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Charity

$1 Million Karmagawa Yemen Donation at Work

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Written by Timothy Sykes
Updated 2/18/2021 14 min read

I couldn’t have done it without you. In large part thanks to your generous donations, I was able to make a $1 million Karmagawa Yemen donation in 2020.

The situation in Yemen continues to be dire — learn more in this blog post. It’s my honor to be able to assist the children and people in need in this war-torn country.

In a developing country like Yemen, $1 million can go a long way in terms of improving people’s quality of life. So far, our donation has directly assisted over 30,000 people. 

I’m committed to full transparency as a trader and teacher … That goes for my charitable donations too. Let’s take a look at the Karmagawa Yemen donation and how the funds are being put to work…

 

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The Power of Social Media

When I first posted about my intention to make a Karmagawa Yemen donation, the initial goal was to raise $200K.

I was completely floored by the response. Within 12 hours, we received $95K in donations.

So we raised the goal and you kept donating…

Between your donations, Karmagawa donations, and my personal donation of about $370K from my June and July 2020 trading profits*, we were able to donate a total of $1 million.

The story went viral … It was even featured in the New York Post.

It just goes to show the power of social media. I recognize that it’s a privilege to have this sort of influence, and I’m committed to using it for good.

It Pays to Be Transparent

As a trader, I’m fully transparent — I share every trade publicly. I’m open about my position sizes and share commentary on both my wins and my losses.

I’m also fully transparent about my motivation as a trader. I trade to teach, and I donate all of my trading profits to charity.

I didn’t always teach and trade this way — it’s been an evolution. I started trading 20+ years ago with about $12K of bar mitzvah money. As of February 2021, I’ve turned it into over $6.6 million.*

Wanna know more? You can read more about my trading journey in my autobiography, “An American Hedge Fund.”

(*While I’ve enjoyed remarkable success trading stocks over the years, earning over $6 million in trading profits over the past 20 years, my primary income comes from the sale of financial education products and subscription services offered by various businesses and websites in which I have an ownership stake.)

Changing Priorities

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Over the years, my priorities as a trader and human being have changed.

I grew up in a middle-class town in Connecticut. When I first started trading, I wanted to become rich. I wanted a better life.

When I started making money, I saw it as my chance to live out my childhood dreams. So I did things like buying fancy cars.

I love that I got to do that … I love that I was able to buy my parents their dream home, too.

But as time went on, acquiring things had diminishing returns.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t turn into a saint or anything. I like treating myself, traveling, eating well … In fact, in a recent roundtable Trading Challenge webinar, I talk about how I’ve been indulging in flan and churros with newly-minted millionaire trader and Trading Challenge moderator Matthew Monaco.**

I have enough money to take care of myself. I’m financially secure.*

Now, I want to give back to others. That’s what inspires me.

I want to live by example. That’s why I trade and teach. I want to help others get the life they want … And hopefully, follow my example by giving back like this student.

(**Please note that Matthew’s trading results are not typical. Most traders lose money. It took Matthew years of dedication, hard work, and discipline to learn how to trade. Individual results will vary. Trading is inherently risky. Before making any trades, remember to do your due diligence and never risk more than you can afford to lose.)

Our Karmagawa Yemen Donation at Work

It’s my honor to donate and help make the world a better place. I’m proud that I can be part of helping save the children in Yemen.

As of late 2020, over $500K had been donated to Partners Relief & Development.

As you can see in this tweet, it’s been allocated to all sorts of things like shelter, meals, food baskets, blankets, and school supplies like backpacks and uniforms to help children get back to school.

What I love about working with a charity like this is that they have people on the ground in Yemen. They’re small enough to be nimble and operate in this war-torn country, but established enough to have a wide reach.

So far, the Karmagawa Yemen donation has directly assisted over 30,000 people.

Continuing to Give Back

I’m proud of what the Karmagawa Yemen donation has done so far…

But there’s still so much to be done.

Along with Karmagawa, I’ve also helped raise money to assist people in Beirut, Lebanon … I’ve also helped raise more than $100K for more schools and relief in Bali, Indonesia … And helped raise funds to assist in oil spill cleanup efforts in Mauritius.

 

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I’ve got projects in the U.S., too.

I recently donated $100K to the Houston Food Bank

 

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Thanks to the efforts of my friend and SteadyTrade Team lead trainer Tim Bohen from StocksToTrade, I also made a donation to help save and relocate a library in his neck of the woods in Michigan.

Survive … Then Help Others Thrive

When I talk about things like this Karmagawa Yemen donation, I’m not trying to guilt-trip you into donating all of your trading profits to charity.

What I really want is to help you figure out what motivates you.

It’s kind of like they say in an airplane — if the oxygen masks drop, you’ve gotta put yours on first before you should attempt to assist others.

You can’t help anyone if you’re unconscious. So yes, take care of yourself. Attend to your needs and your family’s needs first.

Maybe that will be your initial motivation as a trader: giving yourself and your family a better life. That was my motivation at first.

Now, giving to others is what helps keep me motivated as a trader. It gives me purpose.

What Gives You Purpose?

Don’t let anyone tell you what you should and shouldn’t do with your money. You get to choose.

What gives YOU purpose?

Family, charity, travel, luxury, security? Something else? There’s no right answer. I want you to think about what motivates you and use it to continue to get better and keep studying.

This is exactly why I send my late-night motivation posts on social media. I want you to push yourself and dream big!

It’s my honor to donate 100% of my trading profits to charity. I want more people to pursue their dreams … If you think trading could be part of helping you do that, I want to do what I can to help.

Are you ready to work hard for it? If so, consider applying for my Trading Challenge.

I’m curious … What motivates YOU? There’s literally no wrong answer. I don’t care if it’s charity, cars, buying a house. Be honest! I love hearing from you.


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Timothy Sykes

Tim Sykes is a penny stock trader and teacher who became a self-made millionaire by the age of 22 by trading $12,415 of bar mitzvah money. After becoming disenchanted with the hedge fund world, he established the Tim Sykes Trading Challenge to teach aspiring traders how to follow his trading strategies. He’s been featured in a variety of media outlets including CNN, Larry King, Steve Harvey, Forbes, Men’s Journal, and more. He’s also an active philanthropist and environmental activist, a co-founder of Karmagawa, and has donated millions of dollars to charity. Read More

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* Results are not typical and will vary from person to person. Making money trading stocks takes time, dedication, and hard work. There are inherent risks involved with investing in the stock market, including the loss of your investment. Past performance in the market is not indicative of future results. Any investment is at your own risk. See Terms of Service here

The available research on day trading suggests that most active traders lose money. Fees and overtrading are major contributors to these losses.

A 2000 study called “Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors” evaluated 66,465 U.S. households that held stocks from 1991 to 1996. The households that traded most averaged an 11.4% annual return during a period where the overall market gained 17.9%. These lower returns were attributed to overconfidence.

A 2014 paper (revised 2019) titled “Learning Fast or Slow?” analyzed the complete transaction history of the Taiwan Stock Exchange between 1992 and 2006. It looked at the ongoing performance of day traders in this sample, and found that 97% of day traders can expect to lose money from trading, and more than 90% of all day trading volume can be traced to investors who predictably lose money. Additionally, it tied the behavior of gamblers and drivers who get more speeding tickets to overtrading, and cited studies showing that legalized gambling has an inverse effect on trading volume.

A 2019 research study (revised 2020) called “Day Trading for a Living?” observed 19,646 Brazilian futures contract traders who started day trading from 2013 to 2015, and recorded two years of their trading activity. The study authors found that 97% of traders with more than 300 days actively trading lost money, and only 1.1% earned more than the Brazilian minimum wage ($16 USD per day). They hypothesized that the greater returns shown in previous studies did not differentiate between frequent day traders and those who traded rarely, and that more frequent trading activity decreases the chance of profitability.

These studies show the wide variance of the available data on day trading profitability. One thing that seems clear from the research is that most day traders lose money .

Millionaire Media 66 W Flagler St. Ste. 900 Miami, FL 33130 United States (888) 878-3621 This is for information purposes only as Millionaire Media LLC nor Timothy Sykes is registered as a securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser. No information herein is intended as securities brokerage, investment, tax, accounting or legal advice, as an offer or solicitation of an offer to sell or buy, or as an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any company, security or fund. Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes cannot and does not assess, verify or guarantee the adequacy, accuracy or completeness of any information, the suitability or profitability of any particular investment, or the potential value of any investment or informational source. The reader bears responsibility for his/her own investment research and decisions, should seek the advice of a qualified securities professional before making any investment, and investigate and fully understand any and all risks before investing. Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes in no way warrants the solvency, financial condition, or investment advisability of any of the securities mentioned in communications or websites. In addition, Millionaire Media LLC and Timothy Sykes accepts no liability whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of this information. This information is not intended to be used as the sole basis of any investment decision, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the investment needs of any particular investor. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future returns.

Citations for Disclaimer

Barber, Brad M. and Odean, Terrance, Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors. Available at SSRN: “Day Trading for a Living?”

Barber, Brad M. and Lee, Yi-Tsung and Liu, Yu-Jane and Odean, Terrance and Zhang, Ke, Learning Fast or Slow? (May 28, 2019). Forthcoming: Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=2535636”

Chague, Fernando and De-Losso, Rodrigo and Giovannetti, Bruno, Day Trading for a Living? (June 11, 2020). Available at SSRN: “https://ssrn.com/abstract=3423101”