The Equilibrium, Training the Money Mindset

By Kenneth Kam

Currency trading is a lucrative market. However, Forex is not for everyone. Without the tools to overcome fear, uncertainty and addiction, it might prove to be a completely disastrous journey that could lead you to hit rock bottom, instead of pulling you out of it. "Successful trading requires 10 per cent skill, 10 per cent luck and 80 per cent mindset." says author and millionaire trader, Kenneth Kam. Kenneth adheres to this notion completely and in this book, he places deep emphasis on taking a calm, disciplined and focused approach to the markets. He also paints a clear picture on how to tune your self-management skills while succeeding at risk management.

The Equilibrium charts Kenneth's unique Forex journey and explains how mindset, determination and strategy play important roles. Also included are his valuable life lessons as he shows you how to avoid life's curveballs and helps you shape a better future. "After reading my book, I want my readers to exponentially increase their ability to acquire wealth as traders. If they don't choose to be traders, the lessons learnt will also come in handy for any other business ventures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Sep 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9789811149009

Book preview

DIAMONDS

INTRODUCTION

WELCOME TO MY LIFE

I’m just an ordinary man.

Born to strict Asian parents to whom academic success meant a great deal, I grew up in a little home with no fancy decor or silver spoons. But what I had, was a vision.

KENNETH KAM

Reminiscing on my life’s journey, it seems like it truly began with my failed attempt at attaining a Diploma in Electrical Engineering at the Singapore Polytechnic. I had easily obtained an A+ in Mathematics and a Distinction in Computer Programming. In fact, I had mastered some topics so well that I could tutor a fellow student who failed in FORTRAN programming, to get a Grade A overnight. On the other hand, if I disliked a subject, I would become as absorbent as a stone. Nothing would go in. It was as if I secretly wanted to fail. Little did I know that my aptitude for numbers and programming were being cultivated in my cognitive concepts, to nurture me for my future in trading.

Although many traders are formidably good at mathematics, not all mathematicians will make good traders. There is one skill that makes me proficient at my game: the fact that I’m a really good gamer. I can go up to three days without proper meals to attain my goal. That gaming stamina, coupled with discipline and the drive to win, allows me to sit at the trading counter with a watchful eagle eye today; to click and wait interminably for one opportune moment after another.

When I served National Service in the Singapore Armed Forces, I was still a young boy filled with many fallacious dreams. The two years I spent in that green uniform turned out to be a completely enriching journey of self-discovery. Bestowed with a low rank of a storeman (a person who handles supplies), I learnt to endure, be humble, patient, independent and resourceful.

Most importantly, I learnt how to build and maintain relationships. My increasingly attuned social skills gave me the impetus to do what I did after my ORD (Operationally Ready Date, marks the end of National Service) – I joined an insurance company and was the top achiever for seven months consecutively. I achieved this by simply targeting the ‘auntie’¹ market. I was presenting the dollar-a-day endowment policy – and they loved pinching my cheeks! Those were the good old days... when I had round, chubby cheeks.

After insurance, I worked as a sales representative for a private computer school, marketing a three-in-one Windows package that I designed, where students signed up to learn how to use Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint in one month. It proved to be a popular scheme and my sales numbers went through the roof; that’s when I met my ex-wife. I was this young, charming chap full of confidence, and she was this beautiful foreign student from the Philippines. I fell head over heels during my stint there. After we tied the knot, I decided to go into real estate. I did pretty well focusing on expatriate relocation. By the year 1996, I had accumulated enough savings to buy a second-hand Jaguar XJ6, equipped with a six-litre tank that guzzled petrol. It was great for chauffeuring my clients around. Just then, the Asian Financial Crisis² hit. Singapore witnessed sluggish economic movement, which led to unfavourable conditions for the expatriate market. In all this turmoil, I lost my Jaguar too.

It was a setback; but I was determined to make a comeback. With the advent of the Internet, I started a dot-com company called ProvisionShop Pte Ltd. Its aim was to sell ‘wholesale’ to retailers and to facilitate their business processes, including restructuring, retail clustering and shared services. Excited with my new venture, I was all set to regain that high-achieving status. The world around me collapsed again when the SARS³ outbreak occurred in 2003 and the dot-com bubble burst. I was left numb. I went from being a high-profile, enterprising CEO to a mediocre individual desperately searching for a job. Somehow, I ended up soul-searching for an entire year after that.

After sending countless job applications, my pride took a powerful blow when I was either rejected with no reply or declared overqualified. Just when I was about to give up, I finally landed a position as Group Marketing Manager with the Maracana Group. My job scope included overseeing Le Baroque (a restaurant at CHIJMES⁴), the La Cave Wine Bar and a Thai fusion restaurant, Table 108. Times were getting better. Blending my creative and innovative marketing tactics with the good people skills that I had accumulated over the years, I won the Best Restaurant Awards three times from the Singapore Tatler magazine in 2008. After local veteran rocker Douglas Oliveiro⁵ left the band Energy, I was given the opportunity to be his artist manager. I aced that too. I began to smile again. My life was finally getting back on track – but the late and long nights had begun taking a toll on my marriage and health. My wife and I had begun arguing over trivial matters. The fairytale love we once shared had started dwindling over time. After two years, I decided to leave and took up some consulting work before I landed my next job at Stanley Black & Decker.

This fragment became one of the highlights of my working career. I was managing more than USD1 million in advertising budget and had free rein to create events and design promotional campaigns. The footprint I left at Stanley Black & Decker was so large that the website I built for them is still in use and I’m still the face of their corporate video (http://sea.stanleyblackanddecker.com/about-us) as the Marketing Communications Manager! About three years later, I was headhunted by Pacific Healthcare after they saw me speak at a conference about a cabinet system for hospitals. Separated from my wife by then, I welcomed change.

Working as their Group Marketing Manager in Paragon, smack in the middle of Orchard Road, led to a less-than-ideal lifestyle of fine dining and flamboyant party scenes. So when I was offered a job in Papua New Guinea as the general manager of a wholesale company distributing rice and provisions in the archipelago, I jumped at the opportunity, applied for a visa, terminated the lease on my condominium, and flew there. Suffice to say that I was in for a huge culture shock! There were safety issues just being chauffeured from the airport to the fortress-like warehouse. On my first night there, I heard a man being robbed and stabbed in the shanty town approximately three fences from my house. My mind began to run amok. Hearing that man in such pain changed my life forever. I wanted to go help him... but the thought of both of us dying was scaring the life out of me already. I wanted to wait until it was quiet to go help him but I heard a commotion, so I knew he was being tended to. I began to question my life’s worth, and asked myself if I was living up to capacity.

The truth was, I needed to get a grip on my own life, to get past my loneliness, and to find something to do that I felt passionate about. The next morning, I gave my boss a lame excuse and flew back to Singapore to gather my thoughts and engage in some reflection.

I had gone through enough to know that I was