Mark Minervini was so confident in his stock-trading ability that he threw $1,200 out the window to prove a point. He breaks down the mental qualities that helped him return 33,554% in just 5 years.
- Mark Minervini, stock-trading legend and author of "Mindset Secrets for Winning," says an ironclad mindset and unbridled confidence is the key to becoming successful at any venture.
- He says that "beliefs are really what's important."
- Minervini wound up throwing $1,200 out the window of his car to prove his confidence.
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When most people think about stock trading, flashing ticker symbols, belligerent traders, Wall Street, and bags of cash generally come to mind.
And then there's Mark Minervini, stock trading legend and author of "Mindset Secrets for Winning," who thinks about how he's thinking when he's trading.
"I mimicked traders and successful people, and didn't just try to emulate their style - or vaguely emulate them - I really looked at what they believed, and how they thought, and exactly how they operated on a daily basis, and really dug deep into the mindset behind the person," he said on the "Stansberry Investor Hour," an investing podcast.
He continued: "If you don't think like that person or you don't have that mindset, then you're not going to follow the strategy."
Minervini leans on Michael Jordan, viewed by many as the greatest basketball player of all-time, as an example.
He says that Jordan could teach you how to play basketball - the techniques, positioning, process, etc. - but if you don't believe you can be a good player, or don't have the right mindset, you're sunk.
"The beliefs are really what's important," he said. "If you think like someone, you can perform like them."
Minervini leans on visualization, challenging limiting beliefs, focus, understanding perception and perspective, and rehearsal to perform at his highest level.
This ironclad mindset coupled with a disciplined trading strategy led Minervini to a compounded total return of 33,554% over a five-year time horizon. To put those figures in perspective, if you handed him $100,000 in 1994, would've dropped more than $30 million in your lap in 1999.
Throwing money out the window
"It's mainly a declaration of your confidence and to look at the bigger picture," Minervini said.
He details a car ride he took with one of his proteges. At the time, his student was confident in his ability to become a great trader, expounding a millionaire status that would be inevitable in just a few year's time.
"I said: 'Well, how much money do you got in your pocket?'" Minervini said.
The student had abut $200 in his wallet - and Minervini prompted him to throw it out the window.
"If you're going to be a millionaire in a year or two, what does it matter?" he said "Let's make a declaration."
Needless to say, Minervini's apprentice thought this exercise was futile and refused to depart with his cash.
"So I went in my pocket - and I think I had like $400 bucks - and we were on the highway and I just tossed it out the window," he said. "I said 'I'm so confident in my future that that just doesn't mean anything. I know that it's going to come back.'"
Minervini wound up parlaying this demonstration into a challenge on Twitter. He would match the amount of money that his confident constituents threw out the window.
The goal of the challenge was not to be irresponsible or wasteful - Minervini makes donations to charity regularly - it was simply to be declare one's unwavering confidence in their mindset.
"Over the weekend, like 12 people did it," he concluded. "I threw $1,200 bucks out the window and videotaped it."