Investor Profile

Armed With Knowledge, A New Investor Hits Her Stride.

With a little luck, and some hard-earned knowledge, a novice not only begins to learn the ins and outs of investing, but also finds a trading strategy that is helping her achieve her goals.

BY SHERI WALLACE | About a year ago, Tracy Simmons, 32, and her husband, Tom, 42, became totally debt free. Although they'd always been proponents of saving and investing, they had done little in that regard and were seriously worried about their retirement and their kids' college educations. Around that time - and as if by providence - they received some promotional materials from the Wade Cook organization that changed their focus from merely thinking about investing to acting on it.

Tracy is, by nature, a skeptic. She decided that before she and Tom were going to commit any real money, they needed some investment learning and experience. So she opened a paper account at Yahoo and made her husband trade with "fake" money for more than a month. She says, "This is some of the best advice I can give a new investor. Take advantage of the many online stock market games. Trade on paper while you're storing up enough capital to open an account. Yahoo gives members [a hypothetical] $100,000 to trade each month, and gives prizes to the top producers. It is simply amazing to see people turn $100,000 into a million dollars in 30 days. There is no risk at all."