Anyone who has watched any late night TV recently cannot have failed to have noticed the many commercials trying to sell you on a series of trading seminars which promise will change your life and make you rich.

There are several questions that need to answered for anyone who is even remotely thinking of attending one of these seminars, in this article I’m going to attempt to at least point out a few of the pitfalls and help guide you to making a more informed buying decision.

There are quite a few companies that got into the trading seminar business recently, at least in the last 5 years. This has been fuelled by the meltdown of the market during 2000-2003 which has led many investors and traders want to self direct and manage their own money. The less attractive option is leaving it in the hands of an often less than competent fund manger, who may not have your best interests at heart.

Some of the companies that that advertise extensively on late night TV are Investools, Optionetics, Bettertrades and Star Trader. I’m very familiar with these companies as I’ve attended the free warm up selling seminar for all of them, and actually bought and attended seminars from 3.

The purpose of the infomercial is to get you excited about trading enough for you to take the trouble to attend their free warm up seminar at a local hotel. At the hotel expect to get a little more free trading infomation, and a lot more selling of the seminar. These sessions can last from 45 mins to a couple of hours and will try and get you to open the cheque book and sign up on the spot.

From my experiance you will 1st be given an inflated price for the seminar which will then be cut dramatically if you sign up on the spot, so be prepared to be tempted by this. Most of these seminars come with a set of DVD’s and a manual which enable you to study the material before attending the live seminar.

If you do sign up at one of these free seminars here are a few points to consider:

1. Make sure that there is a good refund policy that comes with the package. You should get at least 2 weeks to evaluate the training material that you are given. In addition check what the policy is regards to attending the seminar and then asking for a refund. Sometimes you can only stay until noon on the 1st day, or only the 1st day, before you must ask for a refund if not satisfied. If you wait too long you may lose your right to a refund.

2. If you are allowed to bring a 2nd person to the seminar at no extra cost, then take advantage of this. It is very valuable to have a 2nd opinion about the merits of a seminar since it will be an expensive investment. If you are not allowed a 2nd person it may not be a good deal.

3. There are all kinds of promotions going on for these seminars, make sure that you are paying the lowest possible price for your seat. Don’t end up finding out that the person next to you in the seminar got it at a much lower price, just like airline pricing.

4. If you are new to trading you may not be exactly sure what you need to learn, and it can be quite confusing. Make sure that the seminar that you are taking is on the right subject matter. A basic stocks course will not cover anything on options and visa versa, and a forex course will not cover either etc.

Here is something that you need to know, this is very important. All these seminar companies are not going to teach you everything you need to know about trading at one seminar, even if it cost $4K. They all have follow on seminars and courses, and they pretty quickly start to tell you that the seminar you have just attended and paid for is just the basic course and if you really want to be a trader you must buy the other more advanced seminars.

Expect a hard sell for the follow on seminars from some of these companies. The sales pitch is usually well practised and hard to resist so be prepared and don’t act on impulse.

If you buy any follow on seminars they are very unlikley to come with an extended refund period other than the minimum 3 days cooling off period set by some states. This is an important point to consider if you are buying a number of seminars that will run over a number of years.

Last 5 posts by Investment Education Staff

• LEAP Options - November 16th, 2009
• Berlin Property - Invest in the Capital of Europe - November 16th, 2009
• Ways to Invest in Oil and Gas - November 14th, 2009
• Trading With Point And Figure Charts (Part I) - November 11th, 2009
• Is Your Real Estate Agent Knowledgeable? - November 11th, 2009