Ken Roberts

I guess you could say Ken Roberts has come a long way. I've been told Ken Roberts is a college drop-out and former life insurance salesman. Ken produces a course called "The World's Most Powerful Money Manual ". In this manual, Roberts convinces beginners that they can quickly become successful traders starting out with less than a thousand bucks.

Roberts first created this course all the way back in 1983. It's a mail-order book that mixes tips on futures trading with his philosophy on how you can get "everything you want (mentally, physically, and spiritually)." Ken Roberts claims to have sold more than 300,000 copies. At $195 each, that adds up to nearly $60 million. But I myself wonder if he's really made the full sixty million he claims.

Roberts, says futures trading is "the world's one perfect business." And he charges over two thousand dollars for his advanced trading seminar. He hawks trading charts, a course on options, a newsletter and his novel, The Rich Man's Secret.

He also owns a chunk of a California brokerage firm called Main Street Trading. But the last I heard, their commissions for trades were kind of high.

But the hype has paid off for Roberts. It has brought him tens of millions of dollars and a mansion in Oregon. But where are all the customers mansions?

What Ken calls "voodoo" stuff is actually the most helpful in real trading. I personally would rather go to Las Vegas and hit the casinos than try to make money using a system like that of Ken Roberts.

When I now look at all the Ken Roberts course material on my office shelf, I'm smart enough to realize the course I bought from him could have been learned from most introductory commodities books for much less cost.

But Ken Roberts has carved out a name for himself as the king of the commodities trading.

One thing I do like about Ken Roberts is the fact that he's an excellent direct mail marketer. One of the worlds best. I've received more ads from him in my mail box than any other marketer in the world. If Ken taught a course in direct mail marketing, I'd highly recommend it. He sends out millions of direct mail pieces from his base in Grants Pass, Oregon for his course.

Roberts tells us that the vast majority of traders lose 95% of the time. But, that with his materials, you will know the inside story that the other guys don't. Ken Roberts material is based primarily on predictions. And with this type of approach, I'm certain you're going to be wrong a great deal of the time. And when you're wrong, you lose money!

Ken should tell you that when you factor in brokerage costs the odds are against you. Now you have to do more than win, you need to make a profit above and beyond brokerage fees. And that's the hard part!

I feel that beginner's should know there is a large risk when investing in futures.

I often wonder if Ken Roberts makes more money from selling his "Trading Course and System" than he's ever made from his actual futures trades. I'll never know for sure.

According to a new posting I read yesterday, it appears that Ken Roberts recently had some problems with the NFA and CFTC.