that require super human behavior because you're not super human.

Remember, your goals need to be as specific as possible with a detailed plan of action to achieve them shared with someone who will hold you accountable. Do that, and you'll provide yourself a good chance of reaching whatever it is you wish to accomplish this year.

Also, in addition to creating flow charts as I have talked about before, you may find these free goals tracker worksheets quite helpful in 2010. I use these same worksheets in my mentorship program and you'll may find it helpful as well to manage and track your progress this year. We also use a nifty service called Toodledo.

Good luck to everyone and their goals whatever they may be in 2010!

An Old Irish Blessing

Here's to the bright New Year

And a fond farewell to the old;

Here's to the things that are yet to come

And to the memories that we hold.

May God be with you and bless you.

May the best of this year be the worst of the next.

May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings.

May you know nothing but happiness.

From this day forward.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I hope the holidays are going well for you and your family. In my absence, the market sure seems to be showing some holiday spirit!

We're finally back home today from our Christmas travels. It was an especially enjoyable time this year as our flights were smooth, on-time, and the weather was cooperative. In addition, my Aunt Nancy made it an especially good time with the best food and hospitality that I can ever remember. It was such a nice trip and time with family!

In addition to celebrating the new year this week, I will be starting to review the member surveys and preparing year-end taxes among other things. But, as promised, I'll be back at the trading desk on early Monday morning to start off the new year.

See you then!

Risk vs Reward

Although always in the forefront of my mind as a trader, I've been thinking about this topic a little more recently than normal.

As some of you may have heard, we had a highly-publicized tragedy here in Utah after a young man, John Jones who is pictured above with his child, got trapped and died in a small cave. As an outdoor enthusiast who has taken his own fair share of risks from time to time, whenever you hear stories like that it certainly makes you think if the fun we have is worth the risks we take. My sincere thoughts go out to John's family during this most difficult time.

As traders, we all tend to frame everything we do in terms of risk versus reward. At least I do and, the older I become, the more hesitant I am to take risks that involve life and limb. The opposite has become true with my trading. I'm far more likely to take risks now that I wouldn't have in the past because I've learned to control fear and properly evaluate the risks I take in the way that I'm never in too great of danger. Needless to say, the good thing about the market versus cave spelunking for example is that no matter how poorly you may do or how many stupid mistakes you make (and I've made more than my fair share), at least your life is not hanging in the balance. Even though I'm sure some of you think it does and frankly take this game far too seriously, the day I do that I'll pack my bags and move onto to other adventures.

Speaking of which, earlier this week I received a number of complaints after I said the following: "If you're not having fun out there, you're doing it wrong!" The fact is that I have a lot of fun every day and I think that's one of the main reasons I'm really good at what I do. For good or for ill, I truly enjoy the daily battle and challenging myself against the best traders in the world in every trade I make. The other day my wife came home and said "Boy - you're certainly in a good mood! Did you make a lot of money today?" The fact was that the day she asked me that it was one of the worst trading days performance wise that I've had in many months, but she couldn't tell it and that pleased me.

I've learned over the years especially working with other traders one-on-one through my mentorship group that many are not built that way and don't find trading and investing fun. But, I do sincerely believe that if you don't find investing and trading enjoyable, there is no reason to spend a moment any longer wasting your time. Instead, find an endeavor that makes you excited and fulfills you. Life is too short for anything less than that and unless you enjoy what you do, I don't think you'll ever be truly successful. All of us have our own gifts and talents and one of the most important things is finding what those are and then putting them to good use.

In the end, the risks you take need to be really worth it, and that calculation has a lot more to do with quality of life than it is about making more money in the markets.

It's Always Time For Thanksgiving

In a break away from annual tradition, I have decided to spare all of you from my Thanksgiving list of things I'm most thankful for in 2009. (If you didn't read it, last year's list can be found here).

The truth is that any of us involved in the markets, who have roofs over our heads, money in our pockets, and are healthy enough to enjoy the fruits of our labor have plenty to be thankful for on a daily basis, not just tomorrow. There's not a single day that goes by that I don't consider myself one of the luckiest people on Earth to be doing something I truly love, making more money than I could ever spend (or even want to) and helping others achieve their own financial goals in the process. For me, I live my dream daily and never forget how blessed I truly am.

As you know, there are a lot of people having a tough go of things these days and for those of us as fortunate we owe it to ourselves and others to reach out any help in some way. Every one of us knows someone having a tough time out there, so my recommendation for you is to simply find some way to help them in some way this season. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be a grand gesture or huge sacrifice for you and your wallet. In fact, in many cases it will only require a simple phone call to let them know you care and are there to help them in some way. As the saying goes, it is the little things that are important in life. Understand that and you'll discover one of the true secrets of being successful and living a happy life.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Veteran's Day

When visiting my mother in Ohio a few weeks ago, she brought out some old photos that I hadn't seen for many years including the following one of my father shown in a newspaper clipping back in January of 1968:

My father was drafted to the army for the Vietnam War and served honorably on the front lines, something I've always been proud of.

While Dad is no longer with us (he passed away back in 1999 due to Diabetes contracted from the use of Agent Orange), our family understands and truly appreciates the service so many men and women have provided and continue to serve for our country. A sincere word of thanks goes to all of who you have today. This is your day and you deserve it!

This Just In

It is sure nice to receive feedback like this:

Remember, if you're reading this and not the members' only website, you're missing out on a lot of great stuff. Only $50 per year!