Meet Alan Lowe

Alan has been with Trading MasterClass for 1.5 years and is easily one of the hardest working traders in the Club. Alan learns something valuable from every single position he executes, and openly shares his wisdom + insights with the group. Because of Alan's work ethic, his dedication to his craft, and his collaborative / compassionate spirit, TMC awarded him with the very first Diamond Scholarship back in September 2020. Alan is a serious role model for anyone starting out, and we're proud to have him as part of the TMC Club. Check out the full interview with Alan below…

When did your trading journey first begin?

My trading journey first began quite unexpectedly. I was working for Sainsburys (a supermarket in the UK) and they had this huge management restructure and basically I was one of the ones that didn't make the cut. I struggled to find another job, had a hard time financially, I struggled with my mindset… and I hope you guys don't mind the honestly, but ended up in the hospital after an incident. When I woke up, I was visited by a friend who brought me my laptop and said “Alan when you’re better give this a go, I think you could do it, it may help you keep your mind busy while looking for another job or when you’re back on your feet”. It was the IP trading free trial at the time. My friend talked about trading and what he did trading stocks, and said IP will be a good start for you etc. (I was always a lil jealous of his lifestyle, and how much of a good/chilled guy he was, never worked a normal 9-5 job etc). So I decided to give trading a go, and here I am still trading while working full time for a small motorsport wiring company.

‍What was it that made you want to pursue full-time (or part-time) trading?

‍What made me want to pursue trading was that over time, once you’re consistent with a healthy chunk of capital, it opens up a new way of living/working, as really the potential is uncapped. Even with my current small account size over a period of 10-15 years with just a 4-5 percent return a month goes up to insane numbers, more than enough for what I'd like to be able to do in my life. The thought of just waking up and being able to fully own your own day would just be the dream. I've hardly ever travelled out of the UK or seen the world and I've not long ago recently hit 30! As much as I appreciate my boss and job (he took me on and gave me an opportunity of which I'm super grateful for) but technically I'm making someone else's life better while like using up my own… which is fine and all, but I would like to live my life on my own terms a bit. I know that sounds odd but I hope you guys know what I mean. Honestly I just wanted to learn a skill that would benefit me, keep my mind busy, and just live more comfortably. Even being able to just work part time would open up so many opportunities of things I'd like to do. Plus realizing the other day I've driven up and down the same road for over 10 years now, hit hard too.

‍What is something unexpected that you love about trading?

‍Something unexpected for me was how much self reflection is needed. How you pretty much need to fall in love with the process. It's such a big difference having that 9-5 brain, while learning and trading. The time you spend doesn't really equal the money amount (at the beginning), but over time that Win in the future pretty much could cover your L's.

Bjorn said it pretty well in the last TMC interview:

“The possibilities in which you can work for your own self. Trading came along and the un-capped potential that it offered made me realize that if you pursue it with ambition and desire to succeed, there isn’t a limit on what you could achieve. That was the part that caught my attention, but the part that made me absolutely fall in love with it was the constant need of self-growth it has to offer. You’re not just growing into more of an independent person financial wise, but you’re also growing from a spiritual aspect and getting to know more about self-control, how the mind works and how to stay at your peak performance”

This may sound silly but over time and of course I'm still working on it, I also love the fact I've become a lot more self motivated, calmer, and have a different view on life now… I have that goal and vision.

"I've become a lot more self motivated, calmer, and have a different view on life now."

‍What are one to three books that have profoundly impacted your trading journey / life in general? Why?

‍The Surrender Experiment by Michael A Singer

Michael A. Singer tells the extraordinary story of what happened when, after a deep spiritual awakening, he decided to let go of his personal preferences and simply let life call the shots. As Singer takes you on this great experiment and journey into life's perfection, the events that transpire will both challenge your deepest assumptions about life and inspire you to look at your own life in a radically different way.

Spirituality is meant to bring about harmony and peace. But the diversity of our philosophies, beliefs, concepts, and views about the soul often leads to confusion. To reconcile the noise that clouds spirituality, Michael Singer combines accounts of his own life journey to enlightenment - from his years as a hippie-loner to his success as a computer program engineer to his work in spiritual and humanitarian efforts - with lessons on how to put aside conflicting beliefs, let go of worries, and transform misdirected desires. Singer provides a road map to a new way not of living in the moment but to exist in a state of perpetual happiness.

‍Why- Maybe life is just happening to you in the perfect way as it is, just learn to enjoy your days not worry about them constantly, to help to just try to make the best decisions each day in that present moment.

The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer

Spiritual teacher Michael A. Singer explores the question of human identity and shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and achieve happiness and self-realization.

‍Why- thinking about the present moment rather than worrying about the past and future.

Principles Life and Work by Ray Dalio

In Principles, Dalio shares what he's learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book's hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of "radical truth" and "radical transparency", include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating "baseball cards" for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they're seeking to achieve.

‍Why- I love the honesty and the practical things you can do regardless of where you are in life/capital/business.

