Howard Bandy is really worth paying attention to. I'll say that again, in case you missed it: HOWARD BANDY IS REALLY WORTH PAYING ATTENTION TO. As he says, "the biggest problem is risk". You must know what your risk tolerance and survivability is.
In this video interview, he clearly defines why YOU SHOULD NOT TRADE, or invest - YES, YOU! But the standout bit goes something like this:
You are a keen golfer. Imagine you see a local golf tournament advertised, $1000 entry with $1,000,000 prize. It's a single elimination tournament. You turn up to play, and you find out your first opponent is Greg Norman (insert here any major player here - Tiger Woods, for example). Swap that over to trading, and your opponent is Goldman Sachs. There are no challenger tournaments, so your first ever - EVER - trade is against the biggest money on the planet. It's very difficult...
Ouch!