Honorable mentions: The Daily Stoic & the recent Mindset book as well, thank you Jonny. Also the Joe Dispenza books. The Stoic just honestly fits each day well, quite scary actually! The Mindset book just makes you smile and think 'wow how fixed in mindset I was', but there is always a part of you that has the growth potential, tap into it! And Joe just has that way of making you think differently, get stuck into his books please!

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‍What new belief, behaviour, or habit has helped you gain the most forward momentum since becoming a trader?

‍Developing a routine that works around me, doesn't have to be truly perfect just as long as you can review yourself and catch yourself if you start to feel off track.

Having a process of self reflection, be it reviewing the last week, or making a monthly review, or a quarterly review. Make sure you’re always learning something new, reading, watching something that’s actually going to help you in life. Even a period of self reflection at the end of each day, be it that it’s a meditation, or just a talk with yourself, did I make the right decisions today in the present moment? What could I have done differently today? Did I let my past throw me off? How could it have been better? And move into the next day, with a drive to just be the best version of you.

Really do your best to love the process Wins/Losses doesn't matter. We have all been taught an edge by TMC, let your well developed plan speak for you (I feel that you need to be just a button pusher). Money is just the by-product of the plan. Over time the money amount will grow regardless of how much money it is at the beginning. I find myself chuckling as I write this… really in the end money is just a tool, but its not truly everything. I'll let you know how it feels when I get that wealth in the end!!

"We have all been taught an edge by TMC, let your well developed plan speak for you."

‍What advice would you give to an inspired, driven individual about to step into the trading world?

‍Get ready to truly give it your all, its not all lambos and fun like Instagram makes it. Embrace the mistakes and the losses, they make you realize who you truly are at times. Develop that Growth Mindset about everything that comes with trading.

Don't compare yourself to anyone, you are you, so what if people are banking huge numbers with just 1%… Love your own journey, who knows what’s around the corner, your life could change in just a snap of the fingers. Maybe you'll be even better! (but don't compare lol)

Bjorn said it great again in the last TMC interview:

"It takes time for the results to shine, having absolute clarity makes us escape performance anxiety which can disrupt our thinking patterns and interfere with decision making. It interferes with our body in such a way where we focus on the outcome of the trade, therefore interfering with the performance itself. If you think about it, when we’re in a state of anxiety, we lose our access to the information that we have rehearsed. We go into the “fight or flight” mode, which makes us step away from our optimal state of mind. It’s the blood flowing away from our frontal cortex and flows towards the motor areas of the brain. Stay focused - more specifically, stay process focused rather than outcome focused."

‍How has Trading MasterClass assisted your evolution?

‍TMC has helped not only give me trading strategies that can help me make money to support my goals and dreams, it's taught me more about myself as a person. At the beginning of my trading career, I was honestly a nervous wreck, depressed still, very unconfident in myself, lacked that joy for life to an extent, so I stopped putting myself fully out there for everyone and committed to something for me. And when trading, that process of constant self reflection to become a better person just comes naturally with it, you find that it filters to other parts of your life. I feel much more confident in myself, I'm eating better, I'm starting to get back into the gym, I have better conversations and relations with people. But one of the most important things it has given me is a sense of a community. I'm not a hugely social guy, I don't have a lot of friends outside of trading etc, I don't go out much, I'm quite quiet and reserved (although my insta stories may say otherwise). I can truly say I've known more people to have helped me in life/trading from IP/TMC than have done in real life… whether its a DM asking if I was ok when I wasn't working for 4-5 months this year, Jonny going out of his way in a voice note, Molly sending me huge paragraphs of help and advice, me making a mistake with targets and Irek doing a huge webinar on the subject (which I know for a fact has helped a ton of you guys), even the MC UK guys just talking about things in general. I could write many more things but you all know who you are anyway.

‍What is your next immediate trading goal?

‍I'd say my next immediate goal would be, really get into being consistent with my style. Having honestly a smaller account than probably most of you here, isn't going to bring huge lifestyle changes. For now, I'm working on myself more mindset wise which will go on forever anyway and really getting rid of that hesitation before a trade. Once I've recovered financially from the virus hitting would be to build up my capital more from the 9-5, maybe look into funding, looking for a better paid job, possibly a move to a different area and finding a job there… I've actually considered moving to Guernsey an British Channel Island, as my partner is from there, you know for the island lifestyle but with the UK theme haha!

Any final words of wisdom?

I’m not sure what to write here but I will give it a go. I’d say pretend in your mind you are already this baller of a trader and you are already doing it full time or however you imagine it to be.

I'd say really own your own life and trading journey. I still struggle a little with it I wont lie, but just don't compare yourself to others, especially people with bigger accounts and more experience than you. You will just make yourself upset, spoil your own lessons from your own journey. You are you, you are your own beautiful self, capable of soo many things. Take it from me just a normal working class standard guy, also a person who survived 2 overdoses, you are amazing, you are loved, and you will smash trading, it’s just lines and numbers on a screen remember. Love the process.

How can we keep up with you?

Instagram: @alan__lowe